Arizona Man Pleads Guilty to $13M Crypto Ponzi Scheme Involving Fake ’Federal Reserve’
Vincent Anthony Mazzotta Jr., an Arizona resident, has admitted to orchestrating a $13 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, according to a Department of Justice press release. Mazzotta and co-defendant David Saffron lured investors with promises of high-yield returns from fraudulent crypto ventures like Mind Capital and Cloud9Capital.
The scheme took a brazen turn with the creation of the 'Federal crypto Reserve' (FCR), a fictitious entity that purported to investigate crypto companies while simultaneously extracting thousands from victims. Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti condemned the operation as a 'sophisticated cryptocurrency scheme' that exploited investor trust through deception.