Instagram Scammer Jay Mazini Pleads Guilty to $2.5 Million Bitcoin Theft

Instagram Influencer Jay Mazini has pled guilty to stealing $2.5 million in Bitcoin from his victims in one of multiple giveaway scams.

The influencer – whose official name is Jebara Igbara – faces up to 20 years in prison for his crimes.

  • As the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Wednesday, Mazini has specifically pled guilty to wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering.
  • Mazini was known for social media stunts like giving away large amounts of cash to strangers as gifts in various locations. One of his popular stunts involved handing out $30,000 at a Burger King in New York, alongside famous rapper 50-cent. 

  • “In reality, Igbara was perpetrating overlapping fraud schemes, scamming investors out of at least $8 million,” said the DOJ.

  • Mazini’s Bitcoin scheme involved promising to buy Bitcoin from his Instagram followers at above-market rates. After his followers would send him Bitcoin, the influencer sent them doctored images of wire transfer confirmations of returned funds. However, the sellers never actually received the money.
  • Mazini would justify his higher-rate purchases by claiming he’d been barred by exchanges from purchasing more Bitcoin. 

  • “All the victims, in this case, were promised something that was too good to be true,” said IRS-CI Special Agent-in-Charge, Thomas Fattorusso. “Be skeptical of any investments with larger-than-life promises, because if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

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One of the biggest online voices to expose Mazini last year was Coffeezilla – a YouTuber popular for investigating crypto-related hacks and scams. 

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