Yaroslav Shilkloper, a dual citizen of Ukraine and Israel, was sentenced on Tuesday to four years in prison for his role in a fake brokerage scheme that defrauded American investors of more than $3 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Shilkloper, 50, was also ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and $1.43 million in restitution. Prosecutors said he and his co-conspirators lured victims with promises of high investment returns through the companies K6 Investing, Neotron Holding Ltd. and Goldex Technology, while providing access to a fraudulent online platform that appeared to display real-time investment performance.
Instead of investing the funds, the conspirators laundered the money through bank accounts in Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, Israel, the Czech Republic and other countries under their control, according to court records. Victims who attempted to withdraw their money were blocked, threatened with legal action or manipulated into sending additional funds to the scheme.
“When victims attempted to withdraw their money, they were prevented from doing so, threatened with legal action, or manipulated into sending more money to the fraud ring,” per court filings.
Shilkloper was arrested in Poland in 2023 and extradited to the United States in September 2024. He is the first of three defendants to be sentenced in the case. Authorities previously recovered and returned nearly $2.8 million to victims as a result of forfeiture proceedings against Shilkloper and co-conspirators in the Republic of Georgia, according to the Justice Department.
