Photo: Stock Image
By F. Scott Faulkner
Ventura County, CA
Two Southern California men have been indicted for allegedly defrauding investors out of more
than $22 million through a series of fraudulent Non-fungible Token (NFT) and cryptocurrency schemes spanning three
years.
According to U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, from May 2021 to May 2024, Gabriel Hay, 23, of
Beverly Hills, and Gavin Mayo, 23, of Thousand Oaks, promoted various NFT and digital asset
projects, “luring investors with elaborate plans and promises of future development. These two
suspects deceived investors with false promises and defrauded them of tens of millions of
dollars.”
The indictment leading to their Dec.22, 2024 arrest charges Hay and Mayo with deceptive
promotional tactics to convince investors of the legitimacy of their ventures. Once the funds
were secured, they abandoned the projects and retained their investors’ money.
The indictment also alleges that Hay and Mayo took steps to conceal their roles in the schemes,
including falsely identifying others as project owners. Additionally, the pair is charged with
stalking an individual who attempted to expose their fraudulent activities.
Hay and Mayo were contacted by local law enforcement and federal authorities at their
residences and were transported to federal detention centers in Los Angeles where they remain
held in custody without bail. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy and
wire fraud charges and up to five years for stalking.