East Bay Resident Sentenced To Two Years In Prison For Defrauding Concert Promoters

Defendant Misrepresented His Connections to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Falsified an Escrow Account to Secure a $450,000 Payment

OAKLAND – Quincy Krashna was sentenced today to 24 months in prison, and ordered to pay $450,000 in restitution to European concert promoters, announced United States Attorney Alex G. Tse and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett.  The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Jeffrey S. White, U.S. District Judge.

Krashna, 50, of Albany, Calif., pleaded guilty on March 6, 2018.  According to the plea agreement, Krashna 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.

A federal grand jury indicted Krashna on January 12, 2017.  He was charged with seven counts of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343.  Pursuant to the guilty plea, Krashna pleaded guilty to one count and the remaining counts were dismissed. 

In addition to the prison term and restitution, Judge White ordered the defendant to serve a three-year term of supervised release to follow his prison term.  The defendant will begin serving the sentence on November 6, 2018.  

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.