Two 23-year-old young men from California were arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly defrauding investors of over $22 million in cryptocurrency assets through NFT scams, and are currently facing fraud charges. The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Public Affairs stated in a press release that Gabriel Hay and Gavin Mayo were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of tracking. It is alleged that the two sponsored and promoted NFT and digital asset projects and conducted promotional activities supporting the projects. The Justice Department accused the two of making or causing others to make "materially false and misleading statements" regarding the digital asset projects. Additionally, prosecutors accused Hay and Mayo of providing misleading and false project roadmaps that included future plans for NFT and digital asset projects they had no intention of fulfilling. The indictment claims that Hay and Mayo promoted the Vault of Gems NFT project, claiming it would be the first NFT project "tied to hard assets." Despite these promises, prosecutors allege that the two abandoned the projects after raising millions of dollars from investors.

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