New Jersey Man Files Racketeering Lawsuit After $67K Crypto Theft

On Friday, April 26, 2024, Marlon Matamoros, a resident of Union, New Jersey, filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against three individuals seeking the return of around $67,000 worth of digital assets that were allegedly stolen from him.

The suit, filed in the Southern District of Texas, names the defendants – identified only by their online aliases “Mercury King,” “Michael,” and “Mr. Smart” – and accuses them of running a crypto scam operation on the messaging platform Telegram. Matamoros claims he fell victim after reaching out to what he thought was the customer support group for a staking service called YieldFlow when he encountered technical issues.

According to the complaint, Matamoros was directed by “Mercury King” to connect his crypto wallet to a website in order to successfully stake his assets. However, as soon as he did so, all the funds in his wallet – valued at approximately $67,000 at the time – disappeared. When Matamoros questioned “Michael” about the missing funds, he was reassured it was a technical error and encouraged to deposit more money – indicating to Matamoros he had been scammed.

Through his lawyers, Matamoros alleges the YieldFlow support group on Telegram was not actually affiliated with the company and was solely operated by the defendants to steal users’ cryptocurrency holdings. Blockchain analysis has since reportedly shown the defendants moving the stolen funds through exchanges. The suit accuses the trio of racketeering and wire fraud, seeking treble damages as well as pre- and post-judgment interests and attorneys’ fees.

If the allegations prove true, this case would represent yet another example of the growing problem of crypto fraud schemes thriving online.

Please contact BlockTribune for access to a copy of this filing.