PANews reported on July 12 that according to Techinasia, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein increased Nicholas Truglia's sentence to 12 years for failing to fulfill an agreement to pay $20.4 million in compensation to victims. Truglia pleaded guilty in 2021 to participating in a fraud case against Michael Terpin, CEO of blockchain consulting firm Transform Group. The fraud involved tricking telecommunications employees into transferring Terpin's phone number to a SIM card controlled by hackers, thereby gaining access to his cryptocurrency account. Truglia was responsible for converting the stolen funds into Bitcoin.