The founding and lead pastor of Hope Cathedral, a non-denominational church in Jackson, has been sentenced to five years in federal prison in connection with a bribery scheme to take over control of a federal credit union and a related fraud scheme to operate Coin.mx, an illegal Bitcoin exchange.
Trevon Gross, 47, of Jackson, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan on Oct. 30, according to Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.
In addition to being sentenced to five years in prison, Gross was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay fines of $12,000. He was ordered to forfeit the proceeds of his crimes and to pay restitution.
Yuri Lebedev, 39, of St. Johns, Fla., was sentenced to 16 months in prison for his role in the illegal enterprise, according to a press release from Kim.
In addition to being sentenced to 16 months in prison, Lebedev was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay fines of $10,000. He was ordered to forfeit the proceeds of his crimes and to pay restitution.
On March 17, 2017, Gross and Lebedev were convicted following a jury trial on all counts with which they were charged in the controlling indictment, according to Kim.
In a statement posted on the Hope Cathedral website, the church’s Board of Elders said they are “disappointed with the sentencing process that occurred on Oct. 30 regarding Pastor Trevon. Over the next several weeks, Pastor’s legal defense team will file a motion of appeal. Due to the ongoing legal process, there will be no further comments at this time.
“It is important to know that Hope Cathedral has always operated with integrity and excellence. It is the foundation of our faith. We have never wavered from that standpoint and we never will.
“We continue to stand by our pastor, knowing his character to be that of a true man of God, a dynamic spiritual leader, as well as a humble servant of our Lord. Our faith in God is unshakable.
“The health of the church remains strong and united. We invite and encourage you to stand resolute along with us as we watch the manifold presence of God get the victory through this trying ordeal,” the Board of Elders said.
According to an article published in The New York Times on Oct. 1, 2017, “a Bitcoin is a digital token, with no physical backing, that can be sent electronically from one user to another, anywhere in the world. … Bitcoin is also the name of the payment network on which the Bitcoin digital tokens are stored and moved. … the Bitcoin network is not run by a single company or person. The system is run by a decentralized network of computers around the world that keep track of all Bitcoin transactions.”
Following the sentencing of Lebedev and Gross, Kim said, “Yuri Lebedev and others at Coin.mx, an unlawful Bitcoin exchange, tricked banks into processing millions of dollars in transactions by hiding the nature of their business.
“When the banks caught on to their scheme, Lebedev and others bribed Trevon Gross in order to gain control of a credit union to process those transactions, undermining the credit union’s safety and solvency in the process.
“Despite elaborate efforts by the defendants to hide their schemes, their brazen crimes were exposed at trial. Gross and Lebedev’s criminal schemes have now landed them in federal prison,” he said.
According to the superseding indictment on which Gross and Lebedev were convicted, evidence admitted at trial, and statements made during the sentencing proceedings, the acts occurred between 2013 and July 2015.
Coin.mx used a phony front company called the “Collectables Club” to open financial accounts in order to trick financial institutions into believing the unlawful Bitcoin exchange was simply a members only association of individuals who discussed, bought and sold collectible items and memorabilia.
Lebedev and his co-conspirators deceived financial institutions by deliberately misidentifying and miscoding Coin.mx customers’ credit card and debit card transactions, in violation of bank and credit card company rules and regulations.
Through the illegal Coin.mx scheme, Lebedev and his co-conspirators caused more than $10 million in Bitcoin-related transactions to be processed illegally through financial institutions.
All four of Lebedev and Gross’s co-defendants have been convicted and have been sentenced or are awaiting sentence by Nathan, according to Kim.
