HOLLYWOOD HILLS—Vincent Mazzotta Junior, who previously lived in Hollywood Hills and now resides in Arizona, has pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering. He, along with his co-defendant, David Saffron, scammed people by convincing them they could make quick, high-yield investments in cryptocurrency companies such as Cloud9Capital and Mind Capital, using automated trading robots. These robots are powered by artificial intelligence. The two men also committed another crime by claiming to be agents working for the Federal Crypto Reserve, a fictitious government agency, to further scam their victims by convincing them to pay for an investigation into the disappearance of their investments. In total, the two men defrauded people out of $13 million.
Additionally, Vincent Mazzotta Jr. pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice. After David Saffron was arrested, Mazzotta and other co-conspirators destroyed evidence stored in a safe at Saffron’s apartment. They also destroyed an iPad that contained further evidence of criminal activity. Mazzotta then attempted to prevent a federal grand jury from investigating him by falsifying the records of Runway Beauty Inc., his company.
After the guilty pleas were entered, Judge Dale S. Fischer, the U.S. District Judge presiding over the case, scheduled the sentencing hearing for December 15. Mazzotta Junior could potentially face a maximum sentence of 10 years for money laundering to be served in federal prison, along with up to five years for obstruction of justice.
