TL;DR
- A federal jury convicted Brent C. Kovar on 15 total counts tied to a $24 million crypto fraud involving at least 400 investors.
- Profit Connect promised 15% to 30% annual returns, a 100% money-back guarantee and claimed massive crypto reserves that prosecutors said did not exist.
- Kovar faces a combined statutory maximum of 280 years in prison, though a federal judge will determine the actual sentence on Nov. 30, 2026.
A federal jury has convicted Las Vegas businessman Brent C. Kovar on charges tied to a $24 million cryptocurrency fraud that prosecutors say affected at least 400 investors. Kovar, who owned Profit Connect, was found guilty after a nine-day trial of 11 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud and two counts of money laundering. The staggering element is the punishment: the combined statutory maximum reaches 280 years in prison. His sentence will be decided by a federal judge on Nov. 30, making the figure a legal ceiling rather than a guaranteed term.
Profit Connect promised AI-powered crypto returns that never existed
Profit Connect operated from late 2017 through July 2021 and was presented as a business using artificial intelligence software on a supercomputer to mine cryptocurrency and verify blockchain transactions. Kovar told investors the company was profitable, offering fixed annual returns ranging from 15% to 30%, alongside a 100% money-back guarantee. Prosecutors said those assurances were built on claims that did not match the company’s financial reality. Kovar also told investors that Profit Connect held hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency reserves and falsely claimed their investments were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
According to prosecutors, Profit Connect was not profitable, held no such cryptocurrency reserves and lacked a legitimate way to deliver the promised returns or guarantees. Instead, investor money was used to keep the business operating, purchase gifts for employees, buy a house for Kovar and repay earlier investors. The scheme therefore relied on new investor funds while presenting payouts as profits generated through cryptocurrency activities. That structure left victims believing they were participating in advanced technology and crypto mining when prosecutors said the business could not support the returns that had been advertised to them.
The conviction moves the case from proving guilt to determining punishment. Although 280 years represents the maximum obtained by combining the statutory limits attached to the counts of conviction, the sentencing judge will decide Kovar’s prison term. The case illustrates how futuristic language around AI, supercomputing and cryptocurrency can be used to give traditional investment fraud a veneer of technological credibility. For at least 400 affected investors, the legal outcome confirms that Profit Connect’s promises of high fixed returns, enormous crypto reserves and guaranteed reimbursement were not backed by the business prosecutors described at trial.
