Riccardo Spagni had previously left Monero (XMR) behind towards the end of 2019. As per the latest developments, he has now been arrested on the grounds of conducting fraudulent activities. However, these were revealed to have been unrelated to Monero.
Riccardo was the former lead maintainer for Monero, and it is disappointing to see what has since become of him. He had been arrested in July for allegedly committing fraud between the years of 2009 to 2011 during his stay in South Africa. Thankfully, none of his crimes were tied to Monero, and so XMR’s price and value should not be adversely affected.
What did Riccardo do exactly?
As per the information provided by court documents, Riccardo had become involved with fraudulent and undesirable activities when he was employed at ‘’Cape Cookies’ in Cape Town as an ‘Information Technology (IT) Manager.’ He had worked at this establishment from the 1st of October 2009 till the 8th of June 2011, at which point he had been terminated via a mutual agreement. According to the memorandum, Riccardo had, during the time of his employment, intercepted several invoices from Ensync, another company. These invoices were mainly concerned with various IT goods, products, and services that Ensync had been supplying to Cape Cookies.
Riccardo had reportedly utilized false information in order to provide fake invoices which were similar in nature to the authentic ones so that he could pass these as ‘real and originating from Ensync.’ To do this, he had relied on key details involving the company’s VAT (Value Added Tax) number as well as bank account information. Riccardo would then subsequently inflate the prices pertaining to the services and goods. Ultimately, this was all an elaborate scheme to trick Cape Cookies into paying the invoices, which were really just Riccardo’s personal accounts.
What happens now?
Riccardo’s arrest warrant had been issued on the 20th of July through South Africa’s government. There are plans of potentially extraditing the former lead maintainer so that he may stand trial. He had been caught in Nashville, around the time when he had been on-board a private jet which had stopped in Tennessee for refueling. Riccardo had originally planned to go to Mexico until he had been apprehended.
Furthermore, a hearing is scheduled to occur in a couple of days from now to determine what will happen next. If found guilty, Riccardo may be sentenced and imprisoned for a maximum of 20 years.