两名加州男子被指控针对加密货币投资者进行价值 2200 万美元的 NFT“Rug Pull”欺诈

这将是迄今为止被起诉的最大的 NFT 骗局。

Two California men have each been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) with defrauding investors out of more than $22 million in cryptocurrency through a series of NFT “rug pulls,” in what will be the largest NFT scam ever prosecuted.

美国司法部 (DOJ) 指控两名加州男子通过一系列 NFT“拉扯”，诈骗投资者超过 2200 万美元的加密货币，这将是有史以来起诉的最大的 NFT 骗局。

A “rug pull” is often conducted by the creators of NFTs and memecoins. It is, as the DOJ explains, when a “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.”

“拉地毯”通常是由 NFT 和 memecoin 的创建者进行的。正如司法部所解释的那样，这是指“不可替代代币（NFT）或其他数字资产项目的创建者向投资者募集资金用于该项目，然后突然放弃该项目并以欺诈手段保留投资者的资金。”

Last week, two California men were named as part of a six-count indictment that was unsealed in Los Angeles. Both men, Gabriel Hay, 23, of Beverly Hills, and Gavin Mayo, 23, of Thousand Oaks, were also arrested by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Los Angeles.

上周，两名加州男子被列为在洛杉矶公布的六项起诉书的一部分。这两名男子分别是来自比佛利山庄的 23 岁的加布里埃尔·海伊 (Gabriel Hay) 和来自千橡市的 23 岁的加文·梅奥 (Gavin Mayo)，他们也在洛杉矶被国土安全调查局 (HSI) 逮捕。

According to a DOJ press release, 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 other digital asset projects after their launch that the sponsors never intended to fulfill.

根据 DOJ 的新闻稿，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，并提供虚假和误导性的项目“路线图”，详细说明 NFT 或其他数字资产项目启动后的计划，而发起人从未打算这样做实现。

“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。

Some of the other NFT scams they allegedly spearheaded include digital asset projects Faceless, Sinful Souls, Clout Coin, Dirty Dogs, Uncovered, MoonPortal, Squiggles, and Roost Coin.

据称他们牵头的其他一些 NFT 骗局包括数字资产项目 Faceless、Sinful Souls、Clout Coin、Dirty Dogs、Uncovered、MoonPortal、Squiggles 和 Roost Coin。

A report published in late 2023 stated that over 23 million people own a NFT investment that is now completely worthless.

2023 年底发布的一份报告指出，超过 2300 万人拥有的 NFT 投资现在完全一文不值。

“For three years, Hay and Mayo apparently lied to their investors in order to defraud them out of millions of dollars,” said HSI Executive Associate Director Katrina W. Berger. “Such technological fraud schemes cost investors millions of dollars every year. Just because such crimes aren’t violent doesn’t mean they are victimless. HSI will continue to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle such cryptocurrency fraud networks.”

“三年来，Hay 和 Mayo 显然对投资者撒了谎，目的是骗取他们数百万美元，”HSI 执行副董事 Katrina W. Berger 表示。 “此类技术欺诈计划每年使投资者损失数百万美元。仅仅因为此类犯罪不是暴力行为，并不意味着它们没有受害者。恒指将继续调查、破坏和拆除此类加密货币欺诈网络。”

Hay and Mayo are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of stalking. The stalking charge stems from them allegedly embarking on a harassment campaign against a Faceless NFT project manager blowing the whistle on them. They now 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.

海伊和梅奥分别被指控一项串谋实施电信诈骗罪、两项电信诈骗罪和一项跟踪诈骗罪。跟踪指控源于他们涉嫌对举报他们的 Faceless NFT 项目经理发起骚扰活动。现在，他们每人因共谋和电信欺诈罪名面临最高 20 年监禁，因跟踪罪名面临最高 5 年监禁。