East Bay Resident Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud In Scheme To Defraud Concert Promoters

OAKLAND – Quincy Krashna pleaded guilty this afternoon to committing wire fraud as part of a scheme to defraud European concert promoters, announced Acting United States Attorney Alex G. Tse and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett.  The plea was accepted by the Honorable Jeffrey S. White, U.S. District Judge.

According to the plea agreement, Krashna, 49, from Berkeley, Calif., admitted that he misrepresented to concert promoters his connections to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  The victims were interested in promoting Red Hot Chili Peppers concerts in Eastern Europe.  Krashna further admitted he told the concert promoters that he would hold in an escrow account a $450,000 down payment to secure the band’s services and that the money would be returned to the promoters if Krashna was unable to secure the band’s services.  Krashna admitted in the plea agreement that he created a fraudulent “Escrow Agreement” that had the appearance of being an escrow agreement used by Chase Bank, when in fact the alleged escrow account was a personal bank account that he controlled.  The concert promoters wired $450,000 into the fake escrow account after receiving Krashna’s assurances.

Krashna admitted in the plea agreement that he continued to inform the concert promoters that their money was in an escrow account controlled by Chase Bank, when in fact he had transferred the money out of his personal account into other accounts that he controlled.  Krashna admitted that he continued to misrepresent the whereabouts of the victims’ money until March 2012.

On January 12, 2017, a federal grand jury indicted Krashna, charging him with seven counts of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343.  Pursuant to today’s plea agreement, Krashna pleaded guilty to Count One of the indictment. Krashna also agreed to make restitution to the victims for their losses. 

Judge White has scheduled Krashna’s sentencing for July 10, 2018.  The maximum statutory penalties for wire fraud are 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release. Additional fines, forfeitures, restitution, and special assessments also may be imposed.  However, any sentence will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.   

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tom Green and Michelle Kane are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Noble Hughes and Katie Turner.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI.