{"id":10479,"date":"2021-08-04T13:54:19","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T13:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/monero-developer-arrested-in-us-on-fraud-charges-at-request-of-south-african-government\/"},"modified":"2021-08-04T13:54:19","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T13:54:19","slug":"monero-developer-arrested-in-us-on-fraud-charges-at-request-of-south-african-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/monero-developer-arrested-in-us-on-fraud-charges-at-request-of-south-african-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Monero Developer Arrested in US on Fraud Charges at Request of South African Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former lead maintainer of Monero Riccardo Spagni, aka Fluffypony, has been arrested in the U.S. and is now waiting for his extradition to South Africa where he will stand trial for fraud. Spagni described the case as \u201can old matter, which I have continuously been trying to resolve since 2011.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fluffypony Arrested, Waiting for Extradition to South Africa<\/h2>\n

The U.S. government filed<\/a> a Memorandum of Extradition Law and Request for Detention Pending Extradition Proceedings for Riccardo Paolo Spagni with a district court in Tennessee on July 21.<\/p>\n

Spagni, also known as Fluffypony, was formerly a Monero lead maintainer. The court document states that \u201cSpagni is believed to have significant cryptocurrency assets that would enable him to flee.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. is \u201cexecuting its treaty responsibilities and acting at the request of the government of South Africa,\u201d the filing details, adding that the South African government seeks his \u201cprovisional arrest with a view toward his extradition to stand trial for fraud.\u201d On July 20, the district court issued a warrant to arrest Spagni for the offense committed in South Africa.<\/p>\n

According to the court document, while employed by Cape Cookies CC from Oct. 1, 2009, to June 8, 2011, as its IT Manager, \u201cSpagni knowingly used false information to fabricate\u201d invoices purporting to be from a supplier called Ensync and three other non-existent companies.<\/p>\n

He \u201cinflated the prices for the goods and\/or services\u201d on each invoice and replaced the supplier\u2019s bank information with his own. The court document details:<\/p>\n

In relying on Spagni\u2019s misrepresentations, Cape Cookies paid each invoice by means of electronic funds transfer into bank accounts Spagni controlled.<\/p>\n

The evidence indicates that he \u201creceived 1,453,561.47 South African Rand, or roughly $99,185, as a result of his efforts to defraud Cape Cookies,\u201d the filing notes.<\/p>\n

Spagni was charged in the Western Cape Regional Court, Cape Town, for fraud and other charges but he pleaded not guilty to them.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

However, Spagni failed to appear in court for his trial. In attempting to locate him, South African authorities found that he had fled the country. The Magistrate Court of the District of Cape Town, South Africa, proceeded to issue an arrest warrant for him on April 19, 2021.<\/p>\n

Spagni issued a statement Monday:<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding with regards to the setting of court dates in an old matter, which I have continuously been trying to resolve since 2011, I have been held in contempt of court and currently awaiting extradition.<\/p>\n

His attorney at Duncan Okes Inc. also issued a statement <\/a>regarding the case: \u201cIn our view, and contrary to accepted practice and procedure and given the circumstances, the issue of the warrant of arrest was irregular and unwarranted.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you think about this case? Let us know in the comments section below.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Bitcoin News
\nNews, cape cookies, extradition, Fluffypony, lead maintainer, Monero, monero dev, monero developer, Riccardo Spagni, South Africa, spagni arrested<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former lead maintainer of Monero Riccardo Spagni, aka Fluffypony, has been arrested in the U.S. and is now waiting for his extradition to South Africa where he will stand trial for fraud. Spagni described the case as \u201can old matter, which I have continuously been trying to resolve since 2011.\u201d Fluffypony Arrested, Waiting for Extradition…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":10480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blockchain-news","category-coin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}