Crypto Scheme Operator Allegedly Spent $1.1 Million of Investors’ Money on Gambling at Stake.com

From May 2021 to March 2025, Rejepagic posed as a successful crypto investor, promising returns from digital assets while using investor money for gambling instead of trading. For PSPs and high-risk merchants, the detail that funds were routed through Stake.com and crypto addresses matters because it shows how quickly investment fraud can blur into payments, custody, and gaming flows.

1. According to the indictment, Rejepagic told investors that he was working with a team that included someone using the pseudonym The Chef, who supposedly distributed profits to participants. When investors tried to withdraw money, he demanded additional fees.
2. In reality, he did not buy cryptocurrency with the funds he collected. Instead, he transferred the money to Stake.com, where he stored the funds and created crypto addresses for victims to send bitcoin. He then sent some payments back to investors to keep them calm, before ultimately spending client money on gambling.
3. In September 2023, during an interview with agents from the IRS Criminal Investigation division, Rejepagic initially made false statements. He later admitted he had tried to deceive law enforcement, an offense carrying up to five years in prison. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years.
4. Rejepagic was arrested on 12 February this year. He was released on a $500,000 bond pending sentencing, which the court is scheduled to announce on 11 January 2027.
5. The case lands in a broader run of crypto fraud prosecutions. This summer, Goliath Ventures CEO Christopher Alexander Delgado admitted to creating a crypto pyramid scheme that cost participants at least $400 million, and crypto promoter “Bitcoin Rodney” previously pleaded guilty to running the HyperFund scheme.