A federal fraud case involving a cryptocurrency scam, and connected to figures close to US President Donald Trump and MoonPay, was briefly hidden from public view.
Interim US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said this happened because of a mistake made by court staff, not because prosecutors requested it.
Speaking to NOTUS on July 22, Pirro explained that the court “made a ministerial, clerical error” and that the entire docket was unsealed within hours after the issue was noticed.
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She also said court officials admitted the Department of Justice never asked for the case to be sealed in full.
The case involves a Nigerian national accused of stealing $250,000 by pretending to be Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer who served as co-chair of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee.
The scam began on 2024 Christmas Eve when the suspect used an email address that looked nearly identical to a legitimate one. The attacker swapped a lowercase “i” for a lowercase “l” in the domain name. The victims were tricked into sending 250,300 USDT
$0.9995
/ETH
$3,568.29
on December 26, 2024.
The victims appear to include top executives at MoonPay, a crypto company connected to President Trump’s business interests, according to a NOTUS report.
The complaint included only two first names, “Ivan” and “Mouna”, from partially hidden email addresses. These match the names of MoonPay’s CEO Ivan Soto-Wright and CFO Mouna Ammari Siala. One of the wallet addresses involved is also tied to Soto-Wright.
Pirro said that prosecutors had requested to seal only the original complaint and replace it with an updated version that removed the name of one company.
Meanwhile, US authorities have officially closed their investigation into Jesse Powell, the co-founder of Kraken
$702.54M
. What did Powell say? Read the full story.
Having completed a Master’s degree in Economics, Politics, and Cultures of the East Asia region, Aaron has written scientific papers analyzing the differences between Western and Collective forms of capitalism in the post-World War II era.With close to a decade of experience in the FinTech industry, Aaron understands all of the biggest issues and struggles that crypto enthusiasts face. He’s a passionate analyst who is concerned with data-driven and fact-based content, as well as that which speaks to both Web3 natives and industry newcomers.Aaron is the go-to person for everything and anything related to digital currencies. With a huge passion for blockchain & Web3 education, Aaron strives to transform the space as we know it, and make it more approachable to complete beginners.Aaron has been quoted by multiple established outlets, and is a published author himself. Even during his free time, he enjoys researching the market trends, and looking for the next supernova.
