Phony ‘Bitcoin billionaire’ makes astonishing plea after swindling $212K from companies
A California man who allegedly passed himself off as a ‘Bitcoin billionaire’ to swindle nearly $212,000 from five-star resorts and small time businesses in Wyoming has made a brazen plea in court.
Kevin Michael Segal, 30, petitioned Teton County Judge Melissa Owens to give him a lower bond, so he could get out of jail and rescue his family and property from the Los Angeles wildfires, California State Daily reports.
But Teton County Deputy Attorney Andrew Hardenbrook countered, arguing that since Segal claims to have $2billion in assets and finances, a $50,000 bond should not be a hurdle.
He also noted that Segal has no ties to the Wyoming county, and is charged with more than a dozen felonies and three misdemeanors – all of which he has pleaded not guilty to.
Prosecutors, however, claim that when Segal stayed in Wyoming last year he scammed at least nine businesses and individual operator.
He is said to have pretended to be a wealthy businessman trying to purchase millions of dollars worth of real estate in the area.
‘I believe that Mr. Segal just posed to be a Bitcoin billionaire and said this to everybody just to live the high life,’ Detective Adam Rainey testified at a preliminary hearing earlier this month, according to Jackson Hole News & Guide.

Kevin Michael Segal, 30, is facing more than a dozen felonies for swindling Wyoming businesses last year
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, claiming Segal agreed to wire it $159,427 for a brand new 2024 Dodge Ram 3500 pickup truck, but the wire transfer never went through.
A staff member at the dealership said they tried to follow up with Segal, who then wrote out a check to the dealership – but that did not clear either.
After receiving the report, Sheriff Sgt. Jesse Willcox tried to track Segal down.
He discovered that Segal had been staying at the Caldera House, a five-star hotel in Teton Village, but checked out on March 21 – six days after 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 obtained by Cowboy State Daily alleges.
At that point, Willcox then reached out to a ‘law enforcement related contact’ at a rental property on Spring Creek Ranch, where Segal had stayed earlier in the month, and learned Segal was no longer a guest there either.
Eventually, Rainey took over the case as questions of other ‘fraudulent acts’ surfaced during Willcox’s search for the suspect, he wrote in the affidavit.

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 guest bill and bar tab totaling $14,870.30
‘As I investigated the case, I discovered that Segal had committed several fraudulent activities and had falsely represented himself as a Bitcoin billionaire in order to help carry out his scheme of deception,’ Rainey wrote.
He claimed that Segal had stayed at the luxurious Amangani resort with his mother and a friend, racking up a $2,725.76 bill that went unpaid when the credit card he used was found to be fraudulent.
At Spring Creek Ranch, three cards Segal used to pay bills of $16,509.60 and $5,728.80 also turned up fraudulent, and a tab Segal kept at Mangy Moose Saloon racked up a $3055.28 bill that went unpaid.
‘There are a lot of cards,’ Rainey testified in court. ‘I followed up on all of them. The damages were pretty significant.’
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 then wrote the man a check for $3,281.46, which failed to clear.

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
In another instance, Ashley Watson, the owner of Mountains of Groceries – which delivers groceries for people in Teton County – said Segal used her services, but his credit card charges were canceled.
‘I don’t think I know what I would have done differently,’ she told the News & Guide in the aftermath.
‘He had a credit card and he placed an order,’ she explained. ‘Sounds like he was a pro at this.’
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 was then tracked back to his home in Redondo Beach, California using the GPS system from his stolen truck, which local police repossessed as they arrested him.

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
The Rocky Mountain Yeti dealership later told investigators it took a $27,100 loss on the truck, including its off-lot depreciation and the cost to recover it.
‘He was good,’ Darren Allred, the head of sales at the dealership, admitted.
Segal is now facing up to 14 and a half years in prison and several thousand dollars in fines.
He is due back in court for a pretrial hearing in April.
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.