JACKSON - A popular pastor was sentenced to five years in prison after he took bribes and allowed Bitcoin scammers to take over his Lakewood credit union to launder millions in illegal exchanges.

Trevon Gross, 47, was convicted on charges of receiving corrupt payments, obstructing regulatory investigations and making false statements in March. Gross, a Jackson resident, is the lead pastor of Hope Cathedral, an independent Christian church on Bennetts Mills Road.

Gross's attorneys did not immediately return requests for comment.

Also sentenced Friday was Florida resident Yuri Lebedev, 39, who will serve a 39-month prison term. Lebedev helped operate Coin.mx and approached Gross with bribes to help cover up the Bitcoin exchange site's illegal money laundering.

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Coin.mx used a fake antiques company as a front for the illegal Bitcoin exchange – which skirted federal reporting and registration requirements on $10 million in transactions.

Bitcoin is computer-generated digital currency that is used worldwide and is untraceable in most cases.

At the time, Gross was the chairman and CEO of HOPE Federal Credit Union, a low-income designated institution in Lakewood. In exchange for more than $150,000 in bribes – paid to bank accounts in the name of Hope Cathedral – Gross allowed Lebedev and various co-conspirators on the credit unions board of directors.

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The Bitcoin co-conspirators ran tens of millions of dollars through the credit union without adequate capital or anti-money laundering controls, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

In October 2015, the National Credit Union Administration – which charters and supervises federal credit unions – took over the credit union and eventually liquified it.

In addition to prison, Gross was also ordered to pay a $12,000 fine, forfeit any proceeds of the scheme and pay restitution to the National Credit Union Administration.

Mike Davis: @byMike Davis; 732-643-4223; mdavis@gannettnj.com