U.S. officials have sentenced Jabara Igbara, also known as "Jay Mazini," who claimed to be a cryptocurrency millionaire on Instagram, to seven years in jail. Frederic Block, district judge.
In addition to the wire fraud and money laundering sentences, Igbara's $10 million must be forfeited.
Tagged as a “Crypto Con Man” by Jay Mazini
The United States Attorney's Office claims that 28-year-old Igbara committed numerous fraud schemes and defrauded investors out of at least $8 million. He entered a guilty plea in November 2022 to the allegations.
Igbara was exposed by the prosecution as a fraudster who defrauded investors out of millions of dollars by using his social media notoriety, according to US Attorney Breon Peace. Igbara pursued his religious community, Peace said, taking advantage of their trust to waste and gamble their hard-earned money. He went on to say that the goal of today's punishment is to prevent con artists such as Igbara from taking advantage of investors for their own gain.
Igbara was described by Special Agent-in-Charge Thomas Fattorusso of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation as a "crypto con man" who set up a phony internet persona in order to lure gullible people into investing in his fraudulent activities.
Igbara defrauded the Muslim community in New York out of millions of dollars, according to Fattorusso, who then wasted and gambled the money away. He underlined that although Igbara's actions ignored the people he deceived, the sentence guarantees that he will serve a lengthy prison sentence for his crimes.
Igbara Coordinated Multiple Fraud Schemes
Igbara, using by the handle "Jay Mazini," was quite active on Instagram from 2019 to 2021, gaining close to one million followers. He shared content about his Muslim beliefs, projecting a pious image while portraying himself as a successful businessman and entrepreneur.
Igbara used Instagram to display his purported wealth by posting videos of himself giving enormous amounts of cash to customers in grocery store checkout lines, personnel at fast-food restaurants, and a woman he met at the airport who had lost her purse.
Igbara carried out an investment fraud scam targeting the Muslim-American community in New York; the plan was carried out through a business called Halal Capital LLC. He asked for money from them for allegedly making stock investments, reselling electronics, and selling personal protection equipment. Igbara was actually running a Ponzi scheme, using almost all of the money for extravagance travel, gambling, and expensive cars.
Subsequently, Igbara initiated an additional deceptive plan to preserve the appearance of prosperity and keep investors interested. He promoted the fact that he would pay above-market rates for different cryptocurrencies on his Instagram page and other social media accounts.
Once victims would give Igbara bitcoin, he would make up wire transfer confirmations to make it look as though he had sent the money as agreed upon. Actually, there was no money exchanged; instead, Igbara was only keeping the bitcoin that his victims had sent him.
April 2024, Cryptoniteuae