Ahhhh, yes, I remember Mr. Shrem. He acquired my Bitcoin company in 2012, we signed an acquisition contract and everything, and then he just never paid me and threatened me when I tried to collect (it was a five-figure sum). And to think I'd even helped him with his college math homework.
That part is not really clear. My understanding is that if he physically threatened you, you could file for a criminal case and he'll be in much deeper trouble than just not paying.
A contract without consideration is void. If you promise to give someone X (that you own) if they give you Y (that they own), and you never give them X, then you don't own their Y, even if it's already in your possession.
You just (non-forcefully) stole their Y—same as if you e.g. asked to borrow someone's phone and then walked away with it.
Around 2012 was a very problematic time to take someone to court with respect to Bitcoin. This was right around the time the SEC and other agencies were beginning to treat cryptocurrency as a money / brokerage and wanting people to get licenses, whereas almost every operating Bitcoin company had no such licenses.
Just a website where I sold people Bitcoins over the Internet in my spare time. I don't think the scare quotes are warranted, I had over $1 million in total volume and it was consistently profitable.
Baffles me how Mr Shrem is held up as some Bitcoin martyr by those in the community even as late as yesterday.
Here's OpenBazaar's lead developer mentioning that Shrem went to jail because "Bitcoin is challenging the way money works in society". Shrem went to jail for laundering money for drug dealers. That's certainly one way of challenging how money works in society.
Fishing expedition. The money probably isn't theirs (there are plenty of places Charlie could have made that money since release, given what he does and what he's been involved in), but on the off-chance it is, they may win OR get uncomfortably close in discovery to stuff he doesn't want light on, and he'll settle.
Why the hell would he be dumb enough to buy all this stuff in the US? At least go to a country where your assets won't get easily frozen, and where it's hard to extradite.
“Over the last year, Charlie Shrem, a 28-year-old Bitcoin investor, has bought two Maseratis, two powerboats — one of them 32 feet long — and a $2 million house in Florida, along with smaller pieces of real estate.
...
Mr. Shrem...has said in recent interviews that he went to prison with almost no money.”
What an idiot. Right out of jail, owes the feds hundreds of thousands of dollars, and can’t help but conspicuously consume.
Florida's a great place to do this because of the bankruptcy homestead exemption:
> In bankruptcy, the Florida homestead exemption allows a primary residence of unlimited value to be protected from creditors as long as the debtor has lived in Florida for 40 months or more, and the property is not larger than half an acre in a municipality or 160 acres elsewhere
OJ Simpson used the same trick to prevent the Goldman family from getting his house.
Well, Maserati is actually owned by Fiat/Chrysler Group. Plus, like all F/C vehicles, they're pieces of shit. Maserati used to be nice. Now, they're sport cars for people who want a sport car but don't know anything about said cars.
Volkswagen is actually, despite their scandals, a remarkably good quality group. They own VW, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Bugatti.
I own a 2013 Dodge Charger SRT (an FC brand). At $51k & 470hp out the door, it's the best performing and cheapest muscle car in its class. It can also seat my family of 4 comfortably. In 6 years and 42k miles, I've had zero drive train issues. Only problems I've had are suspension (I drive on pot hole ridden Chicago area roads) and tires worn prematurely due to bent suspension arms.
Dont know what your experience is with FC, but that's been mine.
42k miles / 6 years is a barely used car. I would expect a post year 2000 car to go 150k, even 200k miles with no drive train problems assuming normal conditions. Also, the stats show Fiat/Chrysler experiencing the most problems:
Not saying that Dodge doesn't make power. Mopar power is for sure a thing. The Demon and Hellcat in particular are awesome feats of engineering. Now they've come out with a 1000 HPE crate motor, too (the "Hellephant").
But F/C reliability, construction quality, etc. are known issues. As the other comment shows via JD Power rankings, F/C has poor QC. However, as those rankings show, Ford isn't amazing in that area either.
But, I'd challenge the "best performing and cheaptest" statement. The 2018/9 Ford Mustang GT peaks at 460 HP and 420 lb-ft of torque, starting at $35k. One could argue the new mustangs are less "muscle" and more "sport" cars, but I'd say it's still muscle.
p.s. I'm not affiliated with any automotive company.
It's like the C-class. Everywhere in Vancouver, BC. Especially downtown, where debt to income ratio is ridiculously higher than other areas.
People will pay for the brand, true supercar enthusiasts pay on future value. In fact, people who collect rare supercars, do not lose money on what is otherwise a known depreciating asset.
ex. F430 Manual transmission started appreciating in value past handful years because of demand for the last manual gated Ferrari, its approaching high-mileage 430 Scuderia prices, which is ridiculous. Everybody knows the Ferrari 430 Scuderia is the rawest Ferrari you can experience of last generation, even more expensive than a brand new 458.
I also think the F430 front and rear is the best looking. I died inside when they revealed those ugly sharp edges in the 458. Then the sacrilege of putting a turbo.
whew! I kinda went off on a tangent there. but yeah, tldr, parent comment is right and not deserving of downvotes.
Oh man, I thought cars were for driving, houses for living in, art for looking at, and Bitcoin was supposed to be a currency. No wonder I'm not rich; I've been doing it wrong this whole time!
I think it is a major flaw to assume someone's conspicuous consumption is from YOUR money.
This man has been in crypto for 8 years
Anyone that was there for the last 15 months could have made enough FROM SCRATCH to buy those things just trading. I've had hundreds of dollars of DUST in exchanges and wallets that I rediscovered were worth 6 figures, and at some points 7 figures if had checked. Even if the government had frozen some of my assets in connection with blah blah blah, I'd still have this stuff.
Add in advisory roles, salaries, the conference circuit, you might as well just fire your lawyer for coming up with that children's tale, and just stick to why someone might owe you money not "and here's proof they're the bad guy we must stop him NAO!"
It doesn't really matter if his current wealth is a derivative of past dealings or recent success. He still owes those past debts unless he declared bankruptcy and they were discharged. It also sounds like the Winklevoss have some block chain evidence that his current wealth is related to long held Bitcoin.
Oh right, because saying "your are bankrupt" or actually declaring bankruptcy means permanently broke and living in public housing or under a bridge.
According to your story of events he would have had to say this in early 2015. He has been C-level at a hedge fund just a few months after getting out of prison in mid 2016.
And of course thats not how bankruptcy works at all.
This story is for extremely gullible and naive people, in order to try and get a summary judgement.
> because saying "your are bankrupt" or actually declaring bankruptcy means permanently broke and living in public housing or under a bridge
Mr. Shrem has "not paid the government $950,000 in restitution that he agreed to as part of his 2014 guilty plea" [1]. It's reasonable to expect him to not be purchasing "two Maseratis, two powerboats — one of them 32 feet long — and a $2 million house in Florida" while simultaneously launching "various partnerships...that had to give money back to investors" just a year out of jail.
