Southern Utah man sentenced in federal cryptocurrency fraud case

A Wash­ington County man was sentenced in federal court in St. George to three years in prison after pleading guilty in two related cases involving wire fraud and operating an unlicensed cryptocurrency money transmitting business.

Brian Garry Sewell, 54, admitted in case numbers 4:24cr55 and 4:24cr54 that he defrauded at least 17 investors between Decem­ber 2017 and April 2024 by lying about his experi­ence, education and ability to generate large returns through cryptocurrency trading. According to court documents, Sewell obtained more than $2.9 million from victims and diverted funds for unauthorized purposes rather than legitimate in­vestment activity.

In a separate case, Sewell admitted that from March through September 2020 he operated Rockwell Capital Management as an unli­censed money transmitting business. Prosecutors said he converted more than $5.4 million in bulk cash into cryptocurrency on be­half of third parties, includ­ing individuals engaged in fraud and drug trafficking, without registering the business as required by federal law and without complying with anti-money laundering regulations.

U.S. District Court Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen sen­tenced Sewell to 36 months in prison in each case. The sentences will run concur­rently for a total of three years. He was also ordered to serve 36 months of super­vised release following his release from custody and comply with standard fed­eral monitoring conditions.

In the fraud case, Sewell was ordered to pay $3,605,182 in restitution to defrauded investors, a mortgage lender and a credit union. In the money transmitting case, he was ordered to pay $217,727 in restitution to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Inves­tigation, the Federal Bu­reau of Investigation Salt Lake City Field Office and Homeland Security Inves­tigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen P. Dent prosecuted the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah.

Federal officials said the sentencing reflects ongo­ing efforts to prevent the misuse of cryptocurrency and unlicensed financial services to move illicit funds through the financial system.