Verdict for the Creator of SafeMoon
Summary: SafeMoon founder sentenced to 100 months in prison for fraud and misuse of investor funds.
Braden Karony, founder and former CEO of SafeMoon, has been sentenced to 100 months in federal prison for cryptocurrency-related fraud. The verdict follows a trial focused on the незаконne use of investor funds held in the project’s liquidity pool.
A jury found Karony guilty of securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Prosecutors demonstrated that he reassured investors their funds were safely locked and inaccessible, while in reality he retained control over them.
Investigators determined that Karony personally withdrew more than $9 million in cryptocurrency. He also carried out trading activities designed to artificially inflate the price of the SFM token. The funds were taken from wallets that had been presented to users as untouchable.
The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee in the Eastern District of New York. During the hearing, the court considered both the defense’s arguments regarding Karony’s background and testimony from investors who described suffering significant financial losses.
SafeMoon launched in 2021 on the BNB Chain, marketing itself as a community-driven DeFi project with a 10 percent transaction fee model. In April 2021, boosted by strong influencer promotion, the token reached a market capitalization valued in the billions of dollars.
Regulators concluded that members of the team used investor funds for personal purposes while publicly assuring users that their assets were secure. In November 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice filed formal charges. One month later, the project filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and the token lost liquidity.
SafeMoon’s former Chief Technology Officer, Thomas Smith, pleaded guilty in 2025 to participating in the conspiracy. He confirmed that investors had been misled and that funds from the liquidity pool were systematically diverted.
Karony’s case is considered one of the most prominent criminal prosecutions involving so-called meme coins. Prosecutors stated that the project exploited the popularity of DeFi and investor trust to carry out coordinated misconduct under the guise of decentralized finance.
