Washington Co. duo under federal indictment for unlicensed crypto scheme
ST. GEORGE, Utah (ABC4) — A pair of Washington County men are under federal indictment after the U.S. Attorney’s Office said they operated an unlicensed money-transmitting business that converted bulk cash to cryptocurrency.
Brian Garry Sewell, 52, appeared in federal court Monday, June 17, and his co-defendant Keen Lee Ellsworth, 57, is scheduled to appear on June 24.
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Court documents state the pair participated in a scheme between March 2020 and September 2020 where they allegedly obtained $2.5 million from investors in dozens of transactions. Ellsworth used his company, Ellsworth and Associates, to allegedly send Sewell money. Sewell then used his company, Rockwell Capital Management to convert the funds into crypto. Neither business was licensed to operate as a money-transmitting business, according to U.S. attorneys.
Separately, Sewell is accused of converting an additional $2.6 million of wire transfer funds to crypto between June 2020 and May 2021.
All of this is on top of additional charges Sewell faces on his own for allegedly defrauding investors between December 2017 and April 2024 by “lying about his experience, education, and ability to generate large returns,” according to the U.S. attorney’s press release. ” For example, Sewell falsely claimed to investors that he ran previous cryptocurrency funds that generated significant returns; that he received a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree from Stanford University; that he generated high returns with little risk of loss; and concealed from investors that he used Rockwell Capital Management as an unlicensed money transmitting business.”
Sewell allegedly submitted a mortgage application in which he used a fabricated W-2 that stated “his 2019 wages were $180,000; submitting a fabricated earnings statement from Rockwell Capital Management that stated his 2020 wages were $15,000 per month; and stated he had 22 years of schooling, when in fact he had obtained a GED and did not complete college.”
Sewell is additionally accused of making false statements to Chartway Federal Credit Union on a loan application, again using a fabricated W-2.
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Sewell was arrested this past weekend in Washington County. He also has a residence in Puerto Rico, according to court documents.
Together, Sewell and Ellsworth faces charges of conspiracy to conduct an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Alone, Sewell faces charges of unlicensed money transmitting business, theft of government property, wire fraud, false statements designed to influence the Federal Housing Administration or a mortgage lending business, false statements designed to influence a federally insured credit union, and money laundering – spending.
The case is being investigated jointly the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
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