During the past few weeks, videos have been circulating on social media detailing alleged fraud by a New Jersey Instagram influencer, who grew his following to nearly a million users by showcasing a luxury lifestyle and his overt generosity by handing out cash to strangers.
Jebara Igbara, known on social media as “Jay Mazini,” reportedly wanted to speak to one of the people who was tarnishing his name online. The 25-year-old picked the man up in Fort Lee in his white 2020 Land Rover earlier this month to grab a coffee and “discuss issues of scams,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Bergen County.
The encounter eventually led to Igbara and two other unknown individuals “stripping the (man) naked and holding a machete to the (his) neck ordering him to remove negative social media postings about (Igbara) or a video of the encounter would be released to social media, while threatening to kill him,” according to the complaint.
Igbara is charged with aggravated assault, luring an adult, kidnapping, possession of a weapon, criminal coercion, endangering an injured victim and making terroristic threats.
He is being held in Bergen County on the charges. A spokesperson for the Bergen County Prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether anyone else was charged in the alleged attack.
Igbara is now facing both state and federal criminal charges after he was accused of wire fraud earlier this week in the Eastern District of New York in for allegedly scamming at least four people out of sending him more than $2 million in Bitcoin and failing to pay them the cash he promised.
The Instagram influencer reached out to the man he is charged with attacking to reportedly discuss the alleged scams and drove to a 7-Eleven store in Cliffside Park to do so.
Upon arrival, according to the complaint, two unknown individuals entered the car. The man who was meeting with Igbara was “suspicious about what was about to occur,” so he fled the vehicle, leading Igbara and the two other men on a chase through the Bergen County borough, authorities said.
The man was eventually “caught, beaten and thrown into the Land Rover,” according to the complaint.
After allegedly beating and threatening the man, Igbara eventually dropped the victim off in the city of Passaic, provided the man with his personal belongings then warned him “to not call the police or they would kill him.”
The victim suffered a concussion, left ankle injury, large abrasion and lump above right eye, and multiple bruises, lacerations, swelling and pain on head and body.
Igbara’s attorney declined to comment on the state charges.
Federal authorities said Igbara used his social media account, in which he promoted businesses and handing out large amounts of cash to random people, as a way to show his followers he was a person of “substantial means.”
In reality, New York FBI assistant director-in-charge William F. Sweeney Jr. described Igabara as a “multimillion-dollar scammer.”
Igbara’s Instagram account has been deleted.
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Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com.
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