MoonPay Executives Victimized in Quarter-Million-Dollar Fraud
Date: 2025-07-15 Author: Oliver Abernathy Categories: BUSINESS
Documents for the seizure of more than 40,000 USDT show that two MoonPay employees wired large sums to a man posing as the US Special Representative to the Middle East named Steve Witkoff. At the time, the real Witkoff was co-chairman of President Donald Trump's inaugural committee.
The court documents identify the victims under the pseudonyms "Ivan" and "Mouna." NOTUS reporters noted that these names coincide with those of MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright and CFO Mouna Ammari Siala. In addition, the crypto wallet used to transfer $250,300 is also linked to MoonPay, according to Etherscan. Interestingly, the same address was previously mentioned in another court case from 2023, when it was alleged that Soto-Wright used it to fund his personal account.
According to information received from Binance, the owner of the fraudulent wallet on the exchange is a certain Ehiremen Aigbohan, who lives in Lagos, Nigeria. An analysis of IP addresses showed that emails from these accounts were sent from Nigeria, not the United States. According to the Ministry of Justice, Aigbohan transferred the stolen money from the United States to Nigeria, where it likely ended up.
Recall that such attacks remain a common method of deception even among top managers of large companies. For example, last month, hackers hacked Trezor users through a feedback form on the official website.
The MoonPay story highlights the importance of being vigilant when checking emails and sender domains, especially when it comes to large sums or sensitive information. Even experienced managers can become vulnerable to classic phishing methods if address substitution is not detected in time.
