Bitconned Plot Summary
The new documentary on Netflix to kick off 2024 is Bitconned. A tale of American greed, scams, and backstabbing in the era that has given us crypto currency. It’s the story of Ray Trapani, a native of Atlantic Beach, New York, who always dreamed of doing crime to get ahead in the world.
He does just that, as the world of Bitcoin is on the rise around 2017. He and some colleagues joined forces to create the idea of having a debit card for your Bitcoin funds. What ensures is a shakedown by both the New York Times and the United States government.
How does Ray think of the idea of a Bitcoin debit card?
Well, Ray Trapani did not really think of the idea. His business partner, Sam Sharma, did. Sharma was not the most liked by Ray. As a matter of fact, he hated the guy. Trapani and his other business partner are part of a venture in Miami to rent out exotic cars.
Ray is about to fire Sharma and most likely rob him of his stake in the failed venture to cover the losses he accumulated off of his family’s investment. Sharma pitches the idea to him about a crypto company, and the two part ways with the rental company and start the company that would be known as Centra Tech.
What was Centra Tech?
Centra Tech became a Miami-based organization that was a start-up through many investors in the digital and online world of crypto currency. They made up a fake CEO as a front, along with Trapani, Sharma, and mutual friend Robert Farkas.
Farkas was labeled as the CFO; he knew nothing about how to do such things. Their mission was to create a legitimate debit card that got you funds from your Bitcoin. So, therefore, those who had mined millions over the last few years could now have access to their riches.
How does the New York Times get involved?
New York Times journalist Nathaniel Popper had caught wind of the organization since he covered a lot of crypto stories for the newspaper. He reached out to Trapani and his team many times and was met with unclear answers to his questions. However, Popper sent a photography crew down to Miami to get some photos of the team and the offices.
From there, he got in contact with companies like Visa and many other legit financial organizations that Centra Tech said they were affiliated with on their website. Popper learned that they knew nothing of Centra Tech, and once he let Trapani and Sharma know about that, a lot of affiliate logos started to disappear from their website.
Eventually, cease-and-desist letters were sent to Centra Tech. The team reached out to a lawyer through a Google search. Only to learn that the lawyer got legal advice over the phone from a college kid pretending to be a lawyer. The scammers got scammed.
The investors started to not see returns on their investments. These investors are, of course, just people all over the World Wide Web who love Bitcoin, not actual business investors. Eventually, word got out that Centra Tech, despite having some celebrity endorsements from the likes of Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled, was indeed a fraud, and they began to lose dollar after dollar.
What was the fallout of all of this?
As time went on, crypto scams became more and more prevalent post-COVID. As of 2022, 78% of crypto business proposals to investors have been scams. Centra Tech was the first to really put all of this under the spotlight. And the owners all fall victim to their own greed.
For starters, the made-up CEO of Centra Tech was pronounced dead not long after the company fell apart. CEO Michael Edwards apparently died in a car crash. In fact, Michael Edwards was alive and well and living in Manitoba. His photo was just something that was found on a Google search for “Old White Guy.”
Farkas served one year in prison, and Sharma is currently serving an eight-year sentence. But Trapani, the biggest scammer of all, is the man who gave up his friends in corporations to the U.S. government through the whole investigation. The man, whom many have called throughout this film a “scumbag,” served no time in prison for his corporation.
And to put a pin on it, Ray Trapani went out and bought a new house after the birth of his child and his acquittal. Nobody really knows where that money came from.
Read More:Â Bitconned Review