Ex-Minnesota Vikings Part Owner Gets 75-Month Prison Sentence For Crypto Fraud

Topline

Reginald Fowler—a former minority owner of the Minnesota Vikings—was ordered Monday to serve more than six years in prison, forfeit $740 million and pay $53 million worth of restitution for a cryptocurrency scam defrauding the bankrupt Alliance of American Football league, federal prosecutors said Monday.

question during a news conference Monday, Feb. 14, 2005 in Eden Prairie, Minn., where Minnesota Vikings owner Red McCombs announced the sale of the team to Fowler. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

Associated Press

Key Facts

Prosecutors said Fowler, 64, lied to Alliance of American Football executives about supporting the league with accounts containing money from real estate dealings—leading to a stock purchase agreement that would cement him as the largest shareholder in the league’s parent company.

In reality, the bank accounts were used to swap digital currencies for cash without the knowledge of the banks the accounts belonged to—resulting in Fowler processing roughly $750 million in crypto transactions in a span of 10 months.

Fowler’s firm, Global Trading Solutions, worked as a payment processor for Crypto Capital—a failed “shadow bank”—and other crypto companies.

U.S. Attorney Damien Williams said Fowler violated federal anti-money laundering laws, defrauded the Alliance of American Football and lied to U.S. banks in the process.

Key Background

Fowler, a sports investor, was one of multiple figures that tried acquiring the Minnesota Vikings in 2005. His bid failed—but he later became a minority owner in 2014. He was an owner of Kyrene OEM and Spiral Inc., the latter of which had divisions in real estate and manufacturing. Before no longer having a stake in the Vikings, he was saddled with $60 million in debt and eventually lost control of his companies. Last year, Fowler pleaded guilty to charges of fraud, conspiracy and operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business. Fowler used his accounts, which were actually used to conduct the crypto transactions, to convince Alliance of American Football owners that he could support the league—eventually entering a stock purchase agreement and becoming the largest shareholder in the league’s parent company. Payment deadlines were missed by Fowler and some payments that were sent did not follow guidelines of his agreement with the league.

Tangent

The Alliance of American Football was founded in 2018 and started its first season a year later. That same year, the league ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy—with liabilities of more than $48 million far outweighing its cash.