What happened to Reggie Fowler? Former Vikings owner receives six-year sentence over $700M Cryptocurrency scam

Reggie Fowler, a former part owner of the Minnesota Vikings, has been sentenced to over six years in prison for his involvement in a cryptocurrency scam amounting to more than $700 million. He pleaded guilty to federal charges, including wire and bank fraud, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and lying to executives of the Alliance of American Football.

“Reggie is extremely remorseful. The [Alliance of American Football] didn’t benefit from the investment that Reggie had planned to make. Reggie’s bank accounts were frozen, he could not secure the investment money, and he was not able to invest the large sum of money he promised to invest.”

Prosecutors revealed that Fowler processed approximately $750 million in unregulated cryptocurrency transactions through his shadow bank, Global Trading Solutions LLC, in less than 10 months. He partnered with a company called Crypto Capital, allowing cryptocurrency exchanges to convert their digital currencies into cash. However, Fowler and his entities were not licensed as a money transmitting business, as required by federal law.

According to court filings,

"In less than 10 months, Fowler processed approximately $750 million in cryptocurrency transactions in various currencies. At no point were Fowler, Global Trading Solutions, nor any of the Crypto Companies ever licensed as a money transmitting business in the United States, as required by federal law."

As part of his punishment, he must also forfeit $740 million and pay an additional $53 million in restitution.

Reggie Fowler's history with the Minnesota Vikings

Reggie Fowler became a minority owner of the Minnesota Vikings in 2005 after being part of the consortium led by current owner Ziggy Wilf, which purchased it from Red McCombs. He had earlier wished to become a general partner but later became a limited partner after failing to provide details about his stake in the ownership group, in which he committed $20 million.

Even before the current legal penalty he faced today, he gave up his stake in the Minnesota Vikings in 2014, when he defaulted on over $60 million debt to various institutions.

That ended his involvement in professional football before he finally moved to join the ill-fated Alliance of American Football league. Though, based on latest updates, he might have been a significant reason for their premature ending.