Former SafeMoon CEO sentenced to 8 years in prison

BlockBeats News, February 11 — According to Coindesk, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York sentenced former SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony to 8 years in prison this Tuesday.

Braden was convicted last year on multiple federal charges for engaging in fraudulent investor activities within his digital asset business. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Karony participated in manipulating the price of SafeMoon tokens and illegally controlling the company’s liquidity, stealing millions of dollars. After a three-week trial, he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

Co-conspirator Thomas Smith admitted to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud in February 2025 and has not yet been sentenced. Another co-conspirator suspected of involvement in the SafeMoon scam, Kyle Nagy, is still at large and wanted by authorities.

SafeMoon (SFM) is a cryptocurrency token launched in March 2021, born during the last bull market’s meme coin and DeFi craze. Its tokenomics stipulate a 10% tax fee on each transaction, with part of it (usually 5%) automatically redistributed as dividends to all holders, another part added to the liquidity pool and burned to create deflation, and the rest used for project development. The design concept is “encourage holding, punish selling,” allowing holders to earn passive income and hoping the token price can “safely moon.” Its market cap once reached $1 billion, attracting many retail investors and FOMO players. Subsequently, the project was hacked due to a contract vulnerability, and the team was accused of fraud, liquidity manipulation, and misappropriation of funds. After a prolonged decline, its market cap has now dropped to only $2.08 million.