A Florida man was sentenced Monday to six years in prison for orchestrating an investment scheme that defrauded more than 10,000 victims of over $55 million.
Court records state that Michael Glaspie, 72, of Palm City advertised a business opportunity as “CoinDeal” or “Coin Deal.”
Glaspie said that CoinDeal would provide extraordinarily high profits on the assumption that a group of affluent purchasers was ready to purchase one or more technological firms that Neil Suresh Chandran, 51, of Las Vegas, was purported to control and run under the name “ViRSE.”
Glaspie made a bogus guarantee that if CoinDeal’s profits didn’t materialize, he would reimburse investors’ money with seven percent annual interest over three years in order to persuade them to participate in the company, officials stated.
Glaspie actually understood he was unable to make these repayments.
According to court documents, Glaspie deceptively claimed that he had an exclusive and lucrative contract with AT&T to distribute government‑funded phones to support his false repayment promise.
He also claimed that the Better Business Bureau was distributing an app that he developed, and it would yield over $400 million in revenue.
In reality, Glaspie had no such contract or distribution agreement.
Furthermore, when the promised sale of Chandran’s companies did not close, Glaspie transmitted investor funds to Chandran after falsely representing to CoinDeal investors that he would not do so.
Glaspie also falsely claimed that he never paid himself with CoinDeal investor funds, when in truth, he misappropriated nearly $2.5 million of victim investments for personal purposes, including trading cryptocurrency, paying his employees’ salaries, and buying a life insurance policy for a family member.
According to court records, Glaspie lied about having a lucrative deal with AT&T to distribute government-funded phones in order to back his bogus repayment pledge.
He also stated that the Better Business Bureau was distributing an app he built that would generate over $400 million in income.
In fact, Glaspie didn’t have a distribution agreement or contract like that.
Furthermore, despite fraudulently promising CoinDeal investors that he wouldn’t, Glaspie sent investor monies to Chandran when the expected sale of his firms fell through.
Glaspie further misrepresented the fact that he used CoinDeal investor funds to pay himself, claiming that he never did so.
In fact, he used approximately $2.5 million of victim investments for personal expenses, including cryptocurrency trading, paying his staff’s wages, and other expenses.
Chandran was arrested on June 29, 2022, for allegedly defrauding more than 10,000 victims of over $45 million. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The FBI Washington Field Office investigated the case, with assistance from the Omaha, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles Field Offices.
Assistant Chief William E. Johnston and Trial Attorney Tian Huang of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald J. Kleine for the District of Nebraska prosecuted the case.