AI and crypto hype collide in a $24M Ponzi conviction
Brent Kovar was convicted on August 24 of running a $24 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, a verdict that comes as the digital-asset industry grapples with record illicit activity and tries to keep fraud cases from undermining investor trust.
The Las Vegas businessman ran Profit Connect, which presented itself as an artificial-intelligence company mining cryptocurrency on a supercomputer. That technology did not exist.
Although the number is relatively small in comparison to the overall industry, it comes at a delicate time. TRM Labs estimates that the illegal crypto market attracted record investments of $158 billion in 2025, up by nearly 145% from the previous year. Chainalysis, on its part, found at least $14 billion received on-chain by crypto scams in 2025, a figure that may rise above $17 billion when additional illicit addresses are uncovered.
How Profit Connect dressed fraud in AI language
From late 2017 until July 2021, Kovar told investors that the software of Profit Connect was capable of running on a supercomputer that mined cryptocurrency and verified transactions, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada. He offered a guaranteed return ranging from 15% to 30% with a full refund guarantee.
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