Instagram Crypto Influencer“Jay Mazini”Faces 7 Years in Prison for Defrauding Investors of $8 Million

The United States Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday that in Brooklyn Federal Court, Jebara Igbara, a.k.a. “Jay Mazzini,” was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Frederic Block to 7 years in prison for wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering, which arose out of multiple schemes that resulted in trusting investors losing millions of dollars. Igbara pleaded guilty in November 2022 to the charges. 

Until March 2021, Igbara maintained a popular Instagram account under the name “Jay Mazini”, on which he posted videos depicting, among other things, occasions during which he would hand out large amounts of cash to various individuals as gifts. In effect, Igbara was perpetrating overlapping fraud schemes to defraud investors of at least $8 million. As part of the judgment, Igbara was ordered to pay $10 million in forfeiture. The amount of restitution will be determined at a later date.

“The prosecution of Igbara unmasked him as a fraudster who used his social media popularity to con investors out of millions of dollars,” stated United States Attorney Peace.  “Shamefully, he targeted his own religious community, taking advantage of their trust in him so he could spend and gamble their hard-earned money. Hopefully today’s sentence will influence fraudsters, like this defendant, to think twice about the consequences before they victimize investors for their own benefit.”

Igbara maintained popularity on Instagram as 'Jay Manzini', and had nearly 1 million followers during the 2019-2021 offense period. The defendant portrayed himself as a successful investor and businessman, and also posted material related to his Muslim faith, portraying himself as devoutly religious. 

Igbara ran an investment fraud scheme through a company called Halal Capital LLC. The scam targeted members of the Muslim-American community in New York and solicited funds from them for purported stock investments, electronics resale, and personal protective equipment sales. In reality, Igbara ran a Ponzi scheme in which he misappropriated nearly all of the funds for personal expenses, luxury cars, and gambling. 

In order to raise money to pay investors “returns” and keep them hooked, Igbara also perpetrated a second scam scheme in which he posted on his Instagram and other social media accounts that he was willing to buy various cryptocurrencies at above-market prices. He sent the victims doctored wire transfer confirmation images claiming that he had sent money for the cryptocurrencies as promised. in reality, the payments were never sent and Igbara was simply stealing the cryptocurrencies sent by the victims.