Two U.S. men indicted for allegedly committing cryptocurrency fraud, defrauding investors of more than $22 million

PANews reported on December 21 that the U.S. Department of Justice announced a six-count indictment charging two Southern California men with defrauding investors of more than $22 million in cryptocurrency through a series of digital asset projects. According to court documents, from May 2021 to May 2024, Hay and Mayo sponsored multiple NFT and other digital asset projects and conducted promotional campaigns in support of these projects. Hay and Mayo allegedly made or caused others to make materially false and misleading statements about upcoming digital asset projects and provided false and misleading project "roadmaps" detailing plans for NFTs or digital asset projects after they were launched. , and the sponsors never intended these plans to come to fruition.

Hay, Mayo and others are also said to have used these methods in multiple 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 various means to conceal their participation in the fraudulent projects, such as misidentifying other individuals or causing other individuals to be misidentified as project owners.