Two NFT fraudsters charged for rug pulls amounting to over $22 million

An illustration of a person with green skin and a face shaped like a square-cut gem. They're wearing a white bandana, sunglasses with dollar sign patterns, and a prison uniform, and they have a party horn in their mouth.Vault of Gems #2509 (attribution)
Gabriel Hay and Gavin Mayo, two LA-based NFT creators, have been charged for defrauding investors of more than $22.4 million through a series of NFT rug pulls and other crypto scams. The duo launched various projects with detailed and false roadmaps to lure NFT buyers, then abandoned the projects without following through.

For example, a "Vault of Gems" NFT project falsely claimed to be the "first NFT pegged to a hard asset, like jewelry", which would have its own exchange. A "Faceless" NFT project promised to produce comic books, a movie, and a clothing company. None of the promises ever materialized, and Hay and Mayo abandoned the projects soon after launching them.

Hay and Mayo worked to hide their involvement with their scams, and have been charged with harassment for attempting to threaten those who connected them. In one case, after a person revealed Hay and Mayo to be the ones behind the Faceless NFT project, the duo sent threatening emails and text messages to the man and his parents. In an email to his parents, they impersonated a law firm, and even threatened to make false sexual abuse claims against the man.