Ryan Kennedy, former CEO of the MooPay (Moolah) cryptocurrency exchange, has been sentenced on three charges of rape. According to the Daily Mail, the rapes reportedly took place between 2008 and 2015. Kennedy was also influential in the Dogecoin community before his issues began to mount. The court found Kennedy guilty in May.
According to the Bristol Post, Kennedy was charged with 14 sexual crimes and found guilty of three of them. Two charges of rape and one charge of attempted rape were thrown out. The jury couldn’t agree on the other eight charges. The eight undetermined charges will remain on Kennedy’s file.
Kennedy is required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
None of Kennedy’s charges are related to the loss of roughly $1.5 million in cryptocurency after Moolah shut down. Reports from February stated that Kennedy had been charged in relation to a cryptocurrency theft. It is unclear if those charges are still pending, or if they original reports were correct.
Ryan Kennedy used the name Alex Green in the cryptocurrency community. According to reports, he has other aliases as well. He ran a Dogecoin focused exchange called Moolah and also acquired cryptocurrency exchange Mintpal in 2014, that deal collapsed once the exchange failed to relaunch. Both companies collapsed and users lost the millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency held inside.
One woman said that Ryan made her apologize for “ruining his fun” after she cried and screamed during the sexual assault. At least three sexual partners said they asked Kennedy to stop during sexual intercourse, but he refused.
It could be argued that Kennedy got off easy. The average sentencing time for a rape case in the UK is eight years, according to the Guardian. The court sentenced Kennedy to four years each on two charges and three years on another. The charges run consecutively, adding up to 11 years. Had each rape conviction netted him the national average, he would have received 24 years in prison.
Kennedy was smiling as he left the courthouse, according to both the Daily Mail and the Bristol Post.
According to the Daily Mail, Kennedy’s defense lawyer cited Kennedy’s willingness to teach other prisoners how to read as a reason he deserves a lesser sentence. He also said there was confusion over what consent meant during Kennedy’s relationships with these women.
While many will cheer Kennedy’s incarceration, there is still the matter of the missing cryptocurrency. Without a fraud conviction, Kennedy may be able to access the stolen cryptocurrency upon his release. Ideally, charges will come during his incarceration and users will have a chance to recoup their losses.