Fraudster Sentenced to 71 Months for Crypto Ponzi Scheme and Illegal Reentry

A person accused of running a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme known as IcomTech and illegally reentering the United States after having been deported has been sentenced to 71 months in prison. 

In addition to the prison sentence, Mendoza, 56, a citizen of Mexico, was ordered to pay restitution to victims for $789,218.94 and forfeiture in the amount of $1.5 million. He was also ordered to forfeit his interest in his residence in Downey, CA, which was purchased using proceeds from the crime.

Magdaleno Mendoza pled guilty in July 2025 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and illegal reentry before the Honorable Paul G. Gardephe, who imposed today’s sentence.

A number of Mendoza’s co-conspirators—David Carmona, IcomTech’s founder; Marco Ruiz Ochoa, IcomTech’s purported CEO; Gustavo Rodriguez, IcomTech’s web developer; and David Brend, Juan Arellano, and Moses Valdez, all senior IcomTech promoters—have been convicted and sentenced separately for their roles in the IcomTech Ponzi scheme.

“As a senior promoter of IcomTech, Mendoza helped prey on Spanish-speaking victims who lacked investment experience, including our fellow New Yorkers,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “By exploiting trust and the promise of ‘crypto,’ he and his co-conspirators stole millions from working-class people.  Today’s sentence provides a measure of justice.”

According to the Indictment, public filings, and public court proceedings:

IcomTech, which launched in mid-2018, was a purported cryptocurrency mining and trading company that promised to earn its victim-investors profits in exchange for their purchase of purported cryptocurrency-related investment products. 

In reality, IcomTech was a multi-level marketing Ponzi scheme.  

By at least December 2018, Mendoza, who previously promoted at least two other similar cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes, was promoting IcomTech and recruiting victim-investors.  

Mendoza was one of the most senior promoters of IcomTech and was in regular contact with IcomTech’s founder, David Carmona. 

Mendoza and the other promoters of IcomTech falsely promised their respective Victims, among other things, that profits from the company’s cryptocurrency trading and mining would result in guaranteed daily returns on Victims’ investments.  In reality, IcomTech did not engage in cryptocurrency trading or mining for its Investors, and MENDOZA and IcomTech’s other promoters used Victim funds to pay other Victims to further promote the scheme and enrich themselves. MENDOZA and other IcomTech promoters primarily targeted working-class, Spanish-speaking Victims who had little to no prior experience with cryptocurrency.

IcomTech promoters, including Mendoza, traveled throughout the U.S., where they hosted lavish expos and small community presentations aimed at luring Victims to invest in the schemes, including in the Southern District of New York.  During larger-scale events, IcomTech promoters presented on purported investment products and the compensation plan, encouraged Victims to invest as a means of achieving financial freedom, and boasted about the amount of money they were earning.  IcomTech promoters often showed up in expensive cars and wearing luxury clothing as a way of exhibiting their purportedly legitimate success from IcomTech.  Mendoza personally hosted IcomTech promotional events at his restaurant in the greater Los Angeles area, where he collected thousands in cash from his Victims as purported IcomTech investments.

Victims invested in IcomTech by purchasing investment products from promoters using cash, checks, wire transfers, and actual cryptocurrency.  Following a Victim’s investment, a Victim would be provided with access to an online portal where the Victim could monitor the purported returns.  While Victims saw “profits” accumulate on the online portal, most Victims were unable to withdraw any of these so-called profits and ultimately lost their entire investments.  By contrast, IcomTech’s promoters, including Mendoza, siphoned off, in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars in Victim funds, which they withdrew as cash, spent on IcomTech promotional expenses, and used for personal expenditures such as luxury goods and real estate.

At least as early as August 2018, Victims who attempted to withdraw money from their online portal accounts had difficulty doing so. When they complained to promoters, they were met with excuses, delays, and hidden fees, if they were able to make any withdrawals at all.  Despite these complaints, IcomTech promoters, including Mendoza, continued to promote IcomTech and accept Victims’ investments. As complaints mounted, IcomTech began offering a proprietary crypto-token for sale as a means of injecting liquidity into IcomTech. Promoters of the scheme claimed that these tokens, known as “Icoms,” would eventually be worth a significant amount of money when they were accepted by companies for payment for goods and services.  This was false.  In reality, “Icoms” were essentially worthless and resulted in further financial loss to Victims. 

About the end of 2019, IcomTech stopped making payments to Victims and IcomTech collapsed. After IcomTech, Mendoza moved on to promote at least three other cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes. 

Mendoza was residing in the United States illegally when he promoted IcomTech and the other cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes. He had been residing in the United States illegally for decades and had previously been deported or removed four times, including once using a false identity.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of Special Agents from Homeland Security Investigations’ El Dorado Task Force.  Mr. Clayton also thanked the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for their assistance.

The case is being handled by the Office’s Illicit Finance and Money Laundering Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael D. Maimin, T. Josiah Pertz, and Cecilia E. Vogel are in charge of the prosecution. 

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