Bitwise founders sentenced to spend years in prison for wire fraud crime

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The co-founders of failed tech company Bitwise now know their punishment after being sentenced in federal court.

"This will be the last we hear of Bitwise, I hope, here in Fresno. It's going to leave a scar both on the people that it hurt and the community but this was the last phase," lead class action attorney for former Bitwise employees, Roger Bonakdar, said.

Cameras were not allowed in the federal court room Tuesday, as a judge told Jake Soberal he will spend 11 years in prison while Irma Olguin Jr. will serve 9 years.

The judge citing Soberal's experience as an attorney as a reason for his longer sentence.

"The federal guidelines were approximately 150 months so they both did get some break from the court," Bonakdar stated.

The sentencing comes after the pair pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud earlier this year.

Federal prosecutors say the two worked together to defraud investors and lenders out of millions of dollars before the scheme collapsed in May 2023.

"As U.S. attorney Carbajal put it, it was a Ponzi scheme in the sense that you get the next investor, you pay the prior to perpetuate the fraud and that's what we heard today," Bonakdar explained.

Soberal and Olguin will need to pay back nearly $115 million in restitution.

"It's probably unlikely that either one of them are able to pay that, but that's going to hound them the rest of their lives," Bonakdar said.

Attorney Roger Bonakdar represents many former Bitwise employees in the class action lawsuit against the pair, which settled at $20,000,000 earlier this year.

He says there will be two phases to the settlement distributions.

"I'm hopeful that we will get a first phase payment at the end of the first quarter maybe beginning of the second quarter of 2025," Bonakdar said.

He also hopes the conclusion of Tuesday's fraud case brings closure.

"From the perspective of the employees that were hurt, no sentence was going to make it right," he stated. "They all grieved today. I imagine they are going to feel badly for jake and Irma despite the wrongs that they felt and the losses that they had."

Action News waited outside the federal court house to ask the co-founders about the fraud, but federal security told us U.S. marshals had escorted them out of an exit that avoided media.

They did post an apology letter on X back in July, saying they're sorry to have abused and broken the trust that was placed in them.

The two are expected to report to prison on March 18, 2025.

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