United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton and Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), James C. Barnacle, Jr., announced the unsealing of two separate Indictments charging GORAN SPIRIDONOV and KRISTINA JANEVA, respectively, with federal crimes relating to their fraudulent sale of “Trump Bucks”—a fake form of legal tender—to victims across the United States. SPIRIDONOV and JANEVA are both citizens and residents of North Macedonia and remain at large. SPIRIDONOV’s case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel and JANEVA’s case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman, both of the Southern District of New York.
“As alleged, the defendants created a fictitious financial instrument and marketed it to Americans around the country under the false pretense that ‘Trump Bucks’ was affiliated with the funding of President Trump’s re-election campaign and other causes associated with the President and the Trump Organization,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “That cannot be further from the truth. ‘Trump Bucks’ has no connection to the President, the campaign, or the Trump Organization. This fraud targets many senior citizens, taking advantage of their support for the President. We commend our FBI partners for detecting and thwarting this scheme. Importantly, this conduct may be ongoing, and we strongly urge anyone targeted not to provide financial information or funds to any entity related to ‘Trump Bucks’ or the fictitious products pictured in this press release.”
“These foreign nationals allegedly leveraged a false affiliation with the President's administration to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from Americans,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. “The FBI continues to target fraudsters that manipulate our country’s citizens, regardless of where they’re located.”
As alleged in the Indictments:[1]
From at least in or about 2023 through in or about the present, SPIRIDONOV, JANEVA, and others based abroad have engaged in a widespread scheme to scam victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through the sale of so-called “Trump Bucks.” SPIRIDONOV and JANEVA have each falsely claimed that “Trump Bucks” are valuable legal tender affiliated with President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization. In reality, these products are worthless and have no such affiliations.
SPIRIDONOV, JANEVA, and other participants in the scheme have each marketed and sold a number of different “Trump Bucks” and other related products to victims, mainly through the use of a certain online marketplace (identified in the Indictments as “Marketplace-1”) and encrypted messaging applications such as Telegram. Scheme participants have fraudulently sold “Golden Checks,” “Membership Booklets,” “Golden Badges,” “Trump Dollars,” “Trump Checks,” “Golden Trump Checks,” and “Diamond Bucks,” among other fraudulent products, many of which are marketed under the “Trump Rebate Banking System,” or “TRB,” banner. Pictures of some of the “Trump Bucks” products fraudulently marketed and sold to victims are below:
SPIRIDONOV, JANEVA, and other promoters of this scam have each falsely represented to victims that “Trump Bucks” products are affiliated with President Trump, members of his family, members of the Trump Organization, and members of the Trump administration, and that purchases of “Trump Bucks” would help fund President Trump’s re-election campaign and various causes purportedly associated with President Trump. SPIRIDONOV, JANEVA, and others have also falsely claimed that these products are preloaded with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash that would be redeemable at banks during a Trump presidency. These statements are all lies. “Trump Bucks” products are worthless; are not redeemable at any bank; and have no affiliation at all with President Trump, his family members, or members of his administration.
During the scheme, JANEVA marketed several different fake “Bank of Trump” products to victims. Below is an example of a “Ruby Certificate” marketed by JANEVA, which she falsely claimed was issued by the Trump Organization:
SPIRIDONOV has marketed several other fake “Trump Bucks” products to victims. For example, in the below email, which was later sent to victims, SPIRIDONOV falsely claimed that any victim who purchased a “Patriot Eagle” product could exchange such product for $10,000 upon President Trump’s reelection:
SPIRIDONOV, JANEVA, and others have each used this fraudulent scheme to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from victims across the country, many of whom are senior citizens.
SPIRODONOV, 25, and JANEVA, 39, are each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, which each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. SPIRIDONOV and JANEVA are each also charged with aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas W. Chiuchiolo and Jackie Delligatti are in charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the Indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the Indictments and the description of the Indictments set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
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