An El Paso cryptocurrency investor who squandered his clients’ money by financing a high life of luxury cars, private jets and diamond jewelry has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
Abner Alejandro Tinoco, 27, was convicted of wire fraud in a $9 million Ponzi-style scheme with his company, Kikit & Mess Investments, which deceived investors by using their money to finance a luxury lifestyle, authorities said.
Kikit & Mess Investments was founded in 2020 and had its office in Downtown El Paso’s upscale Mills Building. The company dissolved in June 2022, online corporate records showed.
In January, Tinoco pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud in U.S. District Court in El Paso following an investigation by the FBI El Paso’s Complex Financial Crimes Task Force. He had faced up to 20 years in prison.
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Federal prosecutors said that Tinoco solicited millions of dollars from investors by claiming he was managing “customized client portfolios” to trade in cryptocurrency and foreign exchange markets.
Out of more than $9 million in investments, Tinoco spent more than half on personal expenses, including luxury cars, chartered private jets, real estate and jewelry, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas said in a statement. Some funds were misrepresented as “profits” to his clients as part of the Ponzi scheme.
‘Fraudster’ spent money on Lamborghini, horses
Among items purchased by Tinoco were three homes in the Upper Valley and West Side, a leased Lamborghini given to a Beverly Hills diamond dealer in exchange for diamonds, and two horses named Velvet Jac and The Perfect Pair, according to a report by a court-appointed receiver tasked with recovering investors’ lost money.
In a separate civil case, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission obtained a civil consent decree against Tinoco and his business, imposing a ban on trading activity, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The Department of Justice is working on getting restitution for Tinoco’s victims. A restitution hearing is scheduled for next year.
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“This defendant manufactured a predatory scheme, investing less than half a percent of funds from over a dozen victims who trusted him with millions of dollars in investments,” U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas said in a statement.
“We will continue to strongly prosecute rapacious fraudsters who take advantage of unsuspecting victims while also holding the defendants responsible for those victims’ lost funds,” Esparza said.
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