U.S Government Exposed - U.S. vs Crater - Bellwether Crypto Case - Part Two
U.S Government Exposed - U.S. vs Crater - Bellwether Crypto Case - Part Two
Lies, Omissions, Intimidation - U.S. v. Crater, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, No. 19-cr-10063
If you missed Part One of our Expose, click here.
If you missed our initial press release, click here to read it.
If you missed the press release for Part One of the expose, click here to read it.
Tl;dr (“Too Long, Didn’t Read”) Version
Why Does This Matter? Why Should I Care?
The “Wrap Up Smear”, a term used by current speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, is a tool used by government agencies and designed to weaponize media outlets against people, regardless of the circumstances as long as there's a benefit to do so.
The DOJ published a statement after the verdict in the Crater case, claiming he was guilty of multiple crimes and making it sound like he was convicted on all of them, even though he was not. We break those down in this edition to show you the truth.
My Big Coin Founder & CEO John Roche was mysteriously given a pass from having to testify in the criminal case, even though he provided conflicting statements to FINRA and the FBI.
Evidence refuting all claims made by the government, including that My Big Coin was a cryptocurrency, people did transact with it on an exchange, that there was a Mastercard in use, and there were working My Big coin ATM machines was ALL SUPPRESSED BY THE GOVERNMENT.
What Should I Do Next?
Read this expose, and review the documents linked to in it.
SHARE IT WITH AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE, SHARE IT ON SOCIAL MEDIA, SHARE IT WITH NEWS OUTLETS.
Please support our work. CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT US.
A BREAKDOWN OF GOVERNMENT METHODS
In Part One of our expose, we looked at the statement from the DOJ on the U.S. vs. Crater case, and broke down the statement for very specific reasons.
A well worn technique of government agencies is to utilize the “wrap up smear” (aka character assassination) of a target regardless of the actual circumstances, and to weaponize an endless amount of press releases and media outlets who will willingly “run with the story” as is. By doing so, government agencies gain a false high ground that’s powered by accusations without all of the facts.
And once the accusations are out - regardless of whether they are true - they are used… over and over again. As you’ll see below, even though the CFTC was unable to prove the primary allegations they have used over and over again, they continue to use them to push their narrative.
Often our human nature in a bite-sized world of news and information is to take headlines - and accusations - as fact first, then if we’re so moved, we’ll dig deeper to see if evidence is available to the contrary. Once fully weaponized, the government can then begin the process of “squeezing” by use of grand juries or freezing assets, leaving those accused in limbo and often unable to defend themselves.
From there, the government will often make an offer… ala “take a plea deal and this goes away and you can have your stuff back.” If you play ball, you may do the time, pay a fine, and move on.
But if you fight like Crater did, all bets are off. You are public enemy number one, and you’ll pay. As you will see in the recently filed Renewed Motion For Acquittal And Motion For A New Trial filed by Defense attorney Scott P. Lopez, government prosecutors basically ran roughshod with a show trial for political gain.
A REFRESHER: MEET THE PLAYERS
As we break down the accusations from the DOJ and provide evidence to the contrary, this ecosystem chart will help you to keep track of who’s who.
John Roche, Owner/CEO of My Big Coin Inc., heir to the Disney fortune, and long time friend of Harmonie International Owner/CEO Bill Donohue.
Mr. Roche not only designed and controlled the MBC website and social media, he advised the government that he indeed owned MBC. His statements to FINRA, the FBI, and the Postal Inspector tell a conflicting story.
Bill Donohue, Owner/CEO of Harmonie International and long time friend of My Big Coin Inc., Owner/CEO John Roche.
In tandem with Roche, Donohue handled the logistics for gold-backing My Big Coin. He also forged documentation on the gold that was supposed to back My Big Coin, and defrauded Randall Crater in the process.
Randall Crater, Owner/Founder of Greyshore Technologies. The government alleges that Crater was the founder and owner of My Big Coin, yet provided no evidence to actually support the claim. Crater licensed technology and provided technical assistance to Roche and My Big Coin, and was a minority shareholder in the company. Mr. Crater was also defrauded by Bill Donohue after putting up money for gold.
Adam Tracy, Lawyer. Tracy reported directly to Roche.
Michael Kruger, Associate. Kruger advised the FBI on multiple occasions that Roche ran and controlled MBC, and offered to provide extensive documentary evidence.
Mark Gillespie, Associate. Gillespie also advised the FBI that Roche ran and controlled MBC.
BREAKING IT DOWN: THE STATEMENT FROM THE DOJ
Let’s take a look at the statement from the DOJ, point by point, and the critical information that was left out.
From the DOJ website:
“According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Randall Crater, 51, of East Hampton, founded My Big Coin Pay Inc. (My Big Coin)…”
Hard Stop.
First, note the liberal mixing of “My Big Coin” and “My Big Coin Pay,” two separate entities. This “guilt by association” tactic is largely done to distract. Roche, by his own admission in a 2015 communication from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to the SEC, states that “… Roche informed the staff in his interview that he had purchased the MBC software from Crater, who had created and developed it” and stated and reiterated to staff that Crater is not associated with the company and has “no input.” Roche further claimed that “everything is under my name.”
These statements are supported with statements from Michael Kruger and Mark Gillespie who assert that Roche stated the same, and was in control of all functions.
In reality, Roche had licensed the technology My Big Coin Pay from Crater via a signed agreement. This is important to note.
In a June 2020 interview with FBI Special Agent David Cirilli and Postal Inspector Jan Kostka, Roche had a different recollection of what transpired.
In that interview, Roche states that “…he did not recall how the pricing of the coin was determined, but believed it was based on supply and demand,” and that “Crater was in control of ‘all that’. Roche went on to state in the interview that he “…had no formal agreements with Crater or anyone else and he never personally sold or tried to sell MBC stock,” and that “the informal agreement was the split the company 50/50 with Crater.”
These statements conflict with Roche’s statements to FINRA, the licensing agreement with Crater, and a failed agreement to sell the company in 2017.
Instead of working to document these facts, the CFTC and the Federal Courts ignored this evidence presented by Craters’ counsel and empowered co-defendants who would carry their narrative by keeping them out of the line of fire.
From the DOJ website:
“… a purported cryptocurrency and virtual payment services company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, and offered virtual payment services through a fraudulent digital currency, “My Big Coins,” which he marketed to investors between 2014 and 2017 using misrepresentations about the nature and value of Coins…”
Hard Stop. Words Matter.
The DOJ and the CFTC make the statement that My Big Coins were a “fraudulent digital currency”, yet Senior Judge Rya W. Zobel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that My Big Coin was a commodity in 2018. During the trial, the prosecution then attempted to say that it wasn’t a cryptocurrency… and then it was.
It’s important to note the actual definition of the word commodity. From Webster’s Dictionary:
Please note definitions 2, 3, and 4 for the sake of this case.
The question: Which one is it - Fraudulent, or a commodity?
“… a purported cryptocurrency and virtual payment services company.”
Hard Stop. Words still matter.
The DOJ & CTFC claim that the cryptocurrency and virtual payment services were, in essence, falsely professed as real.
Oddly enough, evidence that was provided by Crater’s legal counsel, shows screenshots that the apps for the service were functioning and the API (Application Programming Interface, which allows two or more computer programs to communicate with each other) for the systems was tested and functioning.
Additionally, this video shows the functionality of the system with a My Big Coin ATM machine.
This is another instance of evidence ignored that refutes government claims of false/misleading statements.
The question you may be asking yourself is why. That’s the right question.
From the DOJ website:
“… Crater and his associates falsely claimed that Coins was a fully functioning cryptocurrency backed by $300 million in gold, oil and other valuable assets. Crater also falsely told investors that My Big Coin had a partnership with MasterCard and that Coins could readily be exchanged for government-backed paper currency or other virtual currencies. Crater promulgated these misrepresentations through social media, the internet, email and text messages…”
“…In reality, Coins were not backed by gold or other valuable assets, did not have a partnership with MasterCard and were not readily transferable…”
Hard Stop.
We have established that the Coins were a functioning cryptocurrency, and through leaked documents from whistle blowers and interviews with people close to the investigation, we’ve discovered that Bill Donohue forged documents related to the gold assets.
Full list of documents linked here.
It turns out that Donohue represented that he and John Roche had rights to commit (Gilman Metals owner) Richard Galvin’s gold to back My Big Coin. From the Motion for Acquittal:
Crater was unaware of this fact. We then discovered that Crater was defrauded as well, spending tens of thousands of dollars in legal expenses with Harmonie International’s law firm.
Sadly, evidence of the Donohue fraud was never given the chance to see the light of day either, yet the mention of “fake gold” was actually part of the closing arguments for the prosecution.
As we shared in part one, the contention that there was “no partnership with Mastercard” does not show that there was actually an agreement for Mastercard branded cards through DCR Strategies, TRUCASH and Ultra Card:
The signed contract with DCR Strategies is linked here.
The affidavit from a representative of Ultra Card Services is linked here.
And full promotional materials showing the MBC Card and how it worked from TRUCASH are linked here.
Not only were there cards, but witnesses during the trial testified that the cards existed and they worked. From the Motion for Acquittal:
To sum it up: the DOJ and the CFTC, in public statements, co-opted a number of things that they allege Crater did (founder of MBC, faked Mastercard deal, lied about gold, etc.) for gain in a bellwether case, but they were unable to provide proof of those claims, nor did those claims help to lead to a conviction in the case.
As you can see below in the Motion for Acquittal, the counts that they managed to produce a conviction on were also suspect.
Statements Unsupported By Evidence:
Lack of Proof of Each Element of Wire Fraud:
Lack of Proof That Transactions Were the Proceeds of Criminal Activity:
*Lack of Proof That MBC Was a Money Transmitting Business:
*This count is VERY disturbing, as it sets the precedence that if you write someone a check, you could be prosecuted as an unlicensed money service or money transmitting business.
EVIDENCE REVISITED: Two Key Components In The Memorandum in Support of Certain Defendants Motion for Sanctions
In part one, we published a sealed memorandum that, if it had been admitted, would have ended the CFTC’s entire case. As a point of information, we wanted to revisit this document in more detail.
Key #1: This document first sets the stage for just how badly the government presented its case:
Key #2: It then provides a real world look at how the government is tone deaf in understanding that the desire for power and control has real consequences:
When combined with the Gomersall Deposition information, the case for sanctions is crystal clear. We strongly encourage you to read or re-read the memorandum for context.
In Part Three of our expose, we’ll connect the dots with questionable testimony from the IRS, and we will hear the story of Michael Kruger, a business professional who truly believed that MBC was not only going to help millions, but allow him to help others as well.
His reward for honesty in talking with the FBI? Threats and intimidation… while battling stage four cancer.
Here’s a sneak preview of our conversation from the SHERLOC Exposes hotline
Do you have a case that’s in need of research or an expose? Email us asksherloc@protonmail.com. All inquiries remain confidential.