Crypto fund Translunar founder sentenced in tax evasion case: concealed $7 million in income, sentenced to 37 months

PANews July 29, according to Bloomberg, Justin Ryan Schmidt, founder of the crypto investment fund Translunar Crypto LP, was sentenced by a U.S. court to 37 months in prison for tax evasion. He was accused of falsifying income between 2020 and 2022, reporting income of less than $5,000, but prosecutors said he actually earned more than $7 million through fund business between 2019 and 2022. The case number is US v. Schmidt, 26-cr-94, being heard by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin division.

Schmidt founded Translunar in 2017, mainly investing in blockchain startups. The funding mainly came from investors in the Austin area of Texas and the Aspen area of Colorado. The U.S. IRS Criminal Investigation Division arrested him on February 23, 2026, after which he has remained in custody.

Colin M. McDonald, Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice, said that renouncing U.S. citizenship cannot avoid U.S. legal sanctions; Schmidt deceived the U.S. tax system by concealing millions of dollars in income and assets, submitting false tax filings, and other methods. Prosecutors stated in the sentencing documents that after his arrest, Schmidt told the probation office that he was single and had a net worth of negative $1.1 million, but the actual situation showed that he was married to a British citizen who lived in the Cayman Islands, while Schmidt admitted that his net worth was at least $5.8 million. In addition to the 37-month prison term, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman also ordered Schmidt to pay approximately $3.4 million in restitution.