Founder of Miami-Based Cryptocurrency Token CluCoin Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

MIAMI – Austin Michael Taylor, 40, was the founder of cryptocurrency project CluCoin and owner of CLU LLC, a company incorporated and headquartered in Miami-Dade County Fla., that handed CluCoin’s operations. On Aug. 15, Taylor pled guilty to wire fraud for a scheme involving the transfer of $1,140,000 of CluCoin investor funds to Taylor’s personal account.

According to court records, Taylor leveraged his sizable social media following to generate interest in a digital token he called “CLU.” Taylor generated interest in CLU’s initial coin offering (“ICO”), which is a capital raising event in which an entity offers investors a unique digital token in exchange for a more established cryptocurrency or fiat currency. Taylor created a “white paper” for CluCoin, which was meant to educate and entice investors to participate in the ICO, which promised to have a charitable focus. After raising investor funds, Taylor successfully launch CluCoin’s ICO on May 19, 2021. Taylor then shifted CluCoin’s focus to other projects he devised: the minting of non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”), the development of a computer game, and a metaverse platform.

According to court records, Taylor organized and paid for an event called “NFTCon: Into the Metaverse,” which took place in a hotel in Miami on April 4 and 5, 2022 to drive interest and investment in CLU, CluCoin, and related projects. Shortly after the conference, in May 2022, Taylor gained the ability to make withdrawals from the cryptocurrency address he controlled into which a portion of the CLU investor funds automatically flowed. From May 2022 and continuing through December 2022, Taylor sent approximately $1.14 million in investor funds to his personal account at a virtual currency exchange and then used the funds at multiple online casinos, where he lost these investor funds to gambling.

Taylor’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 31, at 10:00 A.M., before U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra.  Taylor faces a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison for the wire fraud conviction. Judge Becerra will determine Taylor’s sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri, FBI Miami, made the announcement.

FBI Miami and Washington Field Offices are investigating the case. Assistant U.S Attorney Manolo Reboso is prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S Attorney Emily Stone is handling asset forfeiture.

Identified victims will be notified via NFT. If you invested in CLU, believe you are a victim, and/or received an NFT, please visit https://www.fbi.gov/CluCoinInvestors to provide relevant information to the FBI.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 24-cr-20308. 

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