A California man who allegedly passed himself off as a ‘Bitcoin billionaire’ has skipped court and is now wanted in all 50 states.
Kevin Segal, 30, is facing up to 141 and a half years behind bars after he managed to swindle Wyoming businesses out of $212,000, according to prosecutors.
He is said to have pretended to be a wealthy businessman trying to purchase millions of dollars worth of real estate in the Jackson Hole area.
Authorities are now searching for Segal after he used $50,000 a local man, Jason Irvine, gave him to pay up his bond last month but failed to appear in court this week.
Speaking with Cowboy State Daily, Irvine said that Segal had promised him a large Bitcoin payout that equated to half a million dollars if Irvine posted his bond.
Irvine told the outlet: ‘He explained the situation and was basically denying all the charges written in the newspaper.
‘[He] said it was libel and slander; and he didn’t intend to defraud anybody. He was locked up in jail, and [said] that’s why he couldn’t pay anybody off.’
Irvine said the two are friends, and spoke about one of Segal’s family members who had vouched for him. He maxed out three credit cards to cover the bond.
Kevin Segal, 30, is facing up to 141 and a half years behind bars after he managed to swindle Wyoming businesses out of $212,000, according to prosecutors
After Irvine posted his bond, Segal was released from prison on February 14 under a strict court order to turn his passport over.
According to Park County District Court Judge Bill Simpson, Segal never handed in his passport.
A Wednesday hearing at which he was to appear went ahead but Segal never showed. The judge had to forfeit the $50,000 bond.
Due to his absence, a bench warrant has been issued over 50 states for his arrest, his next bond will be held at $750,000 cash-only if he is captured.
He is described as a white male, standing at five-foot-seven and weighing 150 pounds and having black hair with brown eyes.
Irvine told the outlet that he was now looking at his options for filing bankruptcy, and hopes the authorities can catch up with Segal.
In a text, he said to Segal: ‘You really screwed me over, and now I really don’t believe anything you say anymore.
‘You’re a sociopath and a con man, and you’re going to get what you deserve.’
Court documents say Segal had been staying at the Caldera House, a five-star hotel in Teton Village, but ‘snuck out the back’ without paying an outstanding bill of $14,870.30
Teton County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Faicco said: ‘We don’t know his exact whereabouts right now.
‘We want to bring him back here so we can have some type of restitution for all of our local victims.
‘There were a lot of people, besides bigger companies, that have been affected.’
In January, Detective Adam Rainey testified at a hearing: ‘I believe that Mr. Segal just posed to be a Bitcoin billionaire and said this to everybody just to live the high life.’
The Teton County Sheriff’s Office said it started investigating Segal in March 2024 after it received a report from the Rocky Mountain Yeti car dealership in Jackson.
They said Segal agreed to wire it $159,427 for a brand new 2024 Dodge Ram 3500 pickup truck, but the wire transfer never went through.
It was then discovered that Segal had been staying at the Caldera House, a five star hotel, but checked out six days before he took possession of the vehicle.
Segal ‘snuck out the back’ without paying an outstanding guest bill and bar tab totaling $14,870.30, an affidavit alleges.
Authorities were ultimately able to track him down using the GPS from a 2024 Ram 3500 pickup truck that he allegedly stole from a dealership
He also allegedly used fraudulent credit cards to pay bills, and racked up a tab at Mangy Moose Saloon (pictured) of $3055.28 bill that went unpaid
Further investigations found he had stayed at the luxurious Amangani resort with his mother and a friend, racking up a $2,725.76 bill that went unpaid.
At Spring Creek Ranch, three cards Segal used to pay bills of $16,509.60 and $5,728.80 also turned up fraudulent.
Officials say Segal kept at Mangy Moose Saloon racked up a $3055.28 bill that went unpaid.
Segal also allegedly deceived independent operators, including a man he hired to pick up a DJI drone.
Under their agreement, the man was to purchase the drone in Colorado and Segal would reimburse him, prosecutors say. He wrote the man a check for $3,281.46, which failed to clear.
Segal even allegedly sent a delivery man to drive his stolen Dodge back to his home in Los Angeles, where records obtained by DailyMail.com show he lives in an apartment.
The delivery man and his son then drove ‘nonstop’ from Wyoming to Los Angles, then went to the airport to take their return flight back to Jackson – which Segal allegedly said he would pay for.
But when the men got to the airport, they learned that Segal had not actually purchased any plane tickets for them, and they were forced to spend the night in a hotel room as Segal promised he would take care of the issue.
They ultimately had to buy their own plane tickets home, and sent Segal a bill for $3,101 – which they said accounted for the drive, fuel, airline tickets, hotel and other trip expenses.
On March 27, Segal sent the man a screenshot of a wire transfer, but nothing ever went through.
The following day, an arrest warrant was issued for his arrest, with prosecutors alleging he stole a whopping $211,852.37.
Segal had previously also faced a civil lawsuit, which alleged he told a family that he had stocks in excess of $340million and a successful company in order to lease a Los Angeles property., according to court documents obtained by DailyMail.com.
That lawsuit also accuses him of reversing wire transfers and using phony checks to pay the family. That case ended in a settlement in September 2023.
