Michael Zidell, a victim of a $20 million crypto pig butchering scam, has filed a lawsuit against Citibank in Manhattan Federal Court.
As per the filed lawsuit by Michael, Citibank turned a blind eye to its statutory duties and obligations at the time when he was permitted to deposit millions of dollars to scammers who had accounts at the bank.
The filed lawsuit alleges that Citibank was negligent in processing 43 transactions totalling $20 million to a fraudulent account linked to a ‘pig butchering’ crypto romance scam.
It is worth noting that the scammers using the alias ‘Carolyn Parker’ pursued the victim to invest in a fake NFT venture in early 2023.
The lawsuit also alleges that Citibank ignored suspicious transaction alerts, particularly for 12 transactions totalling around $4 million to a company called Guju Inc., and failed to implement adequate anti-money laundering protocols.
A gist of a scam occurred with Michael Zidell
As per the available information, Michael Zidell initially developed a friendly, social relationship with Carolyn Parker, which he later perceived as romantic; Parker convinced the victim to invest in an NFT token venture, promising significant returns.
Over several months, Zidell sent 43 wire transfers totalling $20 million to various accounts in the bank held by the bad actors. And in late April 2023, it was reported that the website of the investment platform and the funds of the victim disappeared.
The lawsuit highlights “ systematic vulnerabilities at the intersection of fiat and crypto systems,” suggesting Citibank’s AML processes are insufficient to address modern crypto scams.
Citibank allegedly did not properly monitor the accounts receiving money from Zidell’s funds, despite large sums being transferred in and out in a manner consistent with fraudulent activities.
Pig butchering is troubling the crypto on the verge
Pig butchering scams, a sophisticated blend of romance investment and confidence fraud, have emerged as a significant and escalating threat to the crypto ecosystem.
According to a report by Chainalysis, the cryptocurrency market lost $9.9 billion to a scam, with pig butchering accounting for 33.2% of the total amount stolen in 2024.
The 33.2% of pig butchering signals a clear spike of 40% in a year-over-year time frame; on the other hand, a study by the University of Texas notes that between January 2020 and February 2024, the global market lost $75.3 billion in pig butchering.
In 2025, pig butchering has emerged as one of the most damaging types of scam techniques, with wallet breaches and CEX hacks being some of the most prominent scam types troubling crypto users.
In December last year, it was reported that $3.6 billion had been stolen in Ethereum funds to pig butchering across 200,000 identified cases.
