Paris Court Sentences Former Holograph Employee to Five Years for Minting 1 Billion HLG

A Paris criminal court sentenced a former Holograph Foundation employee to five years in prison Friday, Nov. 6, for generating 1 billion Holograph (HLG) tokens without authorization in 2024. The sentence includes two years unsuspended and three years suspended under probation.

The court found that he altered the token’s minting conditions and transferred the newly created tokens to a personal wallet. Prosecutors valued them at about $14 million at the time. The former employee also received a €600,000 fine.

Two accomplices helped move funds through accounts at multiple crypto exchanges. One received a two-year prison term, with 14 months suspended, and an €80,000 fine. The other received a two-year suspended sentence and a €40,000 fine.

The three defendants must jointly pay Holograph Foundation €1.15 million for direct financial harm and €106,800 for other harm. The court rejected the foundation’s separate claim tied to HLG’s price decline, saying there was no acceptable basis to calculate a loss in value directly linked to the fraud and noting that the token’s price had already fallen sharply before the incident.

The trial opened Oct. 16 with three defendants.