In a Missouri state court complaint, Ari Ben Swartz recounted how Nomi Erokhina and a mysterious crypto platform called Web3z.cc apparently orchestrated what he alleged was a textbook example of what the digital asset industry calls a "pig butchering" scam—totaling nearly $3 million.

In early January 2024, Ari Ben Swartz, a retired systems analyst living in Las Cruces, New Mexico, did what many newly single Americans do: he downloaded Tinder. His wife had passed away, and the app offered some companionship, even if only digital. He soon matched with a woman who went by Nomi Erokhina and suggested moving their chat to WhatsApp.

What began as a flirtatious conversation soon turned into a financial horror story. In a Missouri state court complaint, Swartz recounted how Erokhina and a mysterious crypto platform called Web3z.cc apparently orchestrated what he alleged was a textbook example of what the digital asset industry calls a "pig butchering" scam—totaling nearly $3 million.

“Filing a lawsuit in federal court has its advantages, but federal courts are slow,” said Matthew J. Hamilton, a partner at Hamilton & Associates in Missouri, who represents Swartz against the defendants, Erokhina and Web3z.cc. “Where I could get in front of a state court judge in a morning, it might take a month to do that in federal court. Five weeks in crypto is an eternity to your enemy, leaving a 0% chance of recovering that cryptocurrency.”

“Pig butchering,” a term borrowed from the agrarian butchery method in which an animal is fattened before slaughter, refers to the psychological grooming of victims who are "fattened" with attention, trust and promises of profit before being financially "slaughtered."

According to the complaint, within five days of their first Tinder message, Erokhina steered their romantic small talk toward a discussion of blockchain investments. Acting as an agent for Web3z.cc, she walked Swartz through the basics of the technology and convinced him to invest over $100,000 as a “seed investor” capital loan for blockchain smart contracts.

The defendants told Swartz that his investment would grow to over $286,000, and about a week later, Erokhina convinced him to disburse an additional $1.5 million. To do so, Swartz used the life insurance proceeds from his wife’s recent death. Additional investments followed until May 30, when, according to Swartz, the defendant’s “tone changed.”

Concerned, Swartz sought to withdraw his money and claimed in the complaint that Erokhina demanded a “consumption fee.” He then mortgaged his house, withdrew all the money from his 401(k) retirement account and, on Aug. 1, transferred over $1.16 million due to that consumption fee.

When the defendants demanded more money, Swartz said he was tapped out, according to the complaint. The demands diminished in urgency but not persistence: $172,000, then $70,000, then $30,000—and, finally, silence. Erokhina ceased communication with Swartz, and Web3z.cc shut down its website.

From Swartz’s first disbursement to the defendants to their disappearance at the end of August, he transferred nearly $3 million, relying on a return exceeding $8.5 million, according to the complaint. He sued the Miami-based defendants this week over nine counts, including conversion and negligent infliction of emotional distress, in the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit of Missouri, Jackson County, since “the money [electronically] flowed through the state.” “We have a victim who lost his life savings,” Hamilton said, “and hopefully, we can bring him justice.” Author: Maykl A. Mora Source: law.com