Key Takeaways:
Former Instagram influencer “Jay Mazini” has been sentenced to seven years in prison for swindling millions of dollars from his followers and a network of Muslim community members during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Muslim Instagram Influencer “Jay Mazini” Sentenced to Prison for Defrauding Victims out of $8 Million
The 28-year-old from New Jersey, whose real name is Jebara Igbara, pleaded guilty to fraud charges and admitted to creating a Ponzi scheme involving cryptocurrencies that netted him around $8 million.
Prosecutors say he used the money to fund a decadent lifestyle that included luxury cars and gambling.
Central to the scheme was Jay Mazini’s company Halal Capital LLC, which was founded in 2019 with the supposed goal of sharing his purported investment expertise with members of the Muslim community.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Igbara used his connections within the Muslim community in New York to gather investments for Halal Capital. He offered investors promissory notes claiming to offer guaranteed, significant returns on stocks, and from the resale of electronic items and personal protective equipment (PPE).
Jay Mazini Used Investor Funds to Setup Free Cash Giveaways and Offered to Buy Crypto at Higher Rates
According to a complaint filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the former influencer sourced around $8 million from various investors by pledging to put their money in Sharia-compliant investments.
While he networked with local high-value investors, Igbara also gained a massive online following, hitting 1 million followers on his Instagram page. He built his fanbase by filming cash giveaways that often showed him handing stacks of money to fast food workers and everyday people.
Igbara’s followers were under the impression that he was able to just give away money because he was financially successful, earning him more trust among the fraud victims.
The SEC alleges that instead of providing victims with Sharia-compliant investment services, he funneled some of their money to pay Halal Capital investors while misappropriating the rest to fund his personal lifestyle, including the purchase of luxury cars and expensive jewelry or to pay his gambling debts.
In a separate scheme, Jay Mazini would make posts on his social media accounts that he was willing to pay above the market price for various cryptocurrencies. The fraudster would then send doctored images of wire transfer confirmations to victims that purported to show that he had sent the money for the tokens as promised.
However, in reality, the payment was never made and Igbara was outright stealing cryptocurrencies from his victims.
Iqbara Faces 20 Years Behind Bars for His Crimes
Court documents say that at least four people told FBI agents that they sent over $100,000 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) in exchange for a cash wire transfer. Another victim said they were scammed of 50 BTC – worth around $3.2 million at current prices, with Igbara first faking a $2.56 million wire transfer and later explaining why the transfer hadn’t gotten through.
In 2021, the scammer was arrested for kidnapping a potential witness to his Ponzi scheme. On Wednesday, April 20th, Jay Mazini pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
He faces up to 20 years of imprisonment.
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