On May 21, 2025, a jury delivered a verdict in the case against John Karony, CEO of SafeMoon, finding him guilty on three counts, including fraud and money laundering. As a result, he faces up to 45 years in prison.
This is reported by Finway
In November 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Karony and two other top executives of SafeMoon with misappropriating $200 million belonging to investors. SafeMoon LLC, founded in 2021, launched a token of the same name, which at times had a market capitalization of $8 billion. It was alleged that part of the transaction fees were frozen in a liquidity pool.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Karony and other executives falsely assured investors that they did not have access to these funds and repeatedly denied engaging in token trading, even though they were actually conducting such transactions.
Law enforcement arrested Karony and the company’s CTO, Thomas Smith, who pleaded guilty in February 2025 and is awaiting sentencing. The company’s founder, Kyle Negin, is currently at large. According to authorities, Karony alone misappropriated approximately $9 million, which was spent, among other things, on real estate and cars.
In addition to a lengthy prison sentence, the court also approved the forfeiture of one property and about $2 million obtained from the sale of another.
“We believe our actions were legal,” Karony stated during the investigation.