A federal cryptocurrency fraud case with unexpected ties to Donald Trump’s circle and senior MoonPay executives has become a legal spectacle after it was briefly sealed in full, then swiftly unsealed, with acting U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro blaming court clerks for the confusion.
The case, originally filed publicly by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on July 11, was accompanied by a press release outlining charges against a Nigerian national accused of impersonating Steve Witkoff, a prominent real estate figure and co-chair of Trump’s inaugural committee, to convince two victims to transfer $250,000 worth of Ethereum. But hours later, the entire docket vanished from public view.
Legal experts flagged the full sealing as highly unusual. While redacting victim names is standard in DOJ filings, complete case sealing is typically reserved for matters involving national security or ongoing covert investigations.
The fact that the DOJ had already publicized the complaint suggests the seal was never intended or authorized.
DOJ Error Raises Questions on Transparency, Privacy, and MoonPay’s Role
The original complaint, briefly visible before the sealing, identified the victims by first names: “Ivan” and “Mouna.” The crypto community immediately recognized the importance: those are the same first names as MoonPay’s CEO Ivan Soto-Wright and CFO Mouna Doumani.
As NOTUS first reported, blockchain wallet addresses tied to the scam were previously linked to Soto-Wright in a 2023 lawsuit, further deepening the intrigue.
While the DOJ has maintained that the executives were victims of identity fraud, the sealing chaos and MoonPay’s growing political affiliations have prompted fresh scrutiny. The company has recently positioned itself as an exclusive partner in the rollout of Trump-themed meme coins.
Acting U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed to NOTUS that the full case seal was never requested by prosecutors. Instead, she said, a clerical mistake by court staff triggered the temporary blackout.
“The court made a ministerial, clerical error that, as soon as we realized it, within hours, the whole docket was unsealed,” Pirro stated. “They admitted we never asked for the docket to be sealed.”
According to Pirro, the DOJ only requested that the original complaint be sealed to redact a company’s name. An amended, public version was then submitted, though observers noted no clear difference in corporate naming between versions.
“This is the type of case where victims—including individuals, employees of a company, as well as a victim company—have a right to not have their names included in a complaint,” Pirro added.
As of now, MoonPay has not issued a public statement on the filing. Meanwhile, critics are pointing to the DOJ’s handling of the complaint as a troubling example of selective transparency, especially in a case involving influential crypto executives and political operatives.
MoonPay Donates $1M to Pro-Crypto PAC During the 2024 Election
In May 2024, MoonPay donated $1 million to Stand With Crypto, a political group backing pro-crypto legislation. The company cited growing regulatory pressure as its reason for supporting the PAC, which was launched to fund crypto-aligned candidates.
MoonPay said the 2024 election will shape the industry’s future and called for support of lawmakers pushing for clear crypto rules. The move follows a broader trend of crypto firms donating to candidates, including Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Federal Election Commission filings from April showed that several crypto firms and executives made large donations to President Donald Trump’s 2024 inauguration fund.
These included $1 million from Solana Labs, over $245,000 from Uniswap founder Hayden Adams, and $100,000 from Consensys. Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple Labs, Robinhood, and Ondo Finance were also listed among donors.
Following Trump’s re-election, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), now led by acting chair Mark Uyeda, has closed a number of enforcement cases involving donors, including those against Uniswap and Consensys.
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