Woofun AI reports that a federal jury has convicted Brent C. Kovar, owner of Profit Connect, on 15 counts of fraud and money laundering stemming from an alleged AI-powered crypto business scheme. The verdict resolves the core allegation that Kovar orchestrated a massive deception to extract capital from investors under false pretenses.

The Justice Department placed the conduct between late 2017 and July 2021, during which Kovar marketed Profit Connect as a profitable technology business capable of generating promised returns. He claimed the entity held hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto reserves, yet prosecutors established the company was unprofitable and held no such assets. Instead of funding mining and transaction verification, Kovar used investor money to operate the firm, buy gifts for employees, purchase a house for himself, and repay earlier investors with these new funds presented as legitimate proceeds.

Woofun AI data shows the criminal case cites $24 million in losses affecting at least 400 investors, roughly double the SEC's earlier figure of more than $12 million involving 277 victims. Although both figures are lower-bound estimates, they originate from different cases and cover different periods, making them not directly comparable. Separate court or receivership records would be needed to determine precise investor losses and recoveries, though the criminal conviction confirms a larger publicly reported scope.

The case now moves to sentencing on Nov. 30, where prosecutors note the convictions carry an aggregate statutory maximum of 280 years in prison. A federal judge will determine the final sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. This marks a definitive legal conclusion to the fraud allegations, with the statutory maximum representing the legal ceiling across all counts.