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Title: Re: Butterfly Labs CEO 25 Million USD Mail Fraud =97 A Co= ncise Summary of Evidence Post by: elux on September 20, 2012, 12:55:31 PM The CEO of Butterfly Labs is a convic=
ted felon (25M USD worth of mail fraud.)
BFL hid this fact from its customers. (As= they knew how the silly internet would react to this information.) The information here presented would predictably make it much ha= rder from BFL to acquire huge amounts of money through pre-orders. = (Yes, they have successfully taken in huge amounts of pre-p= aid pre-orders on untested, unreleased products, as can be easily verifi= ed.) This post aims to collate the relevant, publicly availab= le information and present it in a concise, readable format. = A concise summary of evidence: (1)= Chris Vleisides is the President/Director of Butterfly Labs Inc: <= /b> Quote ENTITY DETAIL Name: BF Labs Inc. ... President / D= irector: CHRIS VLEISIDES 2507 JEFFERSON KANSAS CITY, MO 64108 <= br />https://wyobiz.wy.gov/Business/FilingDetails.aspx?eFNum=3D149144214= 231010201167112190255028042109060235081 (2) Mr= . Vleisides and associates orchestrated a massive mail order scam that r= an from 1990 to 2006, causing a loss of at least 19M USD out of the ~= 25M USD invested in the scheme: Quote from: US Postal Inspection Service Sonny Chris Vleisides, 39, previously of Kansas City, MO wa= s arrested in 2007 and held two years in Italy before he was extradited = to the United States. Vleisides was sentenced to 14 months in priso= n followed by three years supervised release after pleading to one count= of mail fraud. https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/radDocs/Pr= essRoom/nr110114.htm (3) It has been established tha= t Mr. Vleisides implicated in the mail order scam and Vleisides of BFL i= s the same person: Quote from:=
Inaba Sonny Vleisides is associated wit= h BFL and it's the same Sonny listed in the case documents. H= e was involved in off shore gaming in the capacity of selling and provid= ing software engineering to companies that did the actual offshore gamin= g (there is even a US patent application for the process). The industry = came under attack (as we all remember) around that time, and Mr. Vleisid= es was caught up in the process as well as a good portion of the industr= y based in Costa Rica. Although this may be cause for concern= to some, the fact is that we're a robust company with 22 employees= . One of them has a colorful background in offshore libertarianism= . If I thought there was even the possibility of something u= nsavory going on within BFL, you can rest assured I would a) not be part= of it and b) would let everyone know it. The reality is, we = are legitimate, we have released revolutionary products and we are going= to release more revolutionary products. I was made aware of this = back story prior to my employment and I evaluated it and concluded that = it was immaterial to the business at hand and thus joined BFL. The= re was nothing hidden from me and Sonny has always answered questions an= d been completely open about his past, but I think we can all agree that= it's not something you just announce to the world. http= s://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3D109349.msg1202784#msg1202784 = Inaba is an employee of Butterfly Labs Inc, who posts on the= se forums under the names inaba (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?actio= n=3Dprofile;u=3D8198) and BFL_Josh (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?ac= tion=3Dprofile;u=3D63314). Inaba / BFL_Josh's interpreta= tion differs somewhat from that of the Department of Justice, as we shal= l see next. (4) The mechanics of the scam, per DOJ Agent t= estimony: Quote from: Affidav=
it for Extradition Warrant =97 USA vs. Vleisides A joint investigation involving the IRS-CID and the United Stat= es Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), revealed that from at least 1990 t= hrough July 2006, SONNY VLEISIDES, James Ray Houston, Dennis Emmett, Wil= liam Cloud, Henry Walther, Scott Henry Walther, and others committed a m= assive international lottery scam using the following company names: Sha= mrock Agency, German Swiss Group, World Expert Fund, Mutual Medical Insu= rance Co, Old Amsterdam Trust Co, Euro American Fax Co, European Union C= ommission, EU American Payment Co, Global Search Network, North American= Foreign Payments Services, Wor'dwide Verification Service, and oth= ers. VLEISIDES ran the scheme along with Houston and Emmett. VLEISIDES, = Houston and Emmett, who were all located in Costa Rica, worked with mail= ing houses which, at the direction of VLEISIDES, Houston, and Emmett, se= nt out tens of thousands of mailings to victims in the United States, ma= ny of whom were elderly. = The mailings contained false statements, half truths, and omissions, and= induced the victims to participate in various international lotteries, = falsely stating that if the victims participated, they were guaranteed t= o win or had a very good chance to win. The mailings directed= the victims to send their money to Ireland, at d the Netherlands, among= other locations, where William Cloud had set up addresses with commerci= al mail receiving agencies and individuals to forward the money, eventua= lly, back to the United States. After receipt at the commercial mail rec= eiving agencies, the victims' money was sent to Henry Walther, who,= along with his son Scott Henry Walther, deposited the money into variou= s bank accounts and then distributed it as directed by VLEISIDES, Housto= n, and Emmett. Some of the money was spent on furthering the criminal ac= tivity. Some of the money was paid out to victims in small-dollar checks= that the co-schemers misrepresented to be lottery winnings. The rest of= the money was paid out to the co-schemers and others for their own use.= VLEISIDES and the other = defendants did not buy any lottery tickets, and the vast majority of the= victims lost the money they sent. The total loss from the scheme is in = excess of $19 million. ... An analysis = was done on approximately twenty of the bank accounts established in the= United States at the direction of VLEISIDES and his co-schemers. The an= alysis revealed, in summary, that the victims' money was first depo= sited into accounts established by the co-schemers at numerous banks in = accounts with names that sound like official lotteries: SHAMROCK AGENCY,= WORLD EXPERT, OLD AMSTERDAM, GERMAN SWISS, and EUC. (Hereinafter, accou= nts at this first layer will be referred to as "Deposit Accounts.&q= uot;) The co-schemers obtained over $19 million from tens of thousands o= f victims and deposited them into these accounts. After the co-schemers = deposited the victims' money into the Deposit Accounts, they transf= erred the money to the next layer of accounts, hereinafter referred to a= s "Payment Accounts." These accounts were in names that includ= ed NORTH AMERICAN PAYMENT and EU PAYMENT SERVICE. From the Payment Accou= nts, the co-schemers wrote checks represented as winnings and sent them = back to the victims. The amount of the alleged "winnings" was = far less than the amount the victims sent in - for the over $19 million = going into the accounts from victims, only approximately 20% was sent ba= ck to victims in the form of "winning" checks. The co-schemers= transferred some of the money from the Deposit Accounts and Payment Acc= ounts to the next layer of accounts, which will hereinafter be referred = to as "Syphon Accounts." The co-schemers wrote checks (or used= wire transfers) from the Lottery Accounts and the Payment Accounts to t= he Syphon Accounts, which were in names that included WESTERN INTERNET, = BUTTERFIELD, CARNEGIE and HENRY WALTHER ATTORNEY WIRE ACCOUNT. Money fro= m the Syphon Accounts was used to continue the scheme by paying scheme e= xpenses, as well as to provide benefits to the co-schemers. The co-schem= ers also took money at each layer in the form of checks to cash, checks = to themselves, or checks to the payment of personal or scheme expenses.<= br /> http://www.scribd.com/doc/106417808/Affidavit-for-Extradition= -Warrant (5) Mr Vleisides, the CEO of Butterfl= y Labs is forbidden from soliciting funds according to the terms of his = parole: Quote September 15, 2010 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. SONNY = VLEISIDES ... The defendant is hereby placed on supervis= ed release, effective immediately, for a term of three years under the following terms= and conditions: ... The defendant shall not engage, as whole or partial owner, employe= e or otherwise, in any business involving loan programs, gamb= ling or gaming activities, telemarketing activities, investment programs= or any other business involving the solicitation of funds or cold-calls to customers = without the express approval of the Probation Officer prior to engagemen= t in such employment. ... All fines are waived as it is fou= nd that the defendant does not have the ability to pay a fine. = ... As directed by the Probation Officer, the defendant shall provi= de to the Probation Officer: (1) a signed release authorizing credit rep= ort inquiries; (2) federal and state income tax returns or a signed rele= ase authorizing their disclosure and (3) an accurate financial statement= , with supporting documentation as to all assets, income and expenses of= the defendant. In addition, the defendant shall not apply for any loan = or open any line of credit without prior approval of the Probatio= n Officer. ... = The defendant shall not transfer, sell, give away, or otherwise convey a= ny asset with a fair market value in excess of $500 without approval of = the Probation Officer until all financial obligations imposed by the Cou= rt have been satisfied in full. ... Upon a finding = of violation of probation or supervised release, I understand that the c= ourt may (1) revoke supervision, (2) extend the term of supervision, and= /or (3) modify the conditions of supervision. http://ca.finda= case.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20100915_0004129.CCA.htm/qx<= br /> Thus, it can be seen the CEO of Butterfly Labs is likel= y* in violation of his * (Unless given express prior approval from h= is probation officer on a number of counts.) = To return to the first point, the CEO of BFL is a convicted felon and= a scammer, as should be evident from the above. I sin= cerely hope BFL is not simply a preorder scam, and I hope BFL does <= i>everything in their power to show that they're in fact not. However, alarm bells should be ringing, and red lights f= lashing all over the place. This could be the biggest, and by far most p= rofessional scam yet. For the time being, and under the weigh= t of the public and indisputable evidence presented above, it seems prud= ent to say: D= o not order ASIC "Supercomputers", or other unreleased product= s from Butterfly Labs Inc. This post summarizes wh= at is known at the present time. This thread will be updated with new in= formation as it becomes available. Notes: <= br />(1) This summary was originally posted to: Bryan Micon's List = of Bitcoin Scammers, Shills, and Users Not To Trust IMO (https://bitcoin= talk.org/index.php?topic=3D100514.msg1206357#msg1206357) |