Firoz Patel thought he had it figured out. Do the time for money laundering, then slip away with $24 million in bitcoin squirreled away in a crypto account.

The Department of Justice had other plans.

Federal prosecutors caught Patel's stash and filed additional charges in May 2023. Last month, he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice. He's now facing a second prison sentence on top of the three years he started serving in 2020.

Patel and his brother Ferhan built an empire processing payments for criminals. Their platforms—AlertPay, Payza, and EgoPay—moved money for terrorists, drug traffickers, identity thieves, and child pornographers. But their biggest operation was laundering Ponzi scheme cash.

The numbers were staggering. Through these three payment processors, the brothers ran a $250 million money laundering operation, according to prosecutors.

The most notorious case involved Paul Burks and his Rex Venture Group, better known as Zeek Rewards. Payza moved at least $100 million in stolen investor funds through Burks' account alone. For most of 2012, Payza's primary transaction activity was Burks' Zeek operation. Emails seized from Payza employees showed the company actively encouraged Burks to move his operation overseas just before the SEC shut him down. Burks landed fourteen years in prison.

Federal charges came down against the Patel brothers in 2018. Firoz initially tried to outrun the investigation, even taunting the DOJ publicly. He turned himself in January 2019 and pleaded guilty in July 2020.

But between his November 2020 sentencing and his reporting date to prison, Patel pulled off a heist of his own. He quietly moved 450 bitcoin—worth roughly $24 million at the time—into a staking account at Blockchain.com.

The account traced back to a Belize shell company connected to Solitaire Holdings, the parent company that sat above MH Pillars, a UK shell company that controlled Payza itself. It was the same shell company network Patel had built to hide his tracks for years.

A Payza employee told investigators that Patel didn't use his own name for anything. He created at least 30 companies, placing them under the names of his brother Ferhan, friends, and family members. Patel's name appearing on anything caused legal problems, so he hid behind the network of shells.

The blockchain account eventually led investigators straight to the stash. Patel's attempt to hide assets while awaiting prison time triggered the obstruction charge.

His brother Ferhan served eighteen months and was released July 22, 2022. Firoz's legal problems are far from over.

🤖 Quick Answer

Who is Firoz Patel and what were his criminal activities?
Firoz Patel, co-founder of payment processing platforms AlertPay, Payza, and EgoPay, operated an extensive money laundering operation with his brother Ferhan. Their platforms processed payments for terrorists, drug traffickers, identity thieves, and child pornographers, with particular focus on laundering Ponzi scheme proceeds on a substantial scale.

What charges did Firoz Patel face and what was his sentence?
Patel initially received a three-year prison sentence beginning in 2020 for money laundering. In May 2023, federal prosecutors discovered $24 million in hidden bitcoin in a crypto account. He subsequently pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, resulting in an additional prison sentence on top of his original conviction.

How did federal authorities uncover Patel's hidden assets?

🔗 Related Articles

- eAdGear owners plead guilty to structuring fraud
- Renato Rodriguez & Gutemberg Dos Santos final judgments entered
- Pedro Fort defaults in SEC’s Fort Ad Pays fraud case
- Watford Corp collapses, “fake SEC warning” exit-scam?
- Marlon and LaShonda Moore indicted for BINT gifting fraud