1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:06,519 Speaker 1: My name is Andrew Hilaiko. I'm a professor of physiology 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: and pathophysiology at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:16,960 Speaker 1: and my relationship with Center Tech is not by choice. 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 2: I came into my office, opened my email and noticed 5 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 2: one sent to me and the subject heading was FBI request. 6 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:30,640 Speaker 2: I opened it and I read the following, Good day, 7 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 2: doctor Jileko, I've been tasked to interview you regarding this 8 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 2: company called center Tech. My initial thought was disbelief that 9 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 2: what are you talking about? 10 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 3: A professor north of the border found himself involved in 11 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 3: Center Tech for reasons he never expected. 12 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 2: I don't know exactly what I thought was happening, but 13 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 2: there was just this little uneasiness, you know, my part 14 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 2: of something I don't really understand. 15 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: Is this bigger than I realized. 16 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:31,639 Speaker 3: I'm Johnny be Good and this is creating a con 17 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 3: The Story of Bitcoin, Episode five, A Date with the 18 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 3: Gray Lady. In the fall of twenty seventeen, Bitcoin was 19 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 3: an exciting word, a way for people to get rich quick, 20 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 3: or so they thought. People believed they were making money 21 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 3: from this unregulated currency. New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper 22 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 3: wanted to know more. 23 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 4: In seventeen, there were hundreds of these companies popping up. 24 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 4: It was so complicated and so hard for ordinary people 25 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 4: to understand. 26 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 3: Over one thousand miles up ninety five north at the 27 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 3: New York Times, Nathaniel Popper sat at his desk thinking 28 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 3: of his next big story. He wanted to publish an 29 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 3: expose on the crypto industry, specifically the growing influence and 30 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 3: endorsements of celebrities in the market. He was trying to 31 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 3: get to the bottom of what was causing this frenzy. I. 32 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 4: As a reporter covering this, was trying to figure out, 33 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 4: how do I get my hands around this, How do 34 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:41,360 Speaker 4: I take a look at one element of this that 35 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 4: will help people understand what's going on here. And a 36 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 4: lot of that was to do with these celebrity endorsements. 37 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:52,920 Speaker 4: The celebrity endorsements were often the project that went up 38 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 4: the fastest, that got the most money. And as I 39 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 4: dug into this and was looking into each project and 40 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 4: what they had promised and how much they'd raised, I 41 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 4: kept coming back to this one project called CenTra, which 42 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 4: had already managed to raise thirty million dollars, and it 43 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:15,079 Speaker 4: had so many of the elements that plagued this industry 44 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 4: at that moment, all in one project. 45 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 3: Nathaniel had something tangible here, an actual company that had 46 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 3: successfully raised real capital. This was something Nathaniel's readers and 47 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 3: editors could wrap their heads around. As he started digging, 48 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 3: he met others on Reddit, Discord, and Central Slack channels. 49 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 3: He realized there were a number of posts raising issues 50 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 3: about centri Tech. So Nathaniel picked up the phone and 51 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 3: called the Miami based company. 52 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 4: I just want to hear them talk about the business 53 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 4: in their own voices. 54 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 2: Hello. 55 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 4: As it happened, the first person who got on the 56 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 4: phone was Rob Farcas, who referred to himself as the 57 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 4: chief marketing officer. Hey, Robert Daniel Popper, n Daniel, how's 58 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 4: it going. 59 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 5: Did you have a second to talk? 60 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:04,839 Speaker 6: Yeah? 61 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, great. 62 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 3: What you're listening to is the first interview between Nathaniel 63 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 3: Popper and the Central founders. 64 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 4: He seemed to not have as much of a history. 65 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 4: He didn't seem to be quite as much at the 66 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:23,160 Speaker 4: forefront of this company as Ray and Sam were. 67 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 7: You know what, Sam and my COO? Yeah, would probably 68 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 7: be better to answer your questions. 69 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 8: You want to speak to my CEO. 70 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 7: He's right here? 71 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 5: Is that Ray? Yeah, okay, sure. 72 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:39,600 Speaker 9: I'm in my office and Farcas comes in and he's 73 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:41,840 Speaker 9: like all excited talking about the New York Times had 74 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 9: reached out that they're trying to do an article on us, 75 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 9: and I was like, oh, that's great, Hi, hey. 76 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:48,840 Speaker 7: You doing good good? 77 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 9: Yeah. 78 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:54,479 Speaker 4: So I was just asking I'd emailed Robert asking. 79 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 7: About I heard your company from the. 80 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:58,359 Speaker 5: New York Times. 81 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 7: Okay, New York Times. Great, So within endorsements, what are 82 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 7: you looking to exactly? Like, what do you what are 83 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 7: you interested? 84 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 4: Was asking, here is this sort of brash guy who 85 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 4: is not talking and measured terms about what they're doing. 86 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 7: Floyd, once we had met with him, he was you know, uh, 87 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 7: you know seen our vision and he also you know, 88 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 7: he wants future business, uh you know, ventures with us, 89 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 7: but he's a partner in a business. You know, we 90 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 7: gave him percentage. 91 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 4: He's talking about Bloyd Mayweather as if he's like you know, 92 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:36,720 Speaker 4: some pal goes all the way back. 93 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 7: Now. You know, he'll do anything we add. You know, 94 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 7: he's a little shopping around, you know, Beverly Hills. We 95 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:45,720 Speaker 7: asked him to do it, you know with this car. 96 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 9: You know, he'll do anything. 97 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 4: We ask a normal business person is not going to 98 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,719 Speaker 4: brag about their relationship with Floyd Mayweather and how he'll 99 00:05:55,839 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 4: do what they want, because chances are Bloyd Mayweather isn't 100 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 4: going to do whatever they want. That takes the balls 101 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 4: to be willing to do that. It also takes a 102 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 4: certain obvious level of inexperience and naivete about how all 103 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 4: these things work. And it was pretty clear that you know, 104 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 4: this was not somebody who had a lot of experience 105 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 4: in the business world. 106 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 7: Was full business, you know what I mean. We had 107 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,040 Speaker 7: a multimillion dollar cornthically. You know, Miami's out to be 108 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 7: rented and sold cars. You know that you was saying 109 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 7: that that wasn't our cars and that that's all eyes. 110 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 7: But that's besides the point to them. When we were 111 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 7: able to put this idea together and able to get 112 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 7: the funding for it right off to that, we know 113 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:42,280 Speaker 7: we can take this to the top. 114 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 5: Yeah. 115 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 3: While Ray may have sounded like an amateur, what about 116 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,279 Speaker 3: their Harvard educated CEO, Michael Edwards? 117 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,480 Speaker 4: Okay, and Michael Edwards, I mean the see somebody I 118 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 4: can speak to just so I can understand sort of 119 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:56,480 Speaker 4: his role and what his view of this is. 120 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 7: He's the money guy. That's why they all, you know, 121 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 7: once in a while, and you know, I can probably 122 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 7: put that together. 123 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 4: Well, why don't you do that? 124 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,479 Speaker 7: And then you're here? What an author for the New 125 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:08,159 Speaker 7: York Times. 126 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm a reporter for the New York Times. 127 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 4: All right, sounds good, All right, thank you. 128 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 3: But everything was hitting at once. I'm talking in a 129 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 3: matter of days. The Cliff High interview the New York Times, 130 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 3: sniffing around the legitimacy of their CEO, not to mention 131 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 3: they're in the process of completing one of the largest 132 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:31,560 Speaker 3: initial coin offerings in history. This whirlwind is building up 133 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 3: so fast they can barely keep up. These days had 134 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 3: to be chaotic, but this was just the beginning. A 135 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 3: big opportunity was about to hit from the least likely 136 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:49,040 Speaker 3: of sources. Ray Trepanni and Sam Sorby Sharma were making 137 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 3: headlines with their crypto companies Centritech. Even The New York 138 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 3: Times had reached out to vet the founders for a 139 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 3: potential article. As much as they were weathering some bad 140 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 3: press and reputation issues, things were looking up for the 141 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 3: two young founders as they were about to complete their 142 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 3: thirty million dollar initial coin offering. Center Tech received an 143 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 3: unexpected inquiry from a company in Korea. A firm called 144 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:17,239 Speaker 3: Bitset emailed them about the progress of centri Tech's well 145 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 3: their tech. 146 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 9: They were like super interested in our company. 147 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 3: Bit Set was an international firm. This could be the 148 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 3: new partnership to solve their legitimacy issues. 149 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 9: They're like, we're going to invest five million now and 150 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 9: then another fifteen when you guys come down to Korea 151 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:34,079 Speaker 9: right away. Sorbe was like, fucking on a book of 152 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:35,319 Speaker 9: flight and go down there. 153 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 3: But there was a catch. Sam didn't have anything tangible 154 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 3: to pitch. Centri Tech didn't have an app or a 155 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:44,160 Speaker 3: product to present. 156 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:46,080 Speaker 9: Yet, and we're like, oh shit, you know what do 157 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 9: we do here? We already had hired people to build 158 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:51,440 Speaker 9: a regular app, and from there we just stopped our 159 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 9: whole staff from creating the real app and made them 160 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 9: make a fake app. 161 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 3: The plan was simple. Sam would fly to South Korea, 162 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 3: meet with their executive board and prove that center TeX's 163 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 3: technology was legit using this fake app. What could go wrong? 164 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 9: So he's flying to Korea to show him a test 165 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 9: transaction in front of them on camera with the whole company, 166 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 9: and we're supposed to be pressing a button as he 167 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 9: does that transaction. You know that. 168 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 3: Awkward moment when you try and show your friend a 169 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 3: YouTube video and it just doesn't load. 170 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:30,720 Speaker 9: We pressed the button, but because he was in Korea, 171 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 9: it didn't work correctly and it fucked up. 172 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 3: Back in Miami, Ray and Farcas are coming to terms 173 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 3: that this failed presentation just cost them fifteen million dollars, 174 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 3: But soon they started to realize the stakes were higher 175 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 3: than they thought. 176 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 9: We don't hear from Sorbie for like three hours, and 177 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:54,720 Speaker 9: we're like, what happened to him? Like he's in a 178 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:57,640 Speaker 9: foreign country with this random, shady company that wants to 179 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 9: invest twenty million dollars. It's here, right? Is he dead? 180 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:03,959 Speaker 9: You know, we were super worried about it. 181 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:08,439 Speaker 3: Ray and his team are imagining the worst radio silence phone, 182 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 3: going to voicemail, text after text with no response until he. 183 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 9: Text us about three hours later and he goes, they're 184 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:22,640 Speaker 9: still going to invest. I don't know where they're funded from. 185 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 9: How this company had all this money, and I don't 186 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 9: know how he spun it to get them to like 187 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 9: fully invest, but they invested twenty million dollars. 188 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:38,320 Speaker 3: With that type of investment. Bissett wanted front and center placement. 189 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 9: The company that big that's investing. They're going to be 190 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 9: listed on our website as a partner. They're trying to 191 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 9: show that they were fully willing to like do whatever 192 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 9: it took to make sure that the company was going 193 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 9: to continue to ride. 194 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 3: It was a win win for CenTra, a huge influx 195 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:55,760 Speaker 3: of cash and a big investor to slap on their website. 196 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:01,960 Speaker 3: But Bissett had some leverage. Executives saw a firsthand that 197 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,840 Speaker 3: CenTra wasn't honest with the claims they were making. There 198 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 3: was no app, the tech didn't work. Bit set new 199 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:11,440 Speaker 3: if Sam wasn't forthcoming about the app, there would be 200 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:13,760 Speaker 3: other parts of the company that needed to be straightened out. 201 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:17,839 Speaker 9: Sorbi had also told them where we actually were, and 202 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 9: this is you know where we're gonna get like We 203 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:23,080 Speaker 9: told them that everything was going to be legit in time. 204 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:26,080 Speaker 3: Coming out of the investor meeting with Bissett, Ray and 205 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:29,679 Speaker 3: Sam announced a global partnership with the South Korean investment firm, 206 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 3: a huge announcement for CenTra. Back in Miami, Ray had 207 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 3: to get his house in order. They needed to start 208 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:38,679 Speaker 3: delivering on the promises and deadlines they made on their 209 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 3: white paper. 210 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:42,640 Speaker 9: Our original white paper states the dates of the first 211 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 9: cards and when we were going to do our beta 212 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,680 Speaker 9: program with the app and whatnot, but we had never 213 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 9: got to that point. 214 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:53,080 Speaker 3: They were on a clock with Bisset, a real deadline accountability. 215 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:55,720 Speaker 3: If they didn't act now that he would get turned 216 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 3: up higher than it already was. Before Bisset, the responsibility 217 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 3: to hit deadlines was fluid. 218 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 9: It's pretty easy to push back a date. You say, oh, 219 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:07,480 Speaker 9: you know this happened, and now the timeline is this. 220 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:09,959 Speaker 9: That was Serbi's way of doing things. It was always 221 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 9: just put up this front and worst case scenario, just 222 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:15,320 Speaker 9: backtrack and talk through it. We didn't know we would 223 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:17,679 Speaker 9: have to do it on such a massive scale. 224 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:21,560 Speaker 3: All the bullshit, the shifting deadlines, the false narratives, that 225 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:22,679 Speaker 3: wouldn't cut it anymore. 226 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 9: We find an office in Miami. It was a couple 227 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 9: of blocks from the water and the windows are all 228 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:32,400 Speaker 9: glass on the outside. We obviously had the front receptionist 229 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:34,640 Speaker 9: desk where I hired the prettiest girl to work there, 230 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:37,959 Speaker 9: and then you had this big glass conference room, very 231 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:40,319 Speaker 9: Miami esque type of office where you can see like 232 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,520 Speaker 9: the palm trees outside all the windows, and it was beautiful. 233 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:46,720 Speaker 9: We buy all the nicest mac pecs. We stocked the 234 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,600 Speaker 9: whole office make it look as professional as possible. I'm 235 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:52,080 Speaker 9: hiring people one after the other, and I'm paying everybody 236 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:55,600 Speaker 9: top dollar, trying to fill about thirty positions within a week. 237 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:01,400 Speaker 9: I hired a few secretaries. A girl named Yuma was 238 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 9: the first one. She was a great secretary. This girl Katrina, 239 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 9: we hired and I kind of needed them to help 240 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 9: me hire more people. The customer service was like the 241 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 9: first thing I wanted to hire because I needed them 242 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 9: in the chat rooms, in the slack and all that 243 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 9: type of stuff. We have Steve Sykes who helped us 244 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 9: build Miami Exotics website. Steve Sykes worked for I believe 245 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 9: Johnson and Johnson or some company like that. And then 246 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,079 Speaker 9: I needed tech guys. Tech guys is the hardest thing 247 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 9: to hire, like to find good developers that are in 248 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:32,960 Speaker 9: your area. This one kid comes in and I thought 249 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:35,199 Speaker 9: there was something wrong with him. He couldn't talk well. 250 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 9: He was very like stuttery. I'm like, this guy sucks, 251 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:40,679 Speaker 9: like there's no way and I don't know shit about technology. 252 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:43,680 Speaker 9: So I sent everybody through his second interview Steve, and 253 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:47,280 Speaker 9: Steve's like, Yo, this guy's a genius. He knows everything. 254 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 9: He's probably like the best developer we've had. If it 255 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:52,280 Speaker 9: was just up to me. He had never even been hired. 256 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 9: And then we hired the lawyer Alan Shutt, who was 257 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:58,840 Speaker 9: our chief compliance officer. Anything that we had incorrect, he 258 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 9: took it off the website. We were fully legitimate at 259 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,319 Speaker 9: this point. You know, all our misrepresentations from the beginning 260 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:07,200 Speaker 9: were all, you know, not there anymore. 261 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 3: I got a hand it to him. Ray actually put 262 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:13,079 Speaker 3: together a solid team. I would have loved to be 263 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:15,680 Speaker 3: a fly on the wall during those interviews. 264 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 9: I was not sleeping, smoking all day, doing drugs all day. 265 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 9: Soerbys text me, Oh, we need to picture you for 266 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 9: the team pictures. I'm probably like one hundred and thirty 267 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:28,120 Speaker 9: pounds and I'm like on so many drugs and I'm 268 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 9: super self conscious, and I didn't like how I looked. 269 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 9: It's like, yo, use this picture. It's my brother. And 270 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:36,960 Speaker 9: then they put up a picture of my brother Frank, 271 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:40,640 Speaker 9: and that's like the first the original team pictures is 272 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 9: picture of my brother Frank. It's not even a picture 273 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,680 Speaker 9: of me. So now, like my day to day is 274 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,600 Speaker 9: in the morning, I would take about five zan x, 275 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 9: smoke a blunt, put my eye drops in, take a shower, 276 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:54,560 Speaker 9: and put my suit on, and then drive down to 277 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:56,800 Speaker 9: the offices, pull up in my ass and I'll get 278 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 9: there probably like six o'clock every day and just put 279 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 9: on some music over the speakers, kind of vibe out. 280 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:05,520 Speaker 9: Always play some wacky ass music, Like I would play 281 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 9: like my rap music typically when I first got there, 282 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 9: but like when I knew the employees would start showing up, 283 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 9: I'd put on, you know, some fergie or something just 284 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:14,480 Speaker 9: to fuck with them, like kind of make them think 285 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:18,520 Speaker 9: I'm like some maniac. You know, I just love torturing people. 286 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:21,160 Speaker 3: He's like a bizarro Steve Jobs. 287 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 9: I was the guy that was in the office first 288 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 9: setting everything up, getting the customers, and that's why I 289 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:28,920 Speaker 9: was considered the COO of the operation, the chief operating 290 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 9: officer of our company, because I managed the employees. That's 291 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:33,600 Speaker 9: what I did on a day to day basis was 292 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:35,600 Speaker 9: make sure everybody was doing what they were supposed to 293 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 9: do and plan for the day. 294 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 3: But it wasn't like Ray knew what to tell his 295 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,640 Speaker 3: employees to do. He's High as a kite, and he 296 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:46,560 Speaker 3: has no idea how crypto works, so what is he 297 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,840 Speaker 3: telling them to do each day? One thing Ray did 298 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 3: understand was marketing. He honed those skills from successful business 299 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 3: ventures like his Venmo scheme and exotic car business. So 300 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 3: so what was his plan to market CenTra. They had 301 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 3: the celebrity endorsements and the unexpected splash from crypto guru 302 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:11,560 Speaker 3: Cliff High, but it wasn't about investors anymore. Now. It 303 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 3: was about finding ways to attract new customers. 304 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:17,720 Speaker 9: Marketing for CenTra is way different than marketing for miamixotics. Like, 305 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:20,920 Speaker 9: not many people are on Google searching for cryptocurrencies to 306 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 9: invest in. It's all social media. We had a weekly AMA. 307 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:29,640 Speaker 9: You'd be soorby sitting there talking and going through curated questions. 308 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 3: CenTra would attract all kinds of people to these amas, 309 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:38,480 Speaker 3: also known as Ask Me Anything, Investors, naysayers, believers, and haters. 310 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:42,680 Speaker 3: Ray saw any audience as a victory, a new mark. 311 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:46,240 Speaker 9: Realistically, we looked at it like it was a good 312 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:48,600 Speaker 9: thing because we just had more attention as far as 313 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 9: people coming into our chat room trying to talk. And 314 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 9: then those people like even if they're coming in as 315 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:56,160 Speaker 9: a person that's opposed to your company, you can possibly 316 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 9: flip them into being a customer of your company. 317 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 3: But Ray didn't stop it just gaining coustomers. He was 318 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,880 Speaker 3: amassing an army of shills people to push Centra's narrative, 319 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 3: like a double agent, appearing as a trusted community member 320 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:12,520 Speaker 3: but on Centra's payroll, spreading their propaganda. 321 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:15,679 Speaker 9: There was a lot of people that knew shit was 322 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 9: not all kosher with this company, and we would basically 323 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:20,560 Speaker 9: just reach out to them. We'd be like, all right, 324 00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 9: we'll give you one hundred thousand Centric coins and you 325 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 9: can be pushing the narrative that Center already created. It 326 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:28,400 Speaker 9: so like it was worth it for them to try 327 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,560 Speaker 9: to pump CenTra and help other customers invest in the 328 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 9: company because then the price goes up up Center and 329 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,000 Speaker 9: that was like their job. People were quitting their jobs 330 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,399 Speaker 9: to work for CenTra, and they were like fuck it, 331 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:42,040 Speaker 9: like i just got this chance to pump CenTra and 332 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:44,919 Speaker 9: I'm going to make a million dollars, when realistically, to us, 333 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:47,200 Speaker 9: we printed this money would just like why not give 334 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 9: it to these people? 335 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:52,960 Speaker 3: Kind of like a pyramid scheme. People would tout the 336 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,880 Speaker 3: product to get more people to buy the product. As 337 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,439 Speaker 3: more people buy in, the more valuable it becomes for 338 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 3: the people higher up on the pyramid. In Centric's case, 339 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,440 Speaker 3: the people higher up on the pyramid are the people 340 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 3: with the most Centric coins. So the army of shills 341 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:10,719 Speaker 3: Ray amassed. They led the charge. 342 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 9: People will be like, oh, we got cards when they 343 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,199 Speaker 9: weren't even getting cards yet, or we'd send them like 344 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,200 Speaker 9: a fake card that just with the Center card but 345 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,600 Speaker 9: didn't do anything, and they post a video of them 346 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 9: opening the card and showing it off, like oh, I 347 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 9: got my Centric card. 348 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:28,160 Speaker 3: Remember, Centric cards were the big selling point. They were 349 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:30,200 Speaker 3: going to be the way to spend your cryptocurrencies in 350 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:30,919 Speaker 3: the real world. 351 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 9: So all these new people will come in like fuck CenTra, 352 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:35,639 Speaker 9: this is a big scam, and they would end up 353 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,280 Speaker 9: being like, oh, maybe this is a good company and 354 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:41,600 Speaker 9: let me join it. And once somebody tells a lie 355 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:44,400 Speaker 9: enough they believe that lie. 356 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 3: I thought Ray said they were fully legit. At this point, 357 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 3: Sam was busy pushing this narrative to being the face 358 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:56,000 Speaker 3: of the company and taking interviews on shows and podcasts 359 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 3: to talent Center's latest offerings. 360 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:03,439 Speaker 6: We currently have our license with MasterCard Service. International clients domestically, 361 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 6: we do have the Visa partnership, so we're able to 362 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:09,720 Speaker 6: issue Visa cards domestically and MasterCards internationally. 363 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 3: What Rain and Sam didn't know was that the New 364 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:17,200 Speaker 3: York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper was looking into Center Tech's relationships, 365 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 3: specifically with Visa and MasterCard. 366 00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 4: I called Visa and I said, do you know about this? 367 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:28,840 Speaker 4: I actually thought that if they had an agreement with Visa, 368 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:31,119 Speaker 4: what Visa might have come back and said is, you know, 369 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,080 Speaker 4: we can't talk to you about companies we're in business with, 370 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 4: but when they don't have a relationship, then they are 371 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:40,359 Speaker 4: free to talk about the fact that they don't have 372 00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:44,600 Speaker 4: a relationship because there's no confidentiality there. And Visa was 373 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 4: very clear they knew nothing about this. So this was 374 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 4: illegitimate and those cards should not be on their website. Now, 375 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,760 Speaker 4: let me go talk to MasterCard, and of course MasterCard 376 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 4: told me the exact same thing. 377 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:04,959 Speaker 3: Center Tech's deals with the Visa and Massacard didn't exist. 378 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 3: So Nathaniel placed another call to Center Tech. 379 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:13,359 Speaker 4: Sam not can to help you, Hey, Sam, It's Nathaniel Popper. 380 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:22,119 Speaker 4: Sam was a good salesman and that he knew that 381 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:26,359 Speaker 4: you had to acknowledge that everything wasn't perfect. You know, 382 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:30,400 Speaker 4: when you're selling a used car, you got to acknowledge 383 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:32,440 Speaker 4: the dent on the fender because it's there. 384 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,679 Speaker 5: Visa has said, not only do you not have a 385 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:39,719 Speaker 5: direct relationship, but nobody who issues cards for Visa is 386 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:43,040 Speaker 5: allowed to issue cards on behalf of CenTra. 387 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,159 Speaker 8: The car don't comes from the issuing bank. That was 388 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,879 Speaker 8: the original conversation we had with Dent in order to 389 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 8: get the sub Now, our current issuer, who is a 390 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 8: company in Canada, you just placed an order with fifty 391 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:01,439 Speaker 8: thousand cards that's going to be on not to Visa network, 392 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:03,560 Speaker 8: it's going to be in the NASA card network. And 393 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 8: that's already in place and being implemented right now. 394 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 4: They said, you know what, this Visa thing has been 395 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 4: a problem that was going through an issuing bank. You know, 396 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 4: the Visa didn't deal with us, They dealt with. 397 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:15,720 Speaker 9: The issuing bank. 398 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:18,400 Speaker 4: But the issuing bank seems to have done something wrong here. 399 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,840 Speaker 4: Now we're just going to go through mastercart and so 400 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:28,159 Speaker 4: I think Sam smartly kind of acknowledged these problems. The 401 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:31,679 Speaker 4: problem was, you know, he had an explanation that Austen 402 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:36,840 Speaker 4: didn't line up with reality. 403 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 7: The I guess the whole few day issues that we've piratefy, 404 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:43,159 Speaker 7: I don't see any other really, Like, even if I 405 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,200 Speaker 7: go back, I don't really see anything that we haven't think. 406 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 4: I think i'd asked Ray about Michael Edwards. 407 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:51,439 Speaker 9: Is he still around? 408 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 4: I mean, is he somebody I can connect with? 409 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 6: He's a he's a silent investor. 410 00:21:56,119 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 8: I don't know why they originally even put him up 411 00:21:58,400 --> 00:21:59,680 Speaker 8: at the CEO on the website. 412 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,440 Speaker 6: He's one that funded the project originally we get it. 413 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:03,000 Speaker 9: Off the ground. 414 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:05,320 Speaker 6: He's not involved in our didity operations. 415 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 8: That ones out in the car are at the office 416 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:08,440 Speaker 8: every single day. 417 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 4: I figured they want to prove this is real. Why 418 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:13,159 Speaker 4: not ask them if phil take a picture, you know, 419 00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:15,960 Speaker 4: we'll send a photographer there and take a picture of 420 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 4: their offices. 421 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that's fine, you can. 422 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,320 Speaker 4: I don't think I was that surprised that they were 423 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:25,800 Speaker 4: willing to let that photographer him, because it was sort 424 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 4: of in line with everything else they were doing, and 425 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:31,639 Speaker 4: they were loving this attention, and they were loving the 426 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:33,360 Speaker 4: fact that The New York Times was going to tell 427 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:34,280 Speaker 4: their story in. 428 00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 8: Miami Beach round the corner, big building. 429 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:39,679 Speaker 4: Can't they see Okay, well, I'll let you know if 430 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,399 Speaker 4: there's anything else, but thanks for talking this through with me. 431 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:43,520 Speaker 8: No worries. 432 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:48,879 Speaker 3: See, Nathaniel wouldn't be able to make the photo shoot, 433 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:53,840 Speaker 3: but he gave his photographer specific instructions, get in, take pictures, 434 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 3: and get out. 435 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 4: Essentially, I asked the photographer to check out as many 436 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:03,480 Speaker 4: of these things that we hadn't been able to yet verify, 437 00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 4: like Michael Edwards, find Michael Edwards. You know, I just 438 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:11,359 Speaker 4: wanted to know as much as we could from that 439 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,120 Speaker 4: visit to the office what was real and what wasn't real. 440 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:19,480 Speaker 3: As Nathaniel prepared his trojan horse, another foe breached Cenchra's walls, 441 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:22,880 Speaker 3: one that would threaten centri Tech and jeopardize everything Ray 442 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:30,920 Speaker 3: and Sam Sharma had built so far. Just as Ray 443 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:33,199 Speaker 3: and Sam Sharma were preparing for a visit from The 444 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:36,439 Speaker 3: New York Times, CenTra Tech would face a major thread, 445 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:40,520 Speaker 3: one that would put the company's reputation and investors' money 446 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:41,160 Speaker 3: at risk. 447 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:45,440 Speaker 9: One day, all our phones just go down, can't log 448 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:46,200 Speaker 9: into anything. 449 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:49,880 Speaker 3: Cliffy is warning to Sam Sharman months prior. 450 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,480 Speaker 2: Who's the fellow that is going to protect your ass 451 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 2: and is in charge of security for your system. 452 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:57,239 Speaker 6: We're going to hire action independent company to do that 453 00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:58,320 Speaker 6: with the funds that we raised. 454 00:23:58,560 --> 00:23:59,119 Speaker 9: You're fucked. 455 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 3: He was spot on. The scammers got hacked. 456 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,479 Speaker 9: They did what's called the simswap. They called all our 457 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:12,439 Speaker 9: service providers and got our phone numbers transferred to their phones, 458 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,000 Speaker 9: so they were able to bypass two step of verification, 459 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:18,960 Speaker 9: got into all our accounts. They just kind of took 460 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,680 Speaker 9: over everything. They were able to get into every aspect 461 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 9: of our whole website. 462 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:27,200 Speaker 3: Shit started to hit the fan this little hack. It 463 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:31,919 Speaker 3: spelled disaster for CenTra. With complete control over their website, 464 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,119 Speaker 3: the hackers could cause a lot of damage. 465 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 9: Our smart contract address was on our front page, and 466 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,080 Speaker 9: they just changed that address to one of their addresses. 467 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:45,080 Speaker 9: So everybody that's trying to invest that whole day was 468 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:48,240 Speaker 9: sending it to this other person's address. 469 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:51,440 Speaker 3: In other words, if you went to invest in Centritech, 470 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 3: your money wasn't going to them. It was going into 471 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:57,680 Speaker 3: the pockets of these hackers, and there was nothing anyone 472 00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:58,399 Speaker 3: could do about it. 473 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 7: Tho saying has been at hacked since early. 474 00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:05,480 Speaker 9: This morning, and so we went live on Instagram to 475 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,359 Speaker 9: try to talk to investors and tell them not to 476 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:14,960 Speaker 9: invest ere they made a couple hundred thousand in a day. 477 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:18,040 Speaker 9: And that day was such a rough day because, like 478 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:19,959 Speaker 9: you know, I remember I was just sitting there and 479 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:21,919 Speaker 9: I was so fucking burnt out. I was there for 480 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,680 Speaker 9: like twenty five hours straight. It's so hard because when 481 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,400 Speaker 9: you have staff that's not the ownership. They have families, 482 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:30,200 Speaker 9: they have whatever it is in their life, and they're 483 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:32,680 Speaker 9: not really hurting from this, but you need these tech 484 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:37,000 Speaker 9: guys to stay. Actually, we had everybody here until about 485 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:41,480 Speaker 9: three am in the morning, actually later than like five am, 486 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 9: as we hear the same talking about everybody's you know, screaming, 487 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:50,080 Speaker 9: yelling like I'm fucking cursing at people. I was so 488 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:50,920 Speaker 9: dead that day. 489 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:55,280 Speaker 6: We are working diligen right now to get every day 490 00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:57,360 Speaker 6: back into. 491 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,320 Speaker 9: Your work at the mon and like you can see 492 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:04,919 Speaker 9: in the background, like guns on the table and a 493 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 9: big stack of money. They just looked so terrible. Finally, 494 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 9: by the end of the day, I go home, we sleep, 495 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,800 Speaker 9: come back, and you know, I'm like, fuck these people, 496 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:18,640 Speaker 9: like this is so fucked up. The next day after 497 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,160 Speaker 9: we had everything shut down, they're not making any more money. 498 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 9: One of them like direct message me, you know, I 499 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 9: did a lot of fucked up shits, so like I 500 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 9: was just like kind of like respected what they did, 501 00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:30,320 Speaker 9: and I was giving him his props in a way, 502 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 9: and he kind of was like, yeah, like your security 503 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 9: is so flawed. 504 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 3: Ray found a mutually beneficial solution. 505 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:40,560 Speaker 9: We hired those hackers to help rebuild our security systems, 506 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:43,160 Speaker 9: tell us what service to use, and every little flaw 507 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:45,639 Speaker 9: that we had in our company. We let them keep 508 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:47,760 Speaker 9: the two hundred thousand, plus we paid them extra to 509 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,840 Speaker 9: help them continuously work and get our thing perfect, so 510 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:54,439 Speaker 9: that our security system was, you know, untouchable, no one. 511 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,479 Speaker 9: You're gonna make tens of millions more. I can eat 512 00:26:57,480 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 9: two hundred thousand to have a perfectly secure websit. 513 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:05,399 Speaker 3: With that fire now extinguished, Ray and Sam had to 514 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,560 Speaker 3: turn their attention back to the New York Times. 515 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 9: This guy was doing some sort of investigating journalism type 516 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:13,680 Speaker 9: of thing and sent the camera guy and means sort 517 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:15,480 Speaker 9: of just like, oh, New York Times, no problem, and 518 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:16,399 Speaker 9: we just took the picture. 519 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 3: Dressed in their designer suits, Ray, Sam and Robert Farcus 520 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,520 Speaker 3: posed in their New Miami office as the New York 521 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 3: Times photographer snapped photo after photo, But something stood out 522 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:32,160 Speaker 3: to that photographer. Here's New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper again. 523 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:37,680 Speaker 4: He basically said, it was a bizarre office that felt 524 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 4: as though it had been cooked up for the purpose 525 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:44,600 Speaker 4: of being an office for a photo shoot. There were 526 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:48,719 Speaker 4: people sitting at computers, but there isn't anything on the computers, 527 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,639 Speaker 4: and they're sort of weird stock art on the walls, 528 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,119 Speaker 4: and the little old bile cabinets at the next everybody's 529 00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:59,400 Speaker 4: desks are empty. The whole thing seemed to have been 530 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,320 Speaker 4: cooked up day before the photographer got there. 531 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:06,840 Speaker 3: The most disappointing news for Nathaniel, Michael Edwards was nowhere 532 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,679 Speaker 3: to be found, so he did some more digging. 533 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,680 Speaker 4: There had been this post one of the bloggers named 534 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:17,199 Speaker 4: Harry Denley who sort of started digging into this and 535 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,960 Speaker 4: did image recognition checks on the pictures that were on 536 00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:26,560 Speaker 4: the Central website and discovered that the image of their CEO, 537 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 4: this guy, Michael Edwards, was in fact a picture of 538 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:34,840 Speaker 4: a professor at a Canadian university who had absolutely nothing 539 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:37,840 Speaker 4: to do with Center Tech, absolutely nothing to do with cryptocurrencies. 540 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:42,560 Speaker 1: My name is Andrew Hiley COO. 541 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,600 Speaker 2: I learned that my image was used on a website 542 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:52,360 Speaker 2: and indicated that my face was that of the person who. 543 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:56,080 Speaker 1: Was CEO of Center Tech, which is not the case. 544 00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,600 Speaker 4: It clearly just had taken a picture from a university 545 00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 4: website and turned it into the picture of their president 546 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:07,080 Speaker 4: on LinkedIn and on their website. 547 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:13,400 Speaker 3: Andrew Haileko a professor of physiology and pathophysiology. He was 548 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 3: the silent investor, the money dude, the CEO of Centritech. 549 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 3: He was a fucking college professor from Winnipeg. 550 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 4: And so I looked up Michael Edwards and found that 551 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,520 Speaker 4: there was nobody who lived in the Miami area or 552 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:29,760 Speaker 4: the Florida area who had any of the attributes of 553 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:32,040 Speaker 4: the Michael Edwards that they were talking about. 554 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: My understanding is he's a fictitious character. 555 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 3: Ray his lad about many things, but this, this was 556 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:41,800 Speaker 3: a new low. 557 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:45,280 Speaker 4: If I were going to cook up a person who 558 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 4: I wanted to look like a figure of authority in 559 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,360 Speaker 4: the financial world, what attributes would I give them? You know, 560 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:55,000 Speaker 4: you'd have them work at the largest bank and go 561 00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:58,240 Speaker 4: to the most prestigious university. And Michael Edwards had all 562 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:00,040 Speaker 4: of that, he would have been a great CEO. 563 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 3: For Andrew Jileko. This fictitious character Michael Edwards may have 564 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,480 Speaker 3: shared his appearance, but Andrew had no idea who stole 565 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 3: his identity. 566 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,520 Speaker 1: I did have a clear amasure what these guys looked like. 567 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:16,479 Speaker 2: I have to hang on to the reassurance from FBI 568 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,800 Speaker 2: that these aren't violent people. I mean, it's not settling, 569 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 2: it's invasive that you feel vulnerable. 570 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,800 Speaker 3: This lie wasn't easy for Andrew to process. It would 571 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,400 Speaker 3: take time for him to recover, But for Nathaniel Popper, 572 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,360 Speaker 3: it was the detail he needed to pitch this expose 573 00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:35,480 Speaker 3: to his bosses of The New York Times. 574 00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 4: I think the first thing I realized is there's a 575 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:42,640 Speaker 4: story here. If they're willing to lie about who their 576 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 4: CEO is and the credit cards, what else are they 577 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:51,040 Speaker 4: lying about. There's a lot more than meets the eye, 578 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:56,760 Speaker 4: even when what meets the eye is so obviously questionable. 579 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:06,640 Speaker 3: With the full force of The New York Times behind him, 580 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:11,760 Speaker 3: Nathaniel Popper began investigating Centertech even deeper. Armed with all 581 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,600 Speaker 3: his research and data, nothing could have prepared him for 582 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:20,320 Speaker 3: what he would discover on next week's episode of Creating 583 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:21,840 Speaker 3: a Con Like. 584 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:23,640 Speaker 9: A week later, that article comes down, We're like, what 585 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:24,720 Speaker 9: the fuck I mean? 586 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,400 Speaker 4: Look I felt bad for them. I mean, I realized 587 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:31,080 Speaker 4: this was not going to end well for them, and 588 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,640 Speaker 4: they didn't seem to understand that. They didn't seem to 589 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:37,960 Speaker 4: understand the situation they were in. 590 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,280 Speaker 3: Creating a Con is a production of Glass Podcasts, a 591 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:51,240 Speaker 3: division of Glass Entertainment Group, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. 592 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 3: If you would like to reach out to the Creating 593 00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:56,760 Speaker 3: a Con team, email us at Creating a Con at 594 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:01,520 Speaker 3: gmail dot com. That's Creating a CeON at gmail dot com. 595 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:05,480 Speaker 3: We appreciate your support. One way to support our show 596 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,000 Speaker 3: is by subscribing to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, and 597 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:12,200 Speaker 3: don't forget to rate and review Creating a Con. Five 598 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,120 Speaker 3: star reviews go a long way. A big thank you 599 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 3: to those who are listening. Also be sure to check 600 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,120 Speaker 3: us out and follow us on Instagram. 601 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:20,840 Speaker 9: At Glass Podcasts. 602 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:25,200 Speaker 3: The show is hosted and produced by me Johnny B. Good, 603 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:30,400 Speaker 3: with executive producers and Nancy Glass, Ben Fetterman, and Andrea Gunning. 604 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:35,320 Speaker 3: Written and produced by Ben Fetterman and Todd Ganz, additional 605 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:40,680 Speaker 3: writing by Matt Delvecchio. Operations and production support by Kristin Melchiori. 606 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:45,880 Speaker 3: Additional production support Trey Morgan Our iHeart team is Ali 607 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:50,920 Speaker 3: Perry and Jessica Crincheck. Sound editing and mixing by Matt Delvecchio, 608 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:56,600 Speaker 3: Consulting producer Nathaniel Popper. Creating a CON's theme composed by 609 00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:01,640 Speaker 3: Oliver Bains. Music library provided by my Music. Thank you 610 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:05,360 Speaker 3: for subscribing to iHeart True Crime Plus exclusively on Apple. 611 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 3: We hope you enjoyed this ad free presentation of Creating 612 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:12,280 Speaker 3: a con the story of bitcom. 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