比佛利山庄和文图拉县男子因涉嫌进行 NFT 加密货币欺诈而被起诉，诈骗投资者超过 2200 万美元

今天公布了一份包含六项罪名的起诉书，指控两名南加州男子通过一系列数字资产项目“rugpulls”诈骗投资者超过 2200 万美元的加密货币，这是一种欺诈计划，其中不可替代代币 (NFT) 的创建者或其他数字资产项目向投资者募集资金后突然放弃项目，并骗取投资者资金。

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，两名南加州男子因涉嫌通过一系列数字资产项目“rugpulls”诈骗投资者超过 2200 万美元的加密货币而被起诉，“rugpulls”是一种欺诈计划，其中不可替代代币 (NFT) 或其他数字资产项目的创建者为该项目向投资者筹集资金，然后突然放弃该项目，并欺诈性地扣留投资者资金。

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.

比佛利山庄 23 岁的加布里埃尔·海伊 (Gabriel Hay) 和千橡市 23 岁的加文·梅奥 (Gavin Mayo) 分别被指控一项共谋实施电汇欺诈罪、两项电汇欺诈罪和一项跟踪罪。

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

他们定于今天下午在洛杉矶市中心的美国地方法院接受提审。

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.

根据法庭文件，从 2021 年 5 月到 2024 年 5 月，Hay 和 Mayo 赞助了多个 NFT 和其他数字资产项目，并开展了支持这些项目的推广活动。 Hay 和 Mayo 涉嫌制作或导致他人就正在启动的数字资产项目做出重大虚假和误导性陈述，并提供了虚假和误导性的项目“路线图”，详细说明了 NFT 或数字资产项目启动后的计划，而发起人从未打算实现这些计划。

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，起诉书称，在推广 Vault of Gems NFT 项目时，Hay 和 Mayo 错误地声称该项目将是“第一个与硬资产挂钩的 NFT 项目”。然而，海伊和梅奥据称在从投资者那里筹集了数百万美元的资金后放弃了这些项目，而不是像他们所声称的那样追求宝石库项目或其他项目。

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 和其他人据称在各种其他数字资产项目中使用了这些策略，包括 Vault of Gems、Faceless、Sinful Souls、Clout Coin、Dirty Dogs、Uncovered、MoonPortal、Squiggles 和 Roost Coin。据称，海伊和梅奥还使用各种手段，通过错误地识别其他个人或导致其他人被错误地识别为项目所有者来隐瞒他们参与欺诈项目的情况。

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.

当 Faceless NFT 项目的一名项目经理揭露 Hay 和 Mayo 是该项目的幕后黑手时，Hay 和 Mayo 据称对项目经理发起了骚扰活动，为此目的向项目经理及其父母发送或导致发送消息恐吓他和他的家人，给他们造成巨大的精神痛苦。

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

起诉书只是一项指控。所有被告均被假定无罪，直至在法庭上毫无合理怀疑地被证明有罪。

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，他们每项共谋和电信欺诈罪名将面临最高 20 年监禁，而跟踪罪名将面临最高 5 年监禁。

The HSI Baltimore Field Office is investigating the case.

HSI 巴尔的摩办事处正在调查此案。

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.

美国网络和知识产权犯罪科助理检察官 Maxwell K. Coll 以及司法部刑事司欺诈科的审判律师 Tian Huang 和 Tamara Livshiz 均是国家加密货币执法小组 (NCET) 的成员，正在起诉此案。

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 的成立是为了打击日益增长的加密货币和数字资产非法使用。在刑事司的计算机犯罪和知识产权科内，NCET 对利用数字资产实施和促进各种犯罪的个人和实体进行并支持调查，特别关注虚拟货币交换、混合和翻滚服务和基础设施提供商。 NCET 还致力于制定有关数字资产技术的战略优先事项，确定加强调查和起诉重点的领域，并领导该部门与国内外政府机构以及私营部门合作，积极调查和起诉涉及加密货币和加密货币的犯罪行为。数字资产。