One of two men convicted in what federal prosecutors described as a “rug pull” blockchain fraud scheme died two weeks ago by suicide, according to his family.

Berman Jerry Nowlin died Dec. 19 at his Huntsville home. His cause of death was unclear, but his family told the Tampa Bay Times that he took his own life. He was 21.

Nowlin was awaiting a January sentencing date after a Tampa jury found him guilty on federal wire fraud and money laundering charges. Prosecutors had alleged that he worked with Devin Rhoden, a senior airman at MacDill Air Force Base who was one of Nowlin’s childhood friends, in a cryptocurrency scheme that cost investors $135,000.

Although the government labeled him an active participant in a criminal scheme, his family and defense attorney insisted that he was an unwitting accomplice who assisted in the coding and technical aspects of creating the blockchain tokens at the center of the case. They accused Rhoden of being the one largely responsible for the fraud.

Nowlin believed the court system would exonerate him, his family said. After his conviction, he became deeply depressed and withdrawn, reluctant to leave home.

“In his eyes, I don’t think he thought he did anything wrong,” said Nowlin’s brother, Daniel Barker. “My brother was just a young, naïve kid that kind of got taken advantage of.”

Nowlin had been diagnosed with autism, his family said.

His mother, Deanna Ambrose, said a psychiatrist who’d examined him found that he was far above average in his intelligence. He did well in school, but had the emotional maturity of a 14-year-old, she said. He was never in trouble.

“He’s like a little kid in a lot of ways,” Ambrose said. “Anybody that actually talked to him could tell that he was just special. He wasn’t like the rest of us.”

Autism made Nowlin’s social interactions difficult; most of his friends were people he knew only online. He taught himself how to write computer code. He spent much of his time playing online games and chatting on platforms like Discord.

It was how he met Rhoden.

In the spring of 2022, Nowlin and Rhoden collaborated to create a series of non-fungible token collections, known as “Undead Apes” and “Undead Lady Apes.” The tokens, which they traded on the Solana blockchain, depicted colorful skeletonized primates.

Rhoden promoted the collections on the Discord messaging platform and the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. Buzz about them pushed their resale value as high as $360 and made Rhoden and Nowlin a small fortune.

Investor excitement surged in April 2022 amid word of a forthcoming third collection known as “Undead Tombstone.” As anticipation for the new collection grew, the project was suddenly abandoned. Prices plummeted. Investors were left with worthless assets while Rhoden and Nowlin, prosecutors alleged, netted $135,000.

Nowlin’s attorney, J. Jervis Wise, argued at trial that Nowlin had no reason to engage in any kind of fraud scheme. The first two blockchain creations were legitimate, successful and gave people a product they wanted.

Wise described his client as a behind-the-scenes player in creating the tokens, while Rhoden was responsible for marketing the tokens to potential investors. He knew nothing of plans to engage in the rug-pull scheme, Wise said.

“Nowlin didn’t have any knowledge of what Rhoden was doing,” Wise told the Times. “Nowlin didn’t join in any plan with Rhoden to try to defraud anyone.”

But federal prosecutors asserted that Nowlin was indeed part of the scheme. They presented evidence that Nowlin used a money laundering technique known as “chain hopping” to move the fraud proceeds from Solana to the Ethereum blockchain. He then converted the cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars, which he and Rhoden split.

Court documents quoted online conversations in which the pair discussed the theft.

One of Rhoden’s fellow airmen led investigators to him. He later pleaded guilty to federal charges and testified in Nowlin’s trial. Prosecutors credited his cooperation in securing Nowlin’s conviction. He was sentenced in November to five years of probation.

Multiple efforts to reach Rhoden for comment were unsuccessful.

Nowlin used a flip phone after his arrest, his mother said, having been barred from accessing the internet. He followed his pretrial restrictions “to a T,” she said. Technology restrictions prevented him from being able to show some evidence, she said, including records that he’d tried to get investors their money back.

“He tried to do everything right,” she said.

Wise said it was possible a judge would have given Nowlin probation or some other sentence short of prison time. He also would have been able to appeal for a new trial.

Nowlin’s mother said the prospect of incarceration wasn’t what bothered him as much as the stain of a criminal conviction. He believed that he would be unable to work with computers, dashing his goals of working in the technology field.

Ambrose said she wants people to know that her son was more than what has been portrayed in court.

She remembers the boy who was the first to surprise her with Mother’s Day flowers and to cook her breakfast, who helped when her own mother underwent cancer treatment and who could have taken anyone with him when he vacationed in Jamaica, but chose his mom.

Beyond his digital world, he liked fishing and traveling and dreamed of a nomadic life. He had plans of setting up a remote work station in a van so he could make money and travel at the same time.

“He was a beautiful soul,” his mother said.

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