Braden John Karony, former CEO of the crypto project SafeMoon, has publicly declared his innocence as his criminal trial commenced in the Eastern District of New York. Karony is facing charges alongside SafeMoon founder Kyle Nagy and former chief technology officer Thomas Smith. The allegations include securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy tied to misappropriation of millions of dollars in SafeMoon (SFM) tokens.
Court documents accuse the group of falsely marketing SafeMoon as a secure investment vehicle while allegedly diverting a significant portion of investor funds for personal enrichment, purchasing luxury assets. On the opening day, prosecutors called a SafeMoon investor and Thomas Smith, who is cooperating with authorities, as witnesses. Karony, out on $3 million bond since February 2024, reiterated his not-guilty plea in a post on X and publicly deflected some blame to Nagy, who reportedly fled to Russia after charges surfaced in 2023.
The trial is expected to continue until May 26 and has drawn less attention than other high-profile crypto prosecutions such as those of Sam Bankman-Fried and Changpeng Zhao of Binance. Legal experts note the risks associated with Karony's public commentary during ongoing proceedings.