Crypto influencer sentenced for multi-million dollar scheme

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn. Brooklyn Eagle photo by Rob Abruzzese

DOWNTOWN — In federal court in Brooklyn, Charles O. Parks III, also known as “CP3O,” was sentenced by United States District Judge Eric Komitee to one year and one day in prison for operating a large-scale illegal “cryptojacking” operation.

As part of the scheme, Parks defrauded two well-known providers of cloud computing services out of more than $3.5 million worth of computing resources so that he could mine cryptocurrency worth nearly $1 million.

Parks was charged with wire fraud, money laundering and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions in connection with the scheme and pleaded guilty to wire fraud in December 2024. As part of the sentence, Parks was ordered to forfeit $500,000 and a Mercedes-Benz luxury car purchased with proceeds from the scheme. The amount of restitution will be determined at a later date.

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella Jr., FBI New York Field Office Assistant Director-in-Charge Christopher G. Raia and NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch announced the sentence.

“Parks branded himself as an innovator and a thought leader, but in the end, he was merely a fraudster whose secret to getting rich quick was lying and stealing,” stated Nocella. “This Office remains committed to prosecuting criminal actors who take advantage of new, sophisticated technologies to engage in fraud and deceit.”

Mr. Nocella expressed his appreciation to the FBI’s New York Cyber Crimes Task Force.

“Charles Parks III stole more than $3.5 million worth of resources to illegally mine another million in cryptocurrency for personal luxurious purchases,” Raia added. “While Parks gloated across social media platforms, he failed to mention his purported success was rooted in deceit and theft. May [this] sentencing reaffirm the FBI’s steadfast commitment to dismantling any cryptojacking operation that targets legitimate companies for nefarious reasons.”

Cryptojacking, also referred to as malicious cryptomining, is the unauthorized use or hijacking of another party’s resources, such as electricity, hardware or computing power, to mine cryptocurrency.

According to court filings and facts presented at the sentencing, from around January 2021 to August 2021, Parks operated a large-scale cryptojacking operation in which he defrauded two well-known providers of cloud computing services out of more than $3.5 million worth of computing resources in order to mine nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency.

Parks created and used a variety of names, corporate affiliations and email addresses, including emails with domains from corporate entities he operated called “MultiMillionaire LLC” and “CP3O LLC,” to register numerous accounts with the service providers and to gain access to massive amounts of computing processing power and storage that he did not pay for.

Parks also deceived the providers into approving heightened privileges and benefits, including elevated levels of computing services, and deflected inquiries from the providers regarding questionable data usage and mounting unpaid subscription balances.

For example, Parks told one provider that he was using the computing resources to build “a global online training company that focuses on media, technology and business strategy” and that his goal was “to serve 10,000 students simultaneously.” In reality, there was no training company, and there were no students.

Parks instead used the fraudulently obtained computing resources to mine various cryptocurrencies, including Ether, Litecoin and Monero.

Parks then converted and laundered the cryptocurrency proceeds through cryptocurrency exchanges, a non-fungible token marketplace, an online payment provider and traditional bank accounts. He structured money movements to avoid transaction reporting requirements under federal law.

After converting the ill-gotten cryptocurrency into dollars, Parks used the proceeds to make extravagant purchases, including a Mercedes-Benz, jewelry, first-class hotel rooms and travel expenses.

Parks boasted about his profits so as to earn credibility as a crypto influencer.

In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel in September 2022, Parks purported to share tips for achieving what he called a “MultiMillionaire Mentality.” Describing the fraudulent scheme, Parks boasted that, “Last year I set a goal for myself that I wanted to make seven digits or more, and so I spent the first ten days of the year creating a — we’ll just call it a really nice crypto script — that I was able to use at scale. And after working those ten days, let’s just put it this way, I didn’t work the rest of the year.”

He later added that, “… by April, I purchased myself a Mercedes-Benz AMG S class coupe.”

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorney Andrew D. Reich is in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Wayne Colon.