U.S. District Judge Frederic Block sentenced Jabara Igbara, also known as “Jay Mazini,” who purported to be a crypto millionaire on Instagram, to seven years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering. In addition, Igbara must forfeit $10 million as part of the penalty.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office, Igbara, 28, committed many fraud schemes and defrauded investors out of at least $8 million on Wednesday. He entered a guilty plea in November 2022 to the allegations.
Igbara operated a Ponzi scam that targeted Muslims through a business named Halal-Capital LLC, according to the Attorney’s Office. He offered above-market pricing for cryptocurrencies on his Instagram account and other social media platforms, and he shared manipulated pictures of wire transfer confirmations to give the impression that the money had been paid. This was not the situation in actuality.
Igbara was a scammer in the cryptocurrency space. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Special Agent-in-Charge Thomas Fattorusso said in the statement, “He not only created a fake online presence to purport that he was a wealthy crypto investor, but he also used his Instagram persona as proof of success when convincing his unsuspecting victims to invest in his schemes.”