A Florida man has been arrested after impersonating tech billionaire Elon Musk in a bid to rip-off an aged lady out of not less than 1 / 4 of 1,000,000 {dollars}, in accordance with police.
Jeffrey Arthur Moynihan Jr. was arrested at his Bradenton residence Tuesday evening and charged with grand theft.
Whereas reportedly working underneath the guise of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, the 56-year-old businessman befriended the sufferer, a 74-year-old Texas resident, on Fb and commenced messaging her in 2023.
The sufferer was allegedly promised a $55 million return on funding.
Her husband reportedly instructed investigators that she was conned out of some $600,000 in whole.
Detective Jim Curulla of the Bradenton police was tipped off by authorities in Frisco, Texas, who had been investigating an incident by which a girl had reportedly given a big sum of cash away to an entity posing because the tech billionaire, in accordance with a division spokesperson.
Practically half of that cash might be traced again to banks in Bradenton, and the accounts had been decided to belong to Moynihan, the spokesperson continued.
“The sufferer was satisfied she had, in actual fact, invested her cash with Elon Musk,” they stated, noting that the scammer, or scammers, would recurrently transient her on how “Elon’s” day was going, working in particulars from current information tales to construct rapport.
“The sufferer felt like Elon actually was her buddy,” the spokesperson continued.
“After ‘Elon’ constructed belief along with her, he urged she put money into his companies. She made a number of transactions over a time period.”
Information obtained by authorities present the sufferer transferred $250,000 to accounts belonging to Moynihan and his personal enterprise, Jeff’s Portray and Stress Washing LLC.
Bodycam footage reveals police approaching a shirtless Moynihan, informing him that he has a warrant out for his arrest.
When he asks in regards to the nature of the fees — repeatedly inquiring, “Grand theft of what?” — officers inform him that he shall be briefed by a detective.
When questioned, Moynihan stated the $250,000 he obtained was for a girlfriend with whom he had a strictly on-line relationship, in accordance with the division, leaving open the chance that Moynihan himself had been catfished and was a sufferer of a separate rip-off.
The investigation is ongoing, and authorities within the sufferer’s residence state are working to find out the place the remainder of her cash went.
“The true Elon Musk was in any other case engaged with the latest launch of SpaceX and isn’t underneath investigation by BPD,” Bradenton police stated in a press launch.
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