A hard money lender has been sentenced to over three years in prison for defrauding investors out of $20 million in connection with Bitwise Industries.

The big picture: U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston sentenced Andrew Adler, 31, to three years and five months in prison for defrauding investors in loans made to Bitwise. • Along with the time behind bars, Thurston ordered Adler to pay $9.3 million in restitution and to forfeit another $1 million.

Driving the news: From December 2022 through May 2023, Adler and his Fresno business partner, David Hardcastle, gave Bitwise around $20 million in hard money loans. • Adler, who is from Greenwich, Connecticut, and Hardcastle did not fund the loans and did not have any money at risk. They syndicated the loans to other investors and altere

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