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Robert Robb allegedly convinced several crypto investors to send him $1.5 million to build a too-good-to-be-true crypto trading bot, according to an FBI affidavit viewed by 404 Media and CourtWatch.
Robb allegedly sent a message reading, “Poof, YOU’RE A MILLIONAIRE” to one Telegram group, accompanied by this image of a purple fairy wearing a mushroom cap. The message promised recipients they could strike it rich if they used Robb’s MEV bot and invested in the cryptocurrency $RAT and the ironically named token NoRugz.
It says Robb asked crypto investors over Telegram and other social media for money to build a “Maximum Extractable Value” or MEV, crypto trading bot. But after investors sent the funds, the bot never materialized. Investors interviewed by the FBI said that Robb made multiple excuses for the bot’s delay and never complied with any requests for refunds.
The bot described by Robb would supposedly scan blockchain networks to find profitable trading opportunities and execute them automatically, but there’s no evidence that technology can actually work over an extended period. This hasn’t stopped crypto scammers from pushing fake bots on YouTube, X, and other social media sites and making unlikely promises of 10x to 100x returns on their investments.
Robb frequently posted about the MEV bot he was building on X and the crypto social media platform Friend.Tech. In DMs to investors, he claimed he had built a prototype of a bot that was good enough to yield “enormous returns.”
The FBI alleges that over the course of a few weeks in 2023, Robb collected at least $1.5 million from investors. But instead of the funds going toward building a crypto trading bot, Robb transferred most of the money to his personal bank accounts. The FBI’s review of Robb’s financial transactions indicated that he spent some of the money on a two-year lease of an executive suite at the Denver Broncos Mile High Stadium, a luxury Jeep, and a stay at a vacation resort in the Bahamas.
The 46-year-old Robb was arrested in Las Vegas on March 20th, according to a screenshot of records from the Henderson Police posted by crypto detective ZachXBT on X. The Verge has reached out to Henderson County to request Robb’s police records.
Robb, who posts on X under the handle pokerbrat2019, claims in his bio that he is a past victim of extortion. Over the past year, he’s tweeted frequently about MEV bots and frequently warned his followers to look out for crypto scams.
Robb hasn’t posted since the day of his arrest. His last post, published at 12:38PM ET on the morning of his arrest, chided his followers for being “far too predictable” and promised an upcoming Solana bot.
