比佛利山莊和文圖拉縣男子因涉嫌進行 NFT 加密貨幣欺詐而被起訴，詐騙投資者超過 2200 萬美元

今天公佈了一份包含六項罪名的起訴書，指控兩名南加州男子透過一系列數位資產項目「rugpulls」詐騙投資者超過2200 萬美元的加密貨幣，這是一種欺詐計劃，其中不可替代代幣(NFT) 的創建者或其他數位資產項目向投資者募集資金後突然放棄項目，並騙取投資者資金。

Two Southern California men were indicted today for allegedly defrauding investors of more than $22 million in cryptocurrency through a series of digital asset project “rugpulls,” a type of fraud scheme in which the creator of a nonfungible token (NFT) or other digital asset project solicits funds from investors for the project and then abruptly abandons the project and fraudulently retains investors’ funds.

今天，兩名南加州男子因涉嫌透過一系列數位資產項目「rugpulls」詐騙投資者超過2200 萬美元的加密貨幣而被起訴，「rugpulls」是一種欺詐計劃，其中不可替代代幣(NFT) 或其他數位資產項目的創建者為該項目向投資者募集資金，然後突然放棄該項目，並欺詐性地扣留投資者資金。

Gabriel Hay, 23, of Beverly Hills, and Gavin Mayo, 23, of Thousand Oaks, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of stalking.

比佛利山莊23 歲的加布里埃爾·海伊(Gabriel Hay) 和千橡市23 歲的加文·梅奧(Gavin Mayo) 分別被指控一項共謀實施電匯欺詐罪、兩項電匯欺詐罪和一項跟蹤罪。

Their arraignments are scheduled for this afternoon in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

他們定於今天下午在洛杉磯市中心的美國地方法院接受提審。

According to court documents, from May 2021 to May 2024, Hay and Mayo sponsored several NFT and other digital asset projects and undertook promotional activities in support of those projects. Hay and Mayo allegedly made or caused others to make materially false and misleading statements regarding the digital asset projects being launched and provided false and misleading project “roadmaps” detailing plans for the NFTs or digital asset projects after their launch that the sponsors never intended to fulfill.

根據法庭文件，從 2021 年 5 月到 2024 年 5 月，Hay 和 Mayo 贊助了多個 NFT 和其他數位資產項目，並開展了支持這些項目的推廣活動。 Hay 和Mayo 涉嫌製作或導致他人就正在啟動的數位資產項目做出重大虛假和誤導性陳述，並提供了虛假和誤導性的項目“路線圖”，詳細說明了NFT 或數位資產項目啟動後的計劃，而發起人從未打算實現這些計劃。

For example, the indictment alleges that in promoting the Vault of Gems NFT project, Hay and Mayo falsely claimed that the project would be the “first NFT project to be pegged to a hard asset.” However, instead of pursuing the Vault of Gems project or others as they had represented they would, Hay and Mayo allegedly abandoned the projects after collecting millions in funds from investors.

例如，起訴書稱，在推廣 Vault of Gems NFT 計畫時，Hay 和 Mayo 錯誤地聲稱該計畫將是「第一個與硬資產掛鉤的 NFT 計畫」。然而，海伊和梅奧據稱在從投資者那裡籌集了數百萬美元的資金後放棄了這些項目，而不是像他們所聲稱的那樣追求寶石庫項目或其他項目。

Hay, Mayo, and others allegedly used these tactics with a variety of other digital asset projects, including Vault of Gems, Faceless, Sinful Souls, Clout Coin, Dirty Dogs, Uncovered, MoonPortal, Squiggles, and Roost Coin. Hay and Mayo also allegedly used a variety of means to conceal their involvement in the fraudulent projects by falsely identifying other individuals or causing other individuals to be falsely identified as owners of the projects.

Hay、Mayo 和其他人據稱在各種其他數位資產項目中使用了這些策略，包括 Vault of Gems、Faceless、Sinful Souls、Clout Coin、Dirty Dogs、Uncovered、MoonPortal、Squiggles 和 Roost Coin。據稱，海伊和梅奧還使用各種手段，透過錯誤地識別其他個人或導致其他人被錯誤地識別為專案所有者來隱瞞他們參與詐欺專案的情況。

When one project manager on the Faceless NFT project exposed Hay and Mayo as being behind that project, Hay and Mayo allegedly embarked on a harassment campaign against the project manager, sending or causing the sending of messages to the project manager and his parents for the purpose of intimidating him and his family and causing them great emotional distress.

當 Faceless NFT 專案的一名專案經理揭露 Hay 和 Mayo 是該專案的幕後黑手時，Hay 和 Mayo 據稱對專案經理發起了騷擾活動，為此目的向專案經理及其父母發送或導致發送訊息恐嚇他和他的家人，造成他們巨大的精神痛苦。

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

起訴書只是一項指控。所有被告均被假定無罪，直至在法庭上毫無合理懷疑地被證明有罪。

If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each of the conspiracy and wire fraud counts and a maximum penalty of five years on the stalking count.

如果罪名成立，他們每項共謀和電信詐欺罪名將面臨最高 20 年監禁，而跟蹤罪名將面臨最高 5 年監禁。

The HSI Baltimore Field Office is investigating the case.

HSI 巴爾的摩辦事處正在調查此案。

Assistant United States Attorney Maxwell K. Coll of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section and Justice Department Trial Attorneys Tian Huang and Tamara Livshiz of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, both members of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), are prosecuting this case.

美國網路與智慧財產權犯罪科助理檢察官 Maxwell K. Coll 以及司法部刑事司詐欺科的審判律師 Tian Huang 和 Tamara Livshiz 均是國家加密貨幣執法小組 (NCET) 的成員，正在起訴此案。

The NCET was established to combat the growing illicit use of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Within the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, the NCET conducts and supports investigations into individuals and entities that are enabling the use of digital assets to commit and facilitate a variety of crimes, with a particular focus on virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and infrastructure providers. The NCET also works to set strategic priorities regarding digital asset technologies, identify areas for increased investigative and prosecutorial focus, and lead the department’s efforts to collaborate with domestic and foreign government agencies as well as the private sector to aggressively investigate and prosecute crimes involving cryptocurrency and digital assets.

NCET 的成立是為了打擊日益增長的加密貨幣和數位資產非法使用。在刑事司的電腦犯罪和智慧財產權科內，NCET 對利用數位資產實施和促進各種犯罪的個人和實體進行並支援調查，特別關注虛擬貨幣交換、混合和翻滾服務和基礎設施提供者。 NCET 也致力於制定有關數位資產技術的策略優先事項，確定加強調查和起訴重點的領域，並領導該部門與國內外政府機構以及私營部門合作，積極調查和起訴涉及加密貨幣和加密貨幣的犯罪行為。