A Las Vegas businessman has been convicted over a $24 million crypto investment scheme that was marketed around an “AI supercomputer,” according to CoinDesk and Tom’s Hardware. Brent Kovar was found guilty of defrauding investors through Profit Connect, a company presented as a crypto-mining operation. CoinDesk reports that the scheme defrauded at least 400 investors out of $24 million. Tom’s Hardware, citing the U.S. Attorney’s Office, reports that a Nevada court found Kovar guilty of 11 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud and two counts of money laundering. The pitch, according to Tom’s Hardware, was that Profit Connect used an artificial intelligence supercomputer to support crypto-mining operations. Investors were allegedly offered fixed annual returns of 15% to 30%, along with a 100% money-back guarantee. Prosecutors said those profits did not come from mining or transaction-verification activity, but from money supplied by newer investors. Tom’s Hardware reports that Kovar told investors the company held cryptocurrency reserves worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Prosecutors said the company had no such holdings, could not cover promised interest payments, and had no way to return investor cash despite the guarantee. The outlet also reports that investor money was used to operate Profit Connect, buy gifts for employees, buy a house for Kovar, and make repayments that were represented as returns from crypto activity. Profit Connect operated from 2017 to 2021, according to Tom’s Hardware. That period overlapped with the first major retail crypto boom, when Bitcoin reached a peak above $19,000 in December 2017. The case shows how crypto yield claims, technical language and artificial-intelligence branding were combined in a fundraising pitch years before the current AI investment cycle. Kovar now faces a maximum sentence of 280 years in prison, according to both CoinDesk and Tom’s Hardware. Tom’s Hardware reports that sentencing is scheduled for November 30. The provided reports do not establish whether investor funds will be recovered. Who benefits: Law enforcement and regulators gain another conviction in a crypto-era fraud case. Investors evaluating AI or crypto yield products benefit from a clearer enforcement example of the risks around fixed-return promises. Who's exposed: Promoters selling guaranteed or fixed crypto returns are exposed to scrutiny when the underlying source of yield is not verifiable. Retail investors remain exposed when investment pitches rely on complex technology claims without transparent reserves or revenue evidence.