U.S. Justice Department Charges Two Men in $22 Million Crypto Fraud

According to PANews, the U.S. Department of Justice has unveiled an indictment charging two Southern California men with defrauding investors of over $22 million through various digital asset schemes. Court documents reveal that from May 2021 to May 2024, the accused, Hay and Mayo, sponsored multiple NFT and digital asset projects, promoting them with misleading campaigns. They allegedly made or encouraged others to make significant false and misleading statements about upcoming digital asset projects and provided deceptive project 'roadmaps' outlining post-launch plans that were never intended to be fulfilled. The indictment further alleges that Hay and Mayo employed these tactics across several digital asset projects, including Vault of Gems, Faceless, Sinful Souls, Clout Coin, Dirty Dogs, Uncovered, MoonPortal, Squiggles, and Roost Coin. Additionally, they reportedly used various methods to conceal their involvement in the fraudulent projects, such as misidentifying other individuals or causing others to be wrongly identified as project owners.