A Tunisian woman was arrested by Miami police earlier this month after she allegedly stole her ex-boyfriend’s American Express credit card and transferred over $800,000 worth of Donald Trump-inspired cryptocurrency to herself.
Maissa Jebali, 22, has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of grand theft and credit card theft, according to a criminal complaint obtained by HuffPost. Though police have accused her of stealing crypto funds from her ex, Michael Anthony Bravo, she has not been charged for that crime.
Bravo now fears that Jebali, who he was dating for six months prior to her arrest, could continue to have access to his money if she is deported, he told NBC affiliate WTVJ.
Police said the couple got into an argument on the night of Feb. 8 on Bravo’s yacht. When Bravo woke up the following morning, his girlfriend was gone, along with his Amex card, according to a criminal complaint obtained by HuffPost. He showed detectives a receipt of the charges made on his card, totaling to $4,239.44 worth of transactions to Airbnb.
Bravo said he later discovered he was also missing around $800,000 dollars worth of “Trump Coin,” from his crypto wallet, which had been transferred to someone else’s, per police.
It’s unclear whether Bravo had purchased Trump’s official meme coin, $TRUMP, backed by the Solana blockchain, or one of the many unofficial cryptocurrencies inspired by the president.
Jebali never returned to her boyfriend’s yacht, nor did she respond to any of his attempts to contact her, according to the complaint. Instead, police say she continued to use Bravo’s Amex card at multiple locations.
Bravo reported the incident to police on Feb. 12. On Valentine’s Day, a private investigator located Jebali at a local hotel, according to the complaint. Police were notified that same day, and confirmed with staff that their suspect had checked into the hotel.
An officer made contact with Jebali at the hotel bar and explained they were searching for her because Bravo had reported some of his belongings stolen, according to the complaint.
Jebali responded to the officer by saying, “That loser is my ex-boyfriend; he lets me use his credit card,” per the complaint. She told police she’d ended the relationship and did not plan on returning to him, and had used his credit card without his permission.
Jebali was held briefly in a Louisiana jail, but has since been transferred to ICE custody in Florida. It’s unclear what Jebali’s immigration status is in the U.S.
David Bolton, a private investigator who was working with Bravo, told The Independent on Friday that there is a possibility Jebali could be deported with access to the stolen crypto funds.
“According to the new immigration laws, she should be deported within the next 48 hours,” he said, per the Independent. “We’re trying to stop that, we just don’t know if we’re going to be successful or not.”
Earlier this year, Trump expanded ICE powers to rapidly deport undocumented immigrants and other migrants in a process called “expedited removal.”
Now, Bolton said, there is a “race to beat the clock” to “try and prevent Jebali from being deported with full access to the funds that she stole.”
The private investigator told WTVJ, “We can’t just be in a hurry to push people out of the country for some political reason, we need to examine each case and what crimes are involved here and make a determination.”
An attorney listed as Jebali’s representation did not immediately respond for a comment when reached out by HuffPost, but told WTVJ Jebali will bond out of ICE and “justice will be served.”