Four people at the centre of a multi-million pound Bitcoin cryptocurrency fraud have been jailed.<\/p>\n They were involved in a conspiracy to dishonestly obtain currency worth \u00a321 million between October 2017 and January 2018.<\/p>\n Three men and one woman, aged 24-54, were convicted of fraud and transferring criminal property at Preston Crown Court.<\/p>\n They have been jailed for a total of 15 years.<\/p>\n The group worked with ringleader James Parker, who died in 2021 before he could be prosecuted for masterminding the conspiracy from his Blackpool home.<\/p>\n The court heard he exploited a loophole to withdraw dishonestly-obtained crypto assets worth \u00a315 million from his trading account on an Australian-based cryptocurrency exchange.<\/p>\n Parker’s associates Kelly Caton and Jordan Robinson dishonestly withdrew \u00a32.7 million and \u00a31.7 million respectively from their accounts.<\/p>\n Parker’s financial adviser Stephen Boys worked with a UK national based in the United Arab Emirates to convert the cryptocurrency into cash.<\/p>\n The money was then laundered through various foreign-based online accounts.<\/p>\n A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: “A very significant amount of the laundered assets have been returned or are in the process of being recovered on the behalf of the Australian cryptocurrency exchange.”<\/p>\n Prosecutor Jonathan Kelleher added: “These offenders used the internet from the comfort of their own homes to obtain tens of millions of pounds worth of Bitcoin which did not belong to them.”<\/p>\n Stephen Boys, 59, from Accrington, was found guilty of converting and transferring criminal property and jailed for six years<\/p>\n Kelly Caton, 45, from Blackpool, was convicted of fraud, converting and acquiring criminal property and jailed for four-and-a-half years<\/p>\n Jordan Robinson, 24, from Fleetwood, was found guilty of fraud, converting and acquiring criminal property and also jailed for four-and-a-half years<\/p>\n James Austin-Beddoes, 28, from St Annes, found guilty of fraud and acquiring criminal property. He pleaded guilty to converting criminal property earlier and was jailed for 18 months, suspended for a year<\/p>\n Why not follow BBC North West on <\/em>Facebook<\/a>, <\/em>Twitter<\/a> and <\/em>Instagram<\/a>? You can also send story ideas to <\/em>northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n