A former semi-professional rugby player was given a prison sentence for participating in a cryptocurrency mining scam.

Former rugby player Shane Donovan Moore was sentenced to 30 months in prison for wire fraud. The 37-year-old operated Quantum Donovan LLC, a Washington company that claimed to be purchasing and operating cryptocurrency mining equipment. However, the company never invested in such equipment and operated as a Ponzi scheme, with investments from later investors being used to pay off earlier investors. Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller stated that Moore used the newness of cryptocurrency to commit an age-old fraud, committing an age-old Ponzi scheme.

Between January 2021 and October 2022, Moore made fraudulent promises to obtain investor money, both verbally and in writing. He claimed that the invested money would be used to purchase computers for a cryptocurrency mining operation, and that they would receive 1% of their investment daily based on the work of the mining machines. However, Moore never purchased the mining machines and cameled the investor money with his personal accounts. Some of the funds were used to purchase cryptocurrency so that a portion could be sent to investors to lull them into believing the cryptocurrency mining operation existed.

Moore recruited investors in Utah, Oregon, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Washington, many of whom were people he knew from his rugby activities. Assistant United States Attorney Brian Wynne asked for a three-year prison sentence, stating that Moore used victim-investor funds to finance his lifestyle and pay his personal living expenses.