GAW Miners / Josh Garza

2014-08-01

GAW Miners and ZenMiner begin selling Hashlets — virtual cloud-mining contracts — through the ZenCloud platform, raising approximately $20 million from over 10,000 investors.

2014-11-01

Hashlets become unprofitable as GAW Miners lacks sufficient mining hardware to generate promised returns. The company continues paying earlier investors using funds from new purchasers.

2014-12-12

GAW Miners launches Paycoin (XPY), a proprietary cryptocurrency. Garza publicly promises that Paycoin will never trade below $20 per unit, backed by a $100 million reserve fund — claims later proven to be fabricated.

2015-01-01

Paycoin collapses to below $2, far beneath the promised $20 floor. The claimed $100 million reserve fund and corporate retail partnerships are found to be nonexistent.

2015-01-19

GAW Miners announces the termination of its Hashlet mining operations. Most investors have not recovered their principal.

2015-12-01

The SEC files a civil complaint against Garza, GAW Miners LLC, and ZenMiner LLC in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, alleging securities fraud and operation of a Ponzi scheme.

2017-06-02

The U.S. District Court enters a final default judgment against GAW Miners LLC and ZenMiner LLC, ordering each to pay $10,384,099 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest plus a $1,000,000 civil penalty.

2017-07-20

Josh Garza pleads guilty to one count of wire fraud in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

2017-10-04

The court enters judgment against Garza personally in the SEC civil case, holding him liable for $9,182,000 in disgorgement plus $742,774 in prejudgment interest.

2018-09-13

U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny sentences Garza to 21 months in federal prison, three years of supervised release (first six months in home confinement), and $9,182,000 in restitution to victims.

2019-01-04

Garza begins serving his 21-month federal prison sentence.

2021-11-01

A federal jury in Hartford, Connecticut finds in favor of co-founder Stuart Fraser after an eight-day trial, concluding that Hashlets and related GAW Miners products did not constitute securities — a significant legal distinction from the SEC's position in the Garza enforcement action.

2023-06-30

A federal court grants final approval of a $3.5 million civil class action settlement (Audet et al. v. Fraser et al.) benefiting investors who purchased Hashlets, Hashpoints, HashStakers, or Paycoin between August 1, 2014 and January 19, 2015.