Instagram Star Jay Mazini Hit With Fraud Charges, Faces Up to 7 Years

Known on Instagram as "Jay Mazini," Jabara Igbara, who said he was a crypto millionaire, got seven years from U.S. District Judge Frederic Block.

The latter sentence on wire fraud and money laundering charges also orders Igbara to forfeit $10 million.

Jay Mazini Called a "Crypto Con Man"

According to the United States Attorney's Office, Igbara, 28, participated in a number of fraud schemes where he duped investors out of at least $8 million. He pleaded guilty to the charges in November 2022. "The prosecution of Igbara further exposed him as a fraudster who, under the guise of social media popularity, swindled gullible victims of their hard-earned monies," said United States Attorney Breon Peace.

Peace added that Igbara was accused of having targeted his religious community, exploiting his faith by spending and gambling with their hard-earned money. He hoped today's sentence of Igbara would send a powerful message of deterrence to fraudsters who seek to exploit investors to line their own pockets.

Special Agent-in-Charge Thomas Fattorusso of the Criminal Investigation for the Internal Revenue Service described Igbara as a "crypto con man" who created a "fictitious online person" to "lure innocent victims" into becoming involved in his schemes.

Fattorusso did take note of the fact that Igbara conned the New York Muslim community millions and subsequently spent and gambled them away. He, however, emphasized that Igbara's actions are a total disregard to the victims he was scamming, but noted justice has prevailed through the sentencing, which guarantees that he is going to be spending years in prison for his criminal acts.

The Igbara Overlapping Orchestrated Schemes

Igbara, who had portrayed himself on Instagram as "Jay Mazini" in posts since 2019 and with almost 1 million followers, had posted about his Muslim faith and seemed to be a very devoted Muslim, presenting himself as a rich investor and entrepreneur.

On Instagram, Igbara exhibited his apparent wealth, sharing videos where he dealt out huge stacks of cash to shoppers at the checkout lines of grocery stores and employees of fast-food restaurants and a woman he ran into at the airport who had lost her purse. Through a company named Halal Capital LLC, Igbara carried out an investment fraud scam targeting members of the Muslim-American community in New York. The fictitious investments involved stocks, electronic resale, and the selling of personal protective equipment.

Actually, Igbara was participating in a Ponzi scheme and siphoned almost all the money to his personal expenditures, luxury cars, and gambling.

Igbara then would launch the second fraudulent scheme in order to not look like he is returning the invested monies and continues to raise more from unsuspecting investors. He went on his Instagram and other social media, promising to pay above-market prices for various cryptocurrencies. He would then proceed to confirm the wire transfer, pretending to have sent them the cryptocurrency money as promised. In reality, no payment is ever made; Igbara simply pockets the cryptocurrency sent to him by his victims.