Ricardo Spagni (Fluffypony), the former developer for privacy coin Monero, was arrested for alleged theft. According to documents filed with a Tennessee district court, Fluffypony was arrested on fraud charges nearly two weeks ago.
The charges are linked with invoices filed over 10 years ago, when Spagni was working as an employee of a South African company called Cape Cookies. According to the authorities, Spagni created fake invoices, filed them to Cape Cookies’ finance department and made off with the money. Spagni fled off with nearly $100,000 in total.
Sapgni flew off from South Africa. There was an ongoing trial on him in April when he flew off. He was apprehended in Nashville then. He’s been in federal custody in the US since July 20. His extradition to his native country is still pending.
Spagni’s wife, Sashka Spagni, tweeted a message on behalf of Spagni on Monday in which he said, “Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding with regards to the setting of court dates in an old matter, which I have continuously been trying to resolve since 2011, I have been held in contempt of court and currently awaiting extradition.”
Also Read: Ethereum Developer Virgil Griffith Back In Custody in the US
Spagni added that he was hoping to resolve the misunderstanding soon. He added that “in the meantime my business affairs will continue under the leadership of my partners.”
Spagni is a well-known Crypto-influencer. He was also a part of an influencer team called “Magical Crypto Friends”. Spagni is also known for his work on Monero. Monero is a kind of cryptocurrency designed to obfuscate transactions on the blockchain. More recently, Spagni has been working on Yat, a platform that lets you buy URLs with emojis in them.
