A Nigeria-based scammer posing as Steve Witkoff, a long-time ally of U.S. President Donald Trump and co-chair of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, stole roughly $250,000 in crypto from a would-be political donor, in keeping with a current press announcement from the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the District of Columbia.
In accordance with court docket paperwork, the scammer created a spoofed electronic mail tackle that carefully resembled Witkoff’s respectable Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee electronic mail tackle, and was in a position to trick no less than one donor into depositing $250,000 price of USDT.ETH into the scammer’s pockets. Although the scammer then took steps to launder their ill-gotten beneficial properties, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was in a position to get better and freeze 40,300 USDT.ETH, half of which was present in a Binance account within the title of Ehiremen Aigbokhan, a Lagos-based fraudster or “yahoo boy.”
The U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace has moved to return the recovered funds to the sufferer. Over $210,000 in crypto despatched to the scammer has not but been recovered.
“All donors ought to double and triple verify that they’re sending cryptocurrency to their supposed recipient,” U.S. Legal professional Jeanine Ferris Pirro mentioned in a press release. “It may be extraordinarily tough for legislation [enforcement] to recoup misplaced funds as a result of extraordinarily complicated nature of the blockchain. Nonetheless, my workplace and our legislation enforcement companions stand able to go toe-to-toe with criminals and make victims entire.”
In accordance with a number of native media shops, U.S. officers are searching for a proper arrest warrant for Aigbokhan.
Witkoff and his son Zach have shut ties to the Trump household’s primary crypto challenge, World Liberty Monetary.
Binance and Tether each cooperated with the federal government’s investigation, the DOJ mentioned.
