Vincent Mazzotta Jr.

What the public record shows

Vincent Anthony Mazzotta Jr. — who used the aliases “Vincent Midnight,” “Delta Prime,” and “Director Vinchenzo” — pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, tied to a cryptocurrency investment fraud run with co-defendant David Saffron. This is a criminal conviction — not an allegation.

The scheme

According to the Department of Justice:

• Mazzotta and Saffron falsely promised victims high-yield returns from cryptocurrency trading performed by automated “trading robots” powered by artificial intelligence, steering people into crypto ventures called Mind Capital, Cloud9Capital, and others.
• The scheme defrauded victims of more than $13 million (a broader indictment put the total above $25 million).
• After those ventures disappeared with investors’ money, the conspirators added insult to injury: they invented a fake government agency called the “Federal Crypto Reserve” (FCR) and charged the same victims thousands of dollars to “investigate” the very firms that had already stolen from them — a recovery scam layered on top of the original fraud.

Why we rate this 1 / 10 — Avoid

A guilty plea in a scheme that fused two of today’s most effective hooks: “AI trading bots” and a fake-recovery follow-up. “Our AI robot generates guaranteed returns” is the 2020s repackaging of the oldest lie in investing.

Two red flags this case teaches

• “AI-powered guaranteed returns” — AI does not repeal the rule that real returns carry real risk. A bot that supposedly can’t lose is a story, not a strategy.
• Recovery scams. If you’ve been defrauded and someone contacts you promising to get your money back for a fee, it is almost always a second scam. Real government agencies never charge you to investigate.

Bottom line

Convicted by his own plea. “AI trading robot, high guaranteed yield” is a fraud pattern, not a technology — and anyone offering to recover your lost crypto for an up-front fee is running the sequel.

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