Bitcoin Forum

There is a strong possibility that Leasebit.com (http://Leasebit.com) is a scam, and the owner (alias) “Rowan Salter” is going to commit fraud against a good number of people.  At this point no fraud has been committed against anyone I have been in contact with, but his refusal to return emails, and information about his past is not looking good for anyone involved.  The current availability of ASIC chips all but guarantee his claims as false, and his business to be a scam.

Here are some threads on the topic:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=328182.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=328182.0)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=301651.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=301651.0)

I have significant financial, legal and political resources, so I’m going to take charge of beginning the process of gathering leaseholder’s information in order to prepare for further action if we are indeed being defrauded.  We should know for sure within the next month when leaseholders do not receive their first payment of bitcoins on December 15th.

I have spoken to some of my connections and have been put in touch with a staff member of the California Attorney General.  He’s now aware of the situation, and the has instructed me to begin gathering the information of as many potential victims as possible.  Obviously they are not officially involved yet, but my contact has promised me they will move quickly with a criminal investigation if leaseholders are not compensated in the next few months.  Thankfully, he was quite informed about bitcoins, so there wasn’t much explanation necessary for him to understand the situation.

If you are a leaseholder of a Leasebit lease and would like to be involved, please email me your name, email address, phone number and lease number to (edit: this is the correct email) report@leasebitscam.com.  For the moment that’s all the information I’ll be collecting.  If we are not paid on December 15th, I’ll ask those involved for more information.

As for civil litigation, I am in contact with my personal law firm, and they are researching their recommendation for firms in the State of California that would be a good match for a case such as this.  Unfortunately collecting any inevitable judgments will be difficult due to information we have about his finances and past legal matters.  Luckily fraud is nondischargeable in a bankruptcy, so he’ll be on the hook for payment for the rest of his life.

I would like to stress that as fas as I know, no provable fraud has actually been committed yet.  Hopefully a miracle happens, and this guy comes through.  This is extremely unlikely though, hence the preemptive action I'm taking here.  I'm not active on any other bitcoin forums, but if someone wants to post a link to this thread to spread the word, it would be appreciated.

It seems Leasebit has decided to do the right thing and shutdown and offer refunds.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=328182.msg3657722#msg3657722

Seriosly? ???
Fraud? Scam?
Guys?
Did you see that site??
I wouldn't give it a dollar even if I would blind. It's ridiculous.

I finally got the letter from LeaseBit along with a ballot for voting on either a refund or to suspend payment for 90 days. I would like a little feed back from others who have signed contracts with this "company".

Regarding the ballot, why is this a vote?  Shouldn't he offer refunds to those who want refunds regardless of how the vote goes? Also, regardless of what I vote, it is easy enough for him to say that the majority of lease holders voted to suspend payments, so where would that leave those of us who want a refund?  Plus, the ballot says a refund for the "initial lease payment".  What about the lease payments after the initial payment?  I bought two leases and made a half a payment  one month and a full payment another month.  (Signed on the 15th)

Does anyone believe this guy is really going to do the right thing?? 

Sorry for the rant, but I am really POed about this.

Well I sent my refund information to this guy by Express Mail.  It bounced from the UPS store that he uses as his address back to the post office.  He has not picked it up.  Incidentally the two are literally right next to each other so he didn't have to make any extra effort to get the package.  His website is now shutdown, as is his email address.  Obviously he has no intention of sending refunds.

I'm restarting the process with my personal lawyer, and they've found a lawyer in California they will work with since they're not licensed there.  I also have talked to the assistant for one of the attorney generals my family is friends with, and I should hear back from her with information about a more direct contact path to the California Attorney General.  In the meantime I will submit the information I currently have about "Rowan Salter"

"Rowan Salter"'s real name is Aaron Arnott.  His twitter now lists his location as Tyler, TX.  Incidentally there is a person with ties there that is named Aaron Arnett.  I currently have someone researching as to whether this is a new alias of his.

Here is Mr. Arnott:
https://i.imgur.com/FNSPty3.jpg

Aaron Arnott has been married at least 4 times.

Aaron Arnott has filed for bankruptcy 3 times, as recently as 2012

Aaron Arnott has had or currently has almost $400,000 worth of federal/state tax liens filed against him

Aaront Arnott was involved in a civil suit with a judgement of over $750,000

For some reason Aaron Arnott is licensed to sell cemetery plots.  (WTF?)

He has over a half dozen businesses registered in his name, and as far as I can tell they've all failed.

Since it is now my mission to destroy this guy's name so he can't continue to scam people, I have purchased some domains.  These include:

aaronarnott.com (http://aaronarnott.com)
leasebitscam.com (http://leasebitscam.com)
rowansalterfraud.com (http://rowansalterfraud.com)

I also own other variations of his name.  I will make sure that anyone that searches for the name "Rowan Salter" or Aaron Arnott will find the information above, his address and most recent contact information.  In closing, none of us should be expecting a refund, and I'll update you with the plan of action once my lawyer in California gets back to me.

I forgot to note that in the meantime, people involved with this should follow the link below and file a report:

http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx