Former South Lake Tahoe man charged in cryptocurrency investment scheme

A federal grand jury returned a 12-count indictment against Daniel Chartraw, 51, formerly of South Lake Tahoe, charging him with wire fraud, United States Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. The indictment was unsealed this week after Chartraw’s arrest.

According to court documents, Chartraw was responsible for defrauding multiple victims in a cryptocurrency investment scheme. Chartraw claimed that his companies, Crypto-Pal LLC and TDA Global, were developing and possessed a proprietary algorithm that was capable of generating exceptional returns on cryptocurrency investments. However, instead of investing money from his victims as he promised, Chartraw used the money to fund his personal lifestyle and travel.

This isn't the first time Chartraw has been in federal court. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with a multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme, resulting in investors losing almost $3.6M. In that case, Chartraw admitted he stole $1 million by fraudulently posing as an owner and manager of a company selling “dore” bars, which Chartraw claimed contained precious metals. Chartraw arranged for an investor to tour the company and managed to limit the investor’s interaction with the company’s true owners and prevent the discovery of the scheme. When the investor placed $1 million into an escrow account for the purchase of the dore bars, Chartraw used a forged letter to get the escrow company to send the money to accounts that he and others controlled.

The current case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Delaney is prosecuting the case.

If convicted, Chartraw faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.