NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — An Instagram personality known for dishing out large amounts of cash to strangers in videos pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday to wire fraud and money laundering charges for scamming investors out of at least $8 million, prosecutors said.
Under the Instagram name “Jay Mazini,” 27-year-old Jebara Igbara of Edgewater, New Jersey was known on the social media platform for surprising strangers with cash gifts at random. In one video, Igbara and rapper 50 Cent show up to a Burger King location and give the workers thousands of dollars.
But behind his public philanthropy persona, Igbara was scamming members of the Muslim-American community in New York. Igbara solicited their money by promising to invest it in stock, electronics resale and COVID-related personal protective equipment but the whole thing was really a Ponzi scheme. Igbara was really using the money for his personal expenses and gambling.
“With today’s plea, the defendant has admitted to leveraging his Instagram popularity to prey upon innocent investors and steal at least $8 million of their hard-earned money,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace. “Together with our agency partners, this Office is committed to bringing scammers to justice.”
Igbara also used his Instagram account to raise money for his investor’s “returns” and keep them on the hook. He’d do this by posting on his accounts that he was willing to pay above-market prices for different cryptocurrencies and then sending victims doctored images of wire transfer confirmations showing he sent the money as promised. Igbara never actually sent the payments and instead just stole the cryptocurrency the victims sent.
The Instagram scmamer is facing up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced.
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