Top leaders of MoonPay may have been scammed in a $250,000 cryptocurrency scam related to Trump. No involved party has confirmed the story, but the US Department of Justice is officially prosecuting the scammer.
This Nigerian scammer impersonated Steve Witkoff to solicit donations for President Trump's inauguration. Multiple indirect evidence has linked MoonPay to the middle of this case.
Did a Fake Trump Scam Deceive MoonPay?
Cryptocurrency scams are currently rampant, with many new victims losing money daily. However, a lawsuit from the Department of Justice may have inadvertently revealed an important case.
Apparently, a Nigerian scammer defrauded two anonymous users of $250,000 with a fake Trump connection, and some top MoonPay leaders may have been the target.
MoonPay is a popular centralized exchange that has recently been prominent for charitable activities and anticipated MiCA license.
However, a recent report found credible evidence connecting MoonPay's CEO and CFO to this Trump scam. Essentially, the Department of Justice's lawsuit provides many important clues that combine convincingly.
The Department of Justice mentions two anonymous victims, "Ivan" and "Mouna." First, MoonPay's CEO is Ivan Soto-Wright, and Mouna Ammari Siala is the company's CFO.
Moreover, the Department of Justice's lawsuit includes the scammer's wallet address, and public blockchain data connects it to one of Soto-Wright's wallets. We now have significant indirect evidence.
Additionally, MoonPay has recently had major partnerships with President Trump, serving as the official gateway for his meme coin. TRUMP launched the same week as Inauguration Day, and this event was an important part of the alleged scam.
At that time, the company posted many congratulatory posts about the token's launch:
So, how does all this come together? The Department of Justice included a screenshot from the Nigerian scammer's email in December 2024, including the address "steve_witkoff@t47lnaugural.com".
The first letter in "inaugural" is a lowercase "L", falsely representing a legitimate organization to impersonate Steve Witkoff.
Based on these forgeries, the scammer solicited donations for Trump's inauguration. Many cryptocurrency companies have donated to President Trump's inauguration, but MoonPay does not seem to be one of them.
In other words, a clear picture is emerging. MoonPay collaborated with the President to help launch TRUMP, and an alleged scammer impersonated his representative less than a month earlier.
If the victim "Ivan" is indeed MoonPay's CEO, as proven by blockchain data, it appears the company attempted to donate $250,000.
The Department of Justice's investigation has attracted some criticism. $250,000 is a large sum for an individual, but larger activities have targeted small investors in the US just last month. Some experts suggest the Department of Justice is prioritizing a case involving a Trump ally.
"If you're friendly with Trump, the Department of Justice will proactively try to recover your assets, even if there aren't too many zeros on the rounded table. But, if you're an ordinary consumer, and you lose all your savings... no one will help you. That doesn't seem like justice," Mark Hays, a cryptocurrency regulation supporter, stated in an interview.
Whether claims of Department of Justice bias are true or not, the core picture remains. It seems very likely that MoonPay's top leaders became victims of a fake Trump scam.
