Westporter pleads guilty to $4.4M theft from cryptocurrency employer

HARTFORD — A Westport man pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing nearly $4.5 million from the cryptocurrency firm where he was an executive.

Dylan Meissner, 31, who was vice president of finance for a cryptocurrency firm, pleaded guilty to wire fraud at U.S. District Court, according to a statement by Vanessa Roberts Avery, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut.

Meissner, who because of his job had access to the business’s wallets and bank accounts, was granted a loan of “50 Ethereum,” valued at about $170,000, by his employer in January 2022 to cover “a substantial loss in certain cryptocurrency investments he had made using his personal funds,” according to Roberts Avery.

The cryptocurrency firm was not identified.

Roberts Avery said an FBI investigation revealed that from February 2022 until he was terminated the following November, Meissner diverted $4,461,828 of the business’s money to cover “significant personal trading losses.” He was able to carry out the scheme by falsifying the firm’s financial records, according to the prosecutor.

In court proceedings Thursday, Meissner pleaded guilty to wire fraud, an offense that has a maximum prison term of 20 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 11 by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea.

Meissner was released on $100,000 bond, pending sentencing.

In addition, Meissner has been ordered to make restitution of $4,633,424.99, which includes the money he stole and the loan he did not repay, according to Roberts Avery.