Sioux Falls crypto investor indicted for wire fraud, money laundering, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft

Date: July 16, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

Sioux Falls - United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that a federal grand jury has indicted a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, man on charges of Wire Fraud, Money Laundering, Bank Fraud, and Aggravated Identity Theft.

Benjamin Paul Wiener was indicted last month on 29 counts. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Veronica L. Duffy on July 10, 2026, and pleaded not guilty to the Indictment.

The maximum penalty upon conviction for Wire Fraud and Money Laundering is up to 20 years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, or both imprisonment and a fine, up to 3 years of supervised release, and a $100 assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.

The maximum penalty upon conviction for Bank Fraud is up to 30 years' imprisonment, a $1,000,000 fine, or both imprisonment and a fine, up to 5 years of supervised release, and a $100 assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.

The maximum penalty upon conviction for Aggravated Identity theft is a mandatory minimum consecutive term of two years' imprisonment in addition to any term of imprisonment imposed for any other counts of conviction.

According to the indictment, Wiener devised a fraud scheme to obtain money and digital currency from victims who invested with Wiener's companies. Wiener made materially false statements and fraudulent representations to induce his victims to invest money with his companies. His fraud scheme has negatively impacted dozens of victims throughout the region, including in South Dakota and Minnesota.

After obtaining funds from his victims, Wiener then allegedly moved victims' funds to conceal and disguise the location, source, ownership, and control of the funds. In other words, as alleged in the indictment, Wiener laundered the fraud proceeds through and into various financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges to cover his conduct and to control and expend the funds on personal expenses. In furtherance of this scheme, as alleged, when victims' funds became depleted or a certain investor requested the return of their investment, Wiener would seek new investors to then use new funds to use on personal expenses and to pay back previous investors. As a result of Wiener's conduct, the government alleges the estimated total loss is approximately $20 million.

Wiener allegedly used the following entities to perpetrate the fraud scheme and money laundering activities: Benaiah Capital LLC; Benaiah Holdings, Inc.; Benaiah Digital Fixed Income LP; Benaiah Digital LP; Benaiah Management Company, Inc.; Benaiah Enterprises, LLC; Aslan Management, LLC; and Runway Four10.

In addition, the indictment alleges Wiener defrauded a financial institution located in Sioux Falls. In April 2025, as alleged, he secured a line of credit for $1,000,000 by falsifying to the bank various documents, information, and correspondence. To do so, he utilized, without authority, another individual's personal identifying information.

As with any indictment, the charges are merely accusations, and Wiener is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

The investigation is being conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the FBI, and the United States Attorney's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy R. Jehangiri is prosecuting the case.

Wiener was released on bond pending trial. A trial date of Sept. 15, 2026, has been set.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.