‘Balkan beauty’ hedge funder known for steamy bikini selfies banned from US over immigration ‘lies’: sources
LOS ANGELES — A glamorous, jet-setting Miami hedge funder known for her Instagram selfies has been banned from US soil for five years — after she admitted to immigration officials that she had been working in the country illegally, The Post has learned.
Jasmina Midzic — listed as a managing director at Typhon Capital Management with a habit of posting photos of herself dressed in pricey outfits and skimpy bikinis in exotic locales — was put on a plane back to London from Los Angeles this past Sunday, sources close to the case told The Post.
That was after the 36-year-old Croatian national, who holds British permanent residency, made a botched attempt last Saturday to attend the Milken Institute Global Conference, an LA summit for the financial elite whose guests included Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Elon Musk and Jill Biden.
Midzic’s now-private Instagram account — which she used last Halloween to show off a provocative nurse’s costume paired with red lingerie — lists her official residences as London and New York.
Over the weekend, she confessed to authorities that she had been illicitly working in her $13,000-a-month job for her Miami Beach-based firm on a visitor visa, multiple senior officials said.
A source close to the Balkan beauty said she was back in Britain on Monday. Late Wednesday, she posted a pouty-lipped Instagram selfie from London’s swanky Mayfair district, dressed down in a baseball cap and sports jersey.
“It ain’t about how hard you get hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward,” she wrote in the post.
Contacted by The Post on Friday, the investor relations specialist denied any wrongdoing in an emotional interview.
“My friends are judges and prosecutors in the US, I would not break the law,” she sobbed over the phone. “This is horribly violating my rights on so many levels.”
Midzic said she was detained at LAX for 26 hours before being flown back to London Heathrow Airport.
“They didn’t listen because I am a white European and I work for a hedge fund,” she claimed. “They got very offended that I don’t want American citizenship.”
Midzic also held a management role at Typhon’s sister organization, JurisTrade, a litigation finance company that specializes “in connecting law firms, claim owners, and investors.”
James Koutoulas, the founder of both ventures, also hit back at the accusations, saying that his senior executive “did not break any immigration laws.”
“If they want to smear her, then I will see them in court,” said Koutoulas, who drew SEC scrutiny after launching the anti-Biden “Let’s Go Brandon” coin.
But Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, told The Post that officers booted Midzic because she “had violated the terms of her admission under her B1/B2 visa.”
“Immigration laws must be followed — those seeking to work in the United States must do so through legal and lawful means or face the consequences,” McLaughlin said.
US government sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officials became suspicious about Midzic’s frequent trips to the US and pulled her aside for questioning after she landed at LAX on Saturday.
The officials said the fit financier then confessed that she had not told the truth when she had arrived in the US on her regular jaunts to this side of the Atlantic, and she could not provide proof of her right to work in this country during her fiery exchanges with CBP staff.
“This visa is for enjoying our beautiful country. It’s for visiting Hollywood or Disneyland,” a senior source close to the case said. “She admitted that she was working. Immigration law applies to everyone, whether you are a construction worker or a hedge fund manager.”
Midzic “applied for an L1 visa in 2023, but it was denied.” an insider added. “She stated that she was engaged in unauthorized employment for Typhon Management since 2021 and JurisTrade since 2024.”
The Post has not been able to verify which airline she used to travel to LA. CBP regulations state that those denied entry must be returned on the next available seat on the carrier they used to arrive.
“She lied, and this will hurt her reputation forever,” said one high-level source, who was not authorized to speak to the media. “It’s a self-inflicted wound.”
All comments made by anyone going through a US immigration check are made under oath, which are also known as sworn statements.
“She was on a retainer for both companies to the amount of $13,000 a month,” the source close to the case said. “She was coming to the US to raise capital and meet clients for both companies in her role as a managing director.”
Officials told The Post that only a federal judge can issue a formal deportation order, but CBP officers have the legal power to refuse entry to a foreign national “knocking at the door” of the United States.
Anyone hit with “a denial of entry order” can appeal at a US embassy abroad if they provide sufficient evidence that the diktat was unfair and wrongly issued.
Social media posts show that Midzic has been a regular at the annual Milken conference at the Beverly Hilton, having posed with Jefferies CEO Rich Handler at the forum in 2023.
Elsewhere, she is seen frolicking with friends at the luxurious Swiss ski resort of St Moritz, and three weeks ago she landed VIP grandstand seats for the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Bahrain. Another string of videos from London entitled “Home?” shows her at private members club 5 Hertford Street.
Sources close to Midzic claimed that she even planned to leverage her contacts inside the Trump administration to try and get the five-year ban overturned.
Hotshot New York immigration lawyer Michael Wildes, who represented First Lady Melania Trump and her family, warned foreign nationals that CBP officers are acting with “bravado” after the election of President Donald Trump as they crack down on possible illegal entries.
“The frequency of visits is what raised an eyebrow. This was a very easy clip,” Wildes told The Post. “The government will have very little appetite to accommodate her for more sophisticated visas.”
The star attorney, whose father represented Beatles frontman John Lennon, added: “They probably nailed her on her own admissions, or she had emails or materials on her person that showed she was brazen about her status.
“Had she had the judgment to get good counsel, she would have avoided this fiasco.”
An SEC filing shows Midzic also enjoyed a spell at the Swiss crypto firm Seba Bank, now known as Amina, as the company’s director of client management in the tiny, low-tax canton of Zug, a hotspot for Europe’s uber-rich.
She also had stints in investor relations in London with Taylor Rafferty and ZPX Venture Capital, the April 15 filing states.
Typhon Capital Management describes itself as a “multi-strategy hedge fund” that was founded in 2008 by CEO Koutoulas, a former commodities trader and attorney.
The Gary Gensler-led SEC under the previous administration said last year that it was “investigating whether Koutoulas or entities he controlled violated the federal securities law” in the launch of the Let’s Go Brandon coin. The probe was ultimately closed without any finding of wrongdoing.
