DOJ foils Trump-Vance inaugural committee impersonator scammers, recovers $40K crypto

A Nigerian national, posing as Steve Witkoff, allegedly impersonated a Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee member and scammed a crypto donor out of over 250,000 USDT.ETH is using a lookalike email address.

According to the DOJ statement, the scammer posed as the co-chair of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, Steve Witkoff, and sent an email to the victim on December 24, 2024, from “@t47Inaugural.com”, replacing the lowercase “i” in the legitimate email “@t47inaugural.com”.

The victim was convinced the email was legitimate and transferred 250,300 USDT.ETH to an address controlled by the scammer on December 26, 2024. USDT.ETH is a dollar-pegged stablecoin that is issued on the Ethereum blockchain.

DOJ warns donors of cryptocurrency scams

The DOJ warned that all donors should double-check that they send cryptocurrency to the intended recipient. It added that it can be difficult for law enforcement agencies to recover losses due to the highly complex nature of blockchain technology. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, for the District of Columbia, said her office is ready to go toe-to-toe with criminals. 

United States Seeks Recovery of $40,300 in Cryptoscheme that Impersonated Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee

🔗https://t.co/AsrtC6Xto7@USAttyPirro @FBIWFO pic.twitter.com/tUrOFl51xe

— U.S. Attorney DC (@USAO_DC) July 2, 2025

Steven Jensen, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, revealed that impersonation scams cost Americans billions in losses in many forms every year. He urged Americans to review email addresses, website URLs, and spelling in any message received to avoid becoming victims.

Jensen believes scammers often use subtle differences to trick and gain victims’ trust. He reiterated his warning to never send money, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or other assets to unknown persons or through online interactions. 

The impostor Steve Witkoff instructed the victims to send funds into a crypto wallet ending in 58c52 on December 26, 2024, and moved the funds to other addresses within two hours of receiving them. The recovered $40,300 USDT is subject to forfeiture in the civil action.

The DOJ outlined cybercrimes, including business email compromise (BEC), investment scams, cryptocurrency scams, romance scams, and pig butchering fraud scams, to be reported via the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. It also acknowledged the Tether organization’s support in revealing the transfer of those assets. The Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Blaylock, Jr, prosecutes the case.  

Tether helps enforcement authorities recover proceeds of crypto scams

Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, said the firm is setting the standard for compliance in digital assets and ensuring stablecoins aren’t misused. Tether, the issuer of the USDT dollar-pegged stablecoin, helped in freezing the proceeds of crypto scams in similar schemes, including a pig butchering fraud investigated by the DOJ last month.

The DOJ filed to seize $225 million in USDT money believed to have been laundered via the OKX exchange by scammers. 

According to a complaint to the DOJ, the scam operators dispersed the proceeds across multiple cryptocurrency addresses and accounts to hide the source of the illegally obtained funds. The filing added that such scams originate by convincing people to give out money after gaining their trust. The scammers usually use fake social accounts and sob stories, a process dubbed as fattening up a pig before it is slaughtered.

Sarvanan Pandian, CEO and founder of KoinBX, a crypto exchange platform, described the Steve Witkoff scam as a new minefield on which scammers exploit political figures and events to deceive victims. He added that it is purely opportunism that takes undue advantage of the crypto ecosystem’s public trust, political sentiment, and irreversible nature all at once. 

Chengyi Ong, Head of APAC Policy at Chainanalysis, warned that AI and deepfake technology will increase the scale and sophistication of scam activities. He added that prevention will require a cross-sector approach involving law enforcement, regulators, tech companies, financial institutions, and the crypto industry.

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