The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has filed a civil forfeiture complaint to recover over $40,000 in cryptocurrency linked to a sophisticated fraud scheme orchestrated by a Nigerian national. The scam involved impersonating a senior official of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee and defrauding a donor of approximately $250,300 in Ethereum-based USDT.
According to the complaint, on December 24, 2024, the perpetrator sent a deceptive email posing as Steve Witkoff, co-chair of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee. The email originated from a spoofed domain—@t47lnaugural.com—which subtly replaced the lowercase “i” in the legitimate domain with a lowercase “l,” a tactic designed to evade detection. Believing the request to be authentic, the victim transferred the funds two days later to a cryptocurrency wallet controlled by the scammer.
Within hours, the stolen funds were dispersed across multiple wallets in an attempt to obscure their origin. However, through advanced blockchain analysis and with the cooperation of Tether, the FBI successfully traced and froze $40,300 in USDT.ETH, which is now the subject of civil forfeiture proceedings.
“This case underscores the growing threat of business email compromise and cryptocurrency fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. “We urge all donors and investors to verify communications thoroughly before transferring digital assets. Our office remains committed to pursuing justice and recovering stolen funds.”
FBI Assistant Director Steven J. Jensen added, “Scammers are exploiting trust and technology to deceive victims. We encourage the public to scrutinize email addresses and report suspicious activity to the Internet Crime Complaint Center.”
The Department of Justice acknowledged the assistance of Tether in freezing the stolen assets and reaffirmed its commitment to combating cyber-enabled financial crimes.