Butterfly Labs loses Lawsuit... 39 million

[mercistheman]

Interesting... I added my name to the class action suit.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3034977/butterfly-labs-cant-afford-the-39m-fine-to-settle-charges-it-duped-bitcoin-hopefuls.html

[tobacco123]

I almost placed an order for a miners from BFL but the "pre-order" put me off...

Maybe they can pay back in bitcoins?

[-XXIII-]

Butterfly Labs over-promised on what it could deliver. On Thursday, U.S. regulators said Butterfly Labs and two employees have settled charges accusing them of deceiving thousands of people by keeping payments for bitcoin mining systems that were never delivered.

The deal includes a judgment of $38.6 million against Butterfly Labs and its part-owner and vice president of product development, Sonny Vleisides, and a judgment of $136,000 against general manager Darla Drake.

The judgments are suspended, however, because of the defendants' "inability to pay," the FTC said. Drake's judgment will be suspended when she turns over the cash value of the bitcoins generated using the company machines.

Sorry guys, doesn't look like you're getting anything back... at least for a while. It's almost like, if you're a corporation, the more you steal the more you're able to get away with.

[nichu]

this is greed fine i guess    , i dont think they are planning to settle the amount ,but made a good rep with this case 

[Velkro]

Sadly, they won't pay it.
What was lost by people is lost forever :/. Hope u didn't invest there.

[Gleb Gamow]

Interesting... I added my name to the class action suit.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3034977/butterfly-labs-cant-afford-the-39m-fine-to-settle-charges-it-duped-bitcoin-hopefuls.html

Butterfly was swamped with orders and fielded a ton of complaints from people waiting to receive their hardware, but it continued taking new orders. In late 2013, it took a single downpayment of $1 million for machines.

Hashtrade send BFL the $1M via BTC downpayment to a newly created bitcoin wallet address. The funds were then moved to another address. Then moved again to the infamous 1QAHVyRzkmD4j1pU5W89htZ3c6D6E7iWDs bitcoin wallet address eventually taken over by the FTC, later to be returned to BFL. It was that address that BitPay, HashTrade and BFL showed the world proof that the transaction was legit, alluding to the address belonging to HashTrade. BitPay remitted $1M USD to BFL's bank account.

The other problem with that $1M worth of BTC is that what was processed was not even HashTrades bitcoins, but of those earlier mined by BFL, with BitPay acting as an exchange and not as a third-party payment processor, the latter of which they're only licensed to do. You, I nor anybody else can send $10 USD worth of bitcoins to BitPay and have them send you said amount to your bank account. Yet, BFL did such to the tune of over $10M USD over the course of over a year, stopping the practice hours before the FTC locked the place down.

Saying that the FTC fucked up is an understatement.

[Chef Ramsay]

I almost placed an order for a miners from BFL but the "pre-order" put me off...

Maybe they can pay back in bitcoins?

I learned my lesson w/ these guys back in the 2013 summer and this pre-order BS. Don't do it, just save your coins - I mean it with all sincerity. I wasted 13 coins at that time on this garbage; want to be me? Profit: .3 in today's dollars. All newcomers should not look to mining to gather more coinage, just spent more of said coinage for naught. The difficulty goes sky-high during pre-orders (and normally during any period) and beyond so your miner that may come in the next few-to-6months will get you nothing. Buying and holding is precious and not part of some BS talk, can't stress it enough. You're saving BTC and money by checking out what I'm saying, not trying to cut you out of easy BTC. Don't do it and fall for it, I wish I had back my 13 and another 20ish that I spent on mining contracts from back then. Saving/holding is way undervalued in this BTC world - never let them go to anyone or you're gonna fail.

Prices are getting too high at this point to be able to play the trial and error in the mining game and be able to recover ever and have a decent BTC stash as prices keep going up in this next bull market. Hold and do not play around; this is your final advice as there are no ez fixes to getting more money here. If I placed my address below like others, I'd expect many coins in general from onlookers but I want none of them, just due diligence for newer types to do what's right for them in this crucial period. Mainstreet won't be able to keep up after this next rally upwards, so now is your chance and do not squander this opportunity. You can thank me later, just buy and hold (don't invest or mess around w/ your BTC as you go forward). Any Q?, ask (PM) before you screw yourself on a fast faulty mess-up that just profits the traders and the like.

[Kakmakr]

These people made big promises and could not deliver, well I think they knew they would not be able to deliver, but they still took the orders. I also nearly fell for this, but a friend pointed me to a friend that had problems with them and I decided to hold out.

It would have been a huge mistake and could have drained all my funds at the time. Strange how greed clouds your judgement. 

[DimensionZ]

These scammers fully deserve what is coming for them. You can't just expect to trick so many people and think nothing will happen to you.

[tvbcof]

The one thing all of these main-ish-stream media stories seem to have in common is that they don't have a word about Zerlan (or whatever his name was.)  Ten bucks says that that scroungy little weasel sung like a cannery.

[Gleb Gamow]

The one thing all of these main-ish-stream media stories seem to have in common is that they don't have a word about Zerlan (or whatever his name was.)  Ten bucks says that that scroungy little weasel sung like a cannery.

It is pathetic that he is still listing Butterfly Labs as his employer, in addition to his new gig.

Hey, I wonder if there's any reviews of Josh Zerlan at iFLY.

Hey, I found one: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g38969-d9801022-r345615920-IFLY_Kansas_City-Overland_Park_Kansas.html

“iFly is a must for the entire family!”

5 of 5 starsReviewed 1 week ago via mobile

iFly is a very welcome addition to Kansas City's list of 'things to do'! We have already made several trips to fly in the tunnel and we are addicted!! It is an awesome activity for our kids. The thing that makes this place even better than most is the enthusiasm of the staff. From the moment you walk in it is obvious that everyone there sincerely loves their job. Josh Z is coaching the kids and is fabulous with them. He makes it really fun and encourages them the whole way through. A truly positive experience. Highly recommend both iFly and Josh Z!

Visited February 2016

I'd say that somebody better tell Aime B about Josh's rainbow poodles. I mean, she entrusting a strange (pun intended) man to touch her kids and all, so she best have done a background check on him.

In case you didn't figure it out, Aime is closely related to Josh Zerlan. How close, you ask? They share the same master bathroom. I would show it to you, but that may get me in trouble since I have a restraining order to not come near his rainbow poodles.

Raise your hand if you still believe the story of how Josh Zerlan looked out his office window and realized that BFL's original office was across the street in a Section 8 housing project. With that same hand, used its fingers and poke your fuckin' eyes out.

[SFR10]

Shocking news as I only got interested with their newly made efficient chip and was looking for a group buy to join in and order some but after seeing what just happened and also their history (only found out now), I won't be doing so. The sad part is, their inability to pay back and their reputation won't be fixed too unless they repay first (wrong move by them).

[robelneo]

I almost placed an order for a miners from BFL but the "pre-order" put me off...

Maybe they can pay back in bitcoins?

I learned my lesson w/ these guys back in the 2013 summer and this pre-order BS. Don't do it, just save your coins - I mean it with all sincerity. I wasted 13 coins at that time on this garbage; want to be me? Profit: .3 in today's dollars. All newcomers should not look to mining to gather more coinage, just spent more of said coinage for naught. The difficulty goes sky-high during pre-orders (and normally during any period) and beyond so your miner that may come in the next few-to-6months will get you nothing. Buying and holding is precious and not part of some BS talk, can't stress it enough. You're saving BTC and money by checking out what I'm saying, not trying to cut you out of easy BTC. Don't do it and fall for it, I wish I had back my 13 and another 20ish that I spent on mining contracts from back then. Saving/holding is way undervalued in this BTC world - never let them go to anyone or you're gonna fail.

Prices are getting too high at this point to be able to play the trial and error in the mining game and be able to recover ever and have a decent BTC stash as prices keep going up in this next bull market. Hold and do not play around; this is your final advice as there are no ez fixes to getting more money here. If I placed my address below like others, I'd expect many coins in general from onlookers but I want none of them, just due diligence for newer types to do what's right for them in this crucial period. Mainstreet won't be able to keep up after this next rally upwards, so now is your chance and do not squander this opportunity. You can thank me later, just buy and hold (don't invest or mess around w/ your BTC as you go forward). Any Q?, ask (PM) before you screw yourself on a fast faulty mess-up that just profits the traders and the like.

Thanks for sharing your experience and advice I am almost tempted to invest all this cloud mining sites the key here is to really hold your bitcoin ,because holding it alone is an investment itself,but of course bitcoin is a currency that should move around..

[Gleb Gamow]

Shocking news as I only got interested with their newly made efficient chip and was looking for a group buy to join in and order some but after seeing what just happened and also their history (only found out now), I won't be doing so. The sad part is, their inability to pay back and their reputation won't be fixed too unless they repay first (wrong move by them).

Thanks to my Google-fu back in the day, a lot of the history you speak up stemmed from my research. Sadly, Leroy Fodor's MENSA son wasn't yet old enough to conduct the research himself, but is making up for lost time helping his pretend dad, Leroy, investigate the Cryptsy matter... at the age of three. HAHAHA

[classicsucks]

In case you didn't figure it out, Aime is closely related to Josh Zerlan. How close, you ask? They share the same master bathroom. I would show it to you, but that may get me in trouble since I have a restraining order to not come near his rainbow poodles.

Raise your hand if you still believe the story of how Josh Zerlan looked out his office window and realized that BFL's original office was across the street in a Section 8 housing project. With that same hand, used its fingers and poke your fuckin' eyes out.

LOOOLZ, that is excellent detective work! But I guess poor Aime just puts the poodles up Zerlan's ass in that master bedroom?

Old "Box of Fans Laboratory" finally has to shut down... Amen.

[Leeroy Jenkins]

I'm guessing we can expect them to have had "flew the coop" a year or two from now. To wit (a few days before the raid):

Does this thread need less cow(bell) and more chicken, as in Chickenfly Labs?

[Gleb Gamow]

In case you didn't figure it out, Aime is closely related to Josh Zerlan. How close, you ask? They share the same master bathroom. I would show it to you, but that may get me in trouble since I have a restraining order to not come near his rainbow poodles.

Raise your hand if you still believe the story of how Josh Zerlan looked out his office window and realized that BFL's original office was across the street in a Section 8 housing project. With that same hand, used its fingers and poke your fuckin' eyes out.

LOOOLZ, that is excellent detective work! But I guess poor Aime just puts the poodles up Zerlan's ass in that master bedroom?

Old "Box of Fans Laboratory" finally has to shut down... Amen.

I would let you slap me on my ass for this great find, but I have a boil. 

[log2exp]

Since Josh is working as a trainer at iFly, if an old BFL pre-order dude show up just to see if Josh still have a straight face would be great, hahaha!

[classicsucks]

Since Josh is working as a trainer at iFly, if an old BFL pre-order dude show up just to see if Josh still have a straight face would be great, hahaha!

"Oh hai Josh, does iFly accept bitcoin payments IN ADVANCE"?

[SISAR]

Such arrogance, much fail, wow!