A formerly famous Instagram influencer known as Jay Mazini pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering.
According to a Nov. 2 news release, Jebara Igbara, 27, of Edgewater, N.J., pleaded guilty to all three charges in a federal court in Brooklyn. Igbara gained fame on Instagram, using the name Jay Mazini, where he mostly posted videos of himself giving large sums of money to random strangers as gifts. Igbara allegedly used his fame to defraud investors of at least $8 million.
“With today’s plea, the defendant has admitted to leveraging his Instagram popularity to prey upon innocent investors and steal at least $8 million of their hard-earned money,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in the release. “Together with our agency partners, this office is committed to bringing scammers to justice.”
According to court documents, Igbara is accused of carrying out a scheme to defraud members of the Muslim-American community in New York by seeking investments to pay for investments in stock and cryptocurrency, electronics resale and purchases of COVID-19-related personal protection equipment. In actuality, Igbara used the funds to run a Ponzi scam and to enrich himself and cover his gambling expenses, according to the release.
“All the victims in this case were promised something that was too good to be true,” IRS-CI Special Agent-in-Charge Thomas Fattorusso said in the release. “Those in the Ponzi scheme were all assured a high rate of return in a short amount of time, while the victims of the Bitcoin advance fee scheme were guaranteed above current market value for their Bitcoin. This multi-million dollar case is a reminder for anyone thinking of investing: Be skeptical of any investments with larger than life promises, because if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Igbara faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment for his actions, the release reported.
