A joint investigation by the FBI’s Money Laundering Squad and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations led to a 75-month prison sentence for 64-year-old Arizona entrepreneur Reginald Fowler. 

A former co-owner of the professional American football team Minnesota Vikings, Fowler has also been asked by the court to pay a forfeiture of $74.02 million and restitution of $5.31 million to the Association of American Football (AAF), a short-lived American football minor league. 

The prosecution was led by the United States Attorney’s Office’s Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit. 

Offering Shadow Banking Services

Damian Williams, US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York (SDNY)) in a PR on June 5, said Fowler processed nearly $750 million of transactions for cryptocurrency exchanges acting as a payment processor while his company Global Trading Solution did not have a license for money transmitting business as required by the US federal laws. While doing so, he also lied to US banks.  

“FOWLER also directed other individuals to include false information on wire transfer instructions to further deceive banks about the nature of GTS’s business. In less than ten months, FOWLER processed approximately $750 million in cryptocurrency transactions in various currencies,” the PR from Attorney’s office said.  

Defrauding American Football League 

He was also found guilty of defrauding the Association of American Football, in which he acquired a significant stake by investing customers’ funds claiming them to be his personal wealth.