Connecticut man pleads guilty to crypto investment fraud and international money laundering
Elmin Redzepagic posed as a successful crypto investor but sent victims' money to an offshore gambling platform, where he lost it, according to federal prosecutors.
Elmin Redzepagic, 25, of Wolcott, Connecticut, pleaded guilty before US District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to two counts of wire fraud, one count of international money laundering and one count of making a false statement to IRS Criminal Investigation agents, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut announced on 19 October 2026.
According to court documents, from about May 2021 to March 2025 Redzepagic posed as a cryptocurrency investor who earned high returns. After victims invested, he told them they had large profits but had to pay gas fees to withdraw them. Gas fees are network charges for processing crypto transactions. He did not invest the money in cryptocurrency. Instead, he sent it to Stake.com, an offshore gambling platform, where he lost it gambling.
The office said Redzepagic used Stake.com to receive and hold scheme proceeds, to generate cryptocurrency addresses for victims to send Bitcoin to him, and to make large lulling payments to victims during the scheme. Lulling payments are payments meant to reassure victims and delay complaints. More than 10 victims suffered a combined net loss of $1,159,945.34. He also made false statements when IRS Criminal Investigation agents interviewed him in September 2023.
Redzepagic was arrested on 12 February 2026 and is released on a $500,000 bond. Sentencing is scheduled for 11 January 2027. Each wire fraud count and the international money laundering count carry up to 20 years in prison, and the false statement count carries up to 5 years. IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Why it matters to AML professionals
Investment fraud proceeds are often routed to gambling platforms, which can mix stolen funds with betting activity and make tracing harder. AML professionals at exchanges and banks should treat customer funds that flow straight into offshore gambling sites after investment-style deposits as a warning sign.
Red flags in this case
- Funds received from several individuals that are sent on to an offshore gambling platform soon after
- Victims told to pay extra fees before they can withdraw claimed profits
- Payments back to investors that look like returns but are funded by new deposits
- A customer who describes themselves as a trader but shows no trading activity in their accounts
If this landed in your queue
- Identify who is sending money to the customer and ask what the payments are for
- Trace outgoing crypto and fiat flows and check whether they reach gambling services
- Look for payments back to the same senders that could be lulling payments
- Escalate and file a SAR describing the investment claims, the senders and the gambling destination
Key terms
- Gas fees
- Charges paid to a blockchain network to process a transaction; scammers often invent fees to extract more money.
- Lulling payments
- Payments made to victims to reassure them and delay complaints.
- International money laundering
- Moving or transferring criminal proceeds into or out of the United States in a way covered by federal money laundering law.
Interview angle
What signs suggest a customer is running an investment fraud rather than trading?
Point to many unrelated senders, promises of high returns, requests for fees to release profits, no real trading activity, and money moving to gambling or personal spending. Explain how you would document this in a SAR.
Sources
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