According to PANews on December 21, the U.S. Department of Justice has released an indictment containing six charges, accusing two Southern California men of defrauding investors of more than $22 million in cryptocurrency through a series of digital asset projects. According to court documents, from May 2021 to May 2024, Hay and Mayo sponsored multiple NFT and other digital asset projects and conducted promotional activities to support these projects. Hay and Mayo are suspected of making or inducing others to make significant false and misleading statements about upcoming digital asset projects and providing false and misleading project 'roadmaps' detailing plans for the launch of NFT or digital asset projects, which the sponsors never intended to implement.
It is reported that Hay, Mayo and others have also used these means in several other digital asset projects, including Vault of Gems, Faceless, Sinful Souls, Clout Coin, Dirty Dogs, Uncovered, MoonPortal, Squiggles, and Roost Coin. It is reported that Hay and Mayo also used various methods to conceal their participation in fraudulent projects, such as incorrectly identifying other individuals or causing other individuals to be incorrectly identified as project owners.