NEW YORK, May 30 (Reuters) - A former Deutsche Bank

investment banker was ordered by a U.S. judge on

Thursday to spend 41 months in prison, after pleading guilty to

a Ponzi-like fraud in which he promised investors guaranteed

returns from cryptocurrency trading.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Rashawn Russell, 28, of

Brooklyn, was sentenced eight months after admitting to wire

fraud and access device fraud, and three months after his bail

was revoked.

Russell was also ordered to pay victims more than $1.5

million in restitution.

A federal public defender representing Russell did not

immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russell allegedly told friends, former college classmates

and onetime Deutsche Bank colleagues he could generate 25%

returns in three months, and had doubled some investors' money

in earlier three-month periods.

The alleged scheme ran from November 2020 to August 2022,

with Russell using some money to gamble and to repay earlier

investors, court papers show.

Prosecutors also said that in a separate fraud, Russell

obtained at least 140 credit, debit and identification cards in

the names of third parties, and used stolen card information to

open online gambling accounts and make fraudulent purchases.

Russell was jailed in February after prosecutors accused him

of continuing his identity theft scheme following his arrest. He

had been under home detention.

In a letter to the sentencing judge this month, Russell said

he was "deeply remorseful for creating victims out of many of my

closest friends and acquaintances," whose money he squandered to

fund a "crippling" gambling and substance abuse addiction.

Russell worked at Deutsche Bank from July 2018 to November

2021, court and brokerage industry records show.

His LinkedIn profile said he started at Deutsche Bank as an

analyst and was promoted to associate two years later.

Deutsche Bank was not accused of wrongdoing.