Federal authorities have uncovered a sophisticated cyber scam targeting donors to President Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund.
The FBI has filed a civil forfeiture complaint against Ehiremen Aigbokhan, a Nigerian national, for stealing over $250,000 meant for Donald Trump’s 2025 presidential inauguration.
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The scheme, allegedly directed by a Nigerian named Ehiremen Aigbokhan based in Lagos, siphoned off over $250,000 (approximately ₦460 million) in cryptocurrency from a Trump supporter.
The fraud was executed through a Business Email Compromise (BEC) scam, where perpetrators used fake email addresses mimicking those of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee to deceive victims.
On December 26, 2024, scammers sent emails from a spoofed address, @t47lnaugural.com, designed to closely resemble the official @t47inaugural.com used by Steve Witkoff, co-chair of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee.
The fraudsters tricked a donor into transferring 250,300 USDT (a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar) to their accounts. Within hours, the perpetrators laundered 215,000 USDT across multiple cryptocurrency wallets to obscure the funds’ trail.
The FBI, with assistance from cryptocurrency firms Binance and Tether, traced the stolen funds and froze approximately $40,000 in two accounts, which federal prosecutors are now seeking to seize through a civil forfeiture complaint.
The agency has launched a manhunt for Aigbokhan. Court documents indicate he used a Binance account registered in October 2024 to facilitate the scam. The FBI is also pursuing an arrest warrant for the suspect.