Most people entering into a business deal involving cryptocurrency understand that it carries inherent risks. Crypto’s lack of significant government oversight offers a freedom to operate that appeals to many, but it can be a minefield for neophytes and the unwary. It’s not a bad idea to exercise caution before entering into a crypto-based financial arrangement, especially if your prospective new partner’s middle name is “NoF*cks.”
Which transactions are legal or illegal within the cryptoverse is still being hashed out. Threatening others, however, remains a crime in the material world. A crypto deal gone sour prompted Jeremy NoF*cks Ryan (yes, that’s his legal name) to send a series of increasingly threatening texts to his erstwhile partners, one of whom was in a different state.
Creating an easily shared record of menacing behavior may not be the wisest course of action. On January 23, 2026, Ryan was arrested on a warrant granted to a special agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure.
While chock-full of creative threats and other interesting tidbits courtesy of NoF*cks, the affidavit also serves as a primer for what’s involved in procuring an arrest warrant for a crime that stretches across state lines.
He May Have Threatened Their Future Grandchildren as Well
Despite what some TV police procedurals would have us believe, arresting a suspect in a crime isn’t always as easy as having a surly captain growl, “Well, go pick ‘em up,” at a couple of detectives. In general, there are three paths for law enforcement to make a lawful arrest:
- Obtaining a judicial warrant to arrest a person
- A law enforcement officer personally observes a person commit a crime
- A law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe a person committed or is about to commit a crime
Arrests made without meeting one of the provisions listed above stand a chance of violating the person’s Fourth Amendment protections. Arrest warrants are issued by a judge who has found probable cause to arrest the suspect. It carries a much lower standard of proof than obtaining a conviction does.
People arrested in the U.S. have the Fifth Amendment right to procedural due process, which states that the federal government must give those charged with a crime their day in court. This has come under heightened scrutiny due to recent actions by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), which stand accused of ignoring due process in both arrest warrants and deportations. States can also have additional due process protections of their own.
The laws governing crimes can (and often do) differ between states, making offenses that cross state lines difficult to prosecute. Certain federal laws address this issue, including issuing a threat to injure while engaged in interstate commerce. It makes threatening to injure or kidnap a person in a different state via any type of communication a crime. This includes texts, emails, and social media posts, which was not good news for Ryan.
Known in the crypto community as NFTDemon and NFTDemon420, Ryan was served with a Civil Harassment Restraining Order in 2022 for allegedly stalking and harassing a CEO’s family members after his NFT campaign failed. In his most recent dustup, Ryan may have inadvertently made things easier for FBI Special Agent Richard Volp.
Ryan started a chat group text chain on October 10, 2025, with an unnamed victim (Victim) and a witness (Witness) to discuss proposed crypto business ventures. When a deal soured, Ryan began using the text chain to threaten Victim and his family. This included a digital map showing both Ryan’s current location in San Diego and the Victim’s former address in Los Angeles. After noting that “we aren’t too far away,” Ryan alleged a connection between himself and the former second in command of a large criminal gang in L.A. Unfortunately for Ryan, the target of his ire was actually on the other side of the country.
There’s a Piper Here, and He Says It’s Time To Pay
Ryan believed Victim was residing in Los Angeles, but Victim was living in Florida at the time of the texts. Since his threats crossed state lines, Agent Volp began the process of obtaining the proper arrest warrant. The first step was filing a criminal complaint in Florida, where Victim was located at the time the threats were made. Once a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Middle District of Florida signed off on the warrant in December 2025, an arrest for an out-of-district offense order was issued in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California, allowing Ryan to be legally arrested.
Ryan faces up to five years for making threats across state lines. Whether he plans to alter his middle name before the criminal trial is yet to be determined.
Related Resources
- Jury Deadlocked on Alleged Cryptocurrency Heist by MIT-Trained Brothers (FindLaw’s Courtside)
- California Protective Orders Laws (FindLaw’s State Laws)
- Is Online Art a Security? The Debate Over NFTs (FindLaw’s Federal Courts)
