An NFT startup founder has been indicted on allegations he siphoned off several million dollars in investor funds for personal living expenses, including payments on a Miami condominium loan and a DJ hobby.

According to a recent report by The Block, Miami resident Taji Tarsha (타지 타르샤) was indicted on Aug. 5 local time on charges of securities fraud and wire fraud, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years. Prosecutors said Tarsha deceived investors about plans for how funds would be used through his company, Poo and Parimitted.

The company was described as an NFT decentralised marketplace and raised money through a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens, or SAFT, in which investors buy in advance the rights to tokens to be issued later. Prosecutors said Tarsha sold 95 million of those tokens to about 70 investors, raising more than $10 million.

Prosecutors alleged that as soon as Tarsha received the investment money, he used it for gambling and purchases of speculative digital assets. They said he later used it for a Miami condominium loan, interior work and DJ hobby activities.

The Tarsha case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan (루이스 캐플런) in New York. Kaplan also oversaw sentencing for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (샘 뱅크먼프리드).