NEW YORK: The previous Instagram influencer referred to as “ Jay Mazini ” who swindled thousands and thousands of {dollars} from on-line followers and a community of Muslims through the pandemic was sentenced to seven years in jail on Wednesday, prosecutors mentioned.
Jebara Igbara, 28, of New Jersey, had pleaded responsible to fraud costs, admitting that he created a Ponzi scheme that concerned cryptocurrency frauds netting round $8 million.Prosecutors say the cash funded a decadent life-style that included luxurious automobiles and a number of playing.
Exploiting the financial chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, Igbara leveraged connections within the Muslim group to assemble investments for his agency Hallal Capital LLC, saying it will earn returns on shares, and the reselling of electronics and private protecting tools.
“Shamefully, he focused his personal spiritual group, profiting from their belief in him so he may spend and gamble their hard-earned cash,” mentioned Breon Peace, U.S. Legal professional for the Japanese District of New York, in an announcement.
As he networked with high-value traders regionally, Igbara amplified his on-line persona, reaching round 1 million Instagram followers, prosecutors mentioned.
He constructed a following partly by filming money giveaways, usually handing stacks of cash to quick meals employees or on a regular basis folks trying out at Walmart. In a minimum of one video, he handed out money alongside rapper 50 Cent.
Viewers received the impression he was so profitable he may simply give cash away. And his on-line recognition earned him much more belief from fraud victims, prosecutors mentioned.
By 2020, he attracted the ire of on-line sleuths who overtly accused him of fraud, and cheered when he was arrested in 2021 on kidnapping costs. He later admitted in one other case to kidnapping a possible witness to his frauds.
However a lot of his victims did flip to the FBI, in response to courtroom paperwork.
No less than 4 folks advised FBI brokers they despatched over $100,000 in Bitcoin, on a promise of a money wire switch, in response to courtroom paperwork. One sufferer reported being scammed out of fifty Bitcoin, with Igbara first faking $2.56 million in a wire switch, and later explaining away why the transfers hadn’t arrived.
Igbara addressed the folks he ripped off forward of his sentencing on Wednesday in a Brooklyn federal courtroom.
“He apologized profusely to his victims,” lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman mentioned following the sentencing Wednesday in Brooklyn.
Igbara’s seven-year sentence for fraud will run concurrently with five-year jail sentencing for the kidnapping and consists of time served since 2021, his lawyer mentioned.
As a part of his sentence, Igbara is ordered to pay $10 million to his victims.
As for “Jay Mazini,” the Instagram and different social media accounts are largely scrubbed. However the saga lives on in compilations on YouTube, and in an episode of the 2023 documentary collection “ The Age of Affect.”
Jebara Igbara, 28, of New Jersey, had pleaded responsible to fraud costs, admitting that he created a Ponzi scheme that concerned cryptocurrency frauds netting round $8 million.Prosecutors say the cash funded a decadent life-style that included luxurious automobiles and a number of playing.
Exploiting the financial chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, Igbara leveraged connections within the Muslim group to assemble investments for his agency Hallal Capital LLC, saying it will earn returns on shares, and the reselling of electronics and private protecting tools.
“Shamefully, he focused his personal spiritual group, profiting from their belief in him so he may spend and gamble their hard-earned cash,” mentioned Breon Peace, U.S. Legal professional for the Japanese District of New York, in an announcement.
As he networked with high-value traders regionally, Igbara amplified his on-line persona, reaching round 1 million Instagram followers, prosecutors mentioned.
He constructed a following partly by filming money giveaways, usually handing stacks of cash to quick meals employees or on a regular basis folks trying out at Walmart. In a minimum of one video, he handed out money alongside rapper 50 Cent.
Viewers received the impression he was so profitable he may simply give cash away. And his on-line recognition earned him much more belief from fraud victims, prosecutors mentioned.
By 2020, he attracted the ire of on-line sleuths who overtly accused him of fraud, and cheered when he was arrested in 2021 on kidnapping costs. He later admitted in one other case to kidnapping a possible witness to his frauds.
However a lot of his victims did flip to the FBI, in response to courtroom paperwork.
No less than 4 folks advised FBI brokers they despatched over $100,000 in Bitcoin, on a promise of a money wire switch, in response to courtroom paperwork. One sufferer reported being scammed out of fifty Bitcoin, with Igbara first faking $2.56 million in a wire switch, and later explaining away why the transfers hadn’t arrived.
Igbara addressed the folks he ripped off forward of his sentencing on Wednesday in a Brooklyn federal courtroom.
“He apologized profusely to his victims,” lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman mentioned following the sentencing Wednesday in Brooklyn.
Igbara’s seven-year sentence for fraud will run concurrently with five-year jail sentencing for the kidnapping and consists of time served since 2021, his lawyer mentioned.
As a part of his sentence, Igbara is ordered to pay $10 million to his victims.
As for “Jay Mazini,” the Instagram and different social media accounts are largely scrubbed. However the saga lives on in compilations on YouTube, and in an episode of the 2023 documentary collection “ The Age of Affect.”
