A federal jury in Sacramento has convicted a former El Dorado County resident of running what prosecutors say was a tangle of crypto and investment scams that drained nearly $1 million from investors. After an eight-day trial, jurors agreed that Daniel Chartraw used sham companies touting guaranteed returns, with no legitimate trading to back up the big promises. Chartraw, who has ties to South Lake Tahoe and Lodi, is set to return to federal court this fall for sentencing.
How prosecutors described the scheme
According to evidence presented at trial, between March 2021 and February 2022 Chartraw and his associates controlled companies including Crypto-Pal LLC and TDA Global LLC. Prosecutors said the firms were pitched as slick, web-based trading platforms offering high, supposedly guaranteed returns, but behind the scenes there was no real investing going on.
Chartraw instead relied on fabricated account statements and repeated misrepresentations to keep money flowing in and to persuade existing investors to put up more cash, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “This verdict sends a clear message: individuals who exploit the trust of others and steal through deception will be held accountable,” U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said in a statement.
How victims were targeted
Jurors heard that Chartraw communicated with investors by phone, text, email and virtual meetings, sometimes using the aliases “Leonard” or “Leon” to disguise his role in the operation. As reported by The Sacramento Bee, evidence showed he repeatedly dipped into Crypto-Pal’s bank account to withdraw cash, make purchases and shift investor funds into accounts he personally controlled.
Prosecutors told the jury those maneuvers added up to nearly $1 million in losses for investors scattered across the country, many of whom believed they were watching successful trades rack up on polished online dashboards.
Sentencing and penalties
Chartraw, 53, is scheduled to be sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb on Sept. 28, 2026. He faces statutory maximum penalties of up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for each count, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The FBI led the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Delaney and J. Douglas Harman brought the case to trial. The court will later decide how much restitution Chartraw must pay and what assets, if any, will be forfeited as part of the sentence.
A history of fraud
This verdict is not Chartraw’s first run-in with federal fraud charges. An archived press release from the FBI’s Sacramento office shows he pleaded guilty in 2013 to wire fraud in a separate multimillion-dollar investment scheme. In that earlier case, he was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison and ordered to pay roughly $2.8 million in restitution.
The prosecution in 2026 noted that Chartraw sometimes told associates he needed to hide his identity because of that prior conviction. The repeat nature of the allegations, prosecutors argued, highlighted how he returned to a familiar playbook, this time using cryptocurrency as the bait.
What investors should watch
Federal authorities say there are a few classic red flags that should always raise eyebrows: promises of guaranteed returns, pressure to move money quickly and anyone insisting that payments be made in cryptocurrency. Those are often signs that your “investment” is really just funding someone else’s lifestyle.
For more on how to spot bogus crypto pitches and where to report suspected fraud, see guidance from the Federal Trade Commission.
