Amir Bruno Elmaani, also known as “Bruno Brock,” the individual responsible for creating the blockchain protocol Oyster Pearl, has received a four-year prison sentence due to tax-related offenses, as confirmed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday.
Elmaani, aged 31 and residing in Martinsburg, West Virginia, has been handed a four-year jail term and an additional year of supervised release. He is obligated to reimburse $5.5 million, reflecting the estimated tax losses. Elmaani admitted guilt in April 2023. Originally facing charges in 2020 from both the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with support from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
The DOJ revealed that Elmaani utilized a coin mixer to obscure the actual path of cryptocurrencies on the blockchain. Subsequently, he transferred the funds to relatives and friends before redirecting them to his personal accounts. The case dates back to 2017, when Elmaani amassed millions of dollars through the initial coin offering of the pearl (PRL) cryptocurrency. Instead of reporting the sales income, he fabricated his tax return and utilized $10 million from the profits to purchase multiple yachts used for storing gold bars, real estate, and home improvements.
According to the plea agreement, Elmaani confessed in public forums that he stated that after the ICO, the supply of PRL would not increase and that the smart contract that created PRL would be locked. Contrary to these statements, on about October 29, 2018, he used the smart contract to mint a new PRL without disclosing it to anyone, including colleagues involved in the Oyster Protocol project.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams remarked that Amir Elmaani disregarded his responsibility to pay taxes on substantial cryptocurrency profits and breached the trust of investors in the cryptocurrency he established. He also stated that those involved in cryptocurrency markets are expected to abide by regulations, and the office is committed to vigorously prosecuting those who fail to comply.
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