http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article62022452.htmlThe federal government has gained a $38.6 million judgment against Butterfly Labs, a Leawood-based seller of bitcoin machines, but agreed to collect only $15,000.
Butterfly Labs consented to the judgment under terms that essentially excuse it from any additional payments because of its limited financial resources. The agreement is based on financial information the company presented in U.S District Court.
“We’re paying $15,000 to settle this case,” said Michael Foster, an attorney at the Polsinelli law firm representing Butterfly Labs.
Officially, the judgment is suspended but could be reinstated if the company is found to have misrepresented its financial condition, or “if we lied about our financials,” Foster said.
Bitcoin is a digital currency that has gained traction among some consumers, businesses and governments. Bitcoins exist only digitally and are “mined” by using sophisticated computer equipment to verify increasingly difficult calculations that verify bitcoin transactions.
The Federal Trade Commission agreed to the settlement a year and a half after persuading a federal judge to shut down Butterfly Labs as a bogus business. It said the company had taken 20,000 consumers for up to $50 million.
Sonny Vleisides: Hello, BitPay. Hey, I know like everybody knows that you're only a third-party payment processor and NOT an exchange, but I need you to process a million dollars worth of bitcoins we received the other day for the sale of Monarchs from an industrial client of ours that we've bumped to the front of the queue ahead of singular monumental assholes orders. Can you do it?
BitPay: What's in it for us?
Sonny: Glad you asked. We've already moved the bitcoins once, then moved them again to the
1QAHVyRzkmD4j1pU5W89htZ3c6D6E7iWDs bitcoin wallet address. We'll send you the coins and you get to pen a press release declaring that you're the first to process a million dollars worth of BTC to fiat (I'll later let you know what bank account to send the money). We'll all pretend that 1QAHVyRzkmD4j1pU5W89htZ3c6D6E7iWDs belongs to HashTrade but it's really ours. You game?
BitPay: Sounds like a plan, but make sure word doesn't get out that this is a ruse, mmmkay?
Sonny: Mums the word. We even have Josh Zerlan in on it via a 10 BTC illegal bet with the ONLY dude who's wise to us at the moment, thus shutting his ass up till January of next year. Here's the funny part. A year from now, we here are BFL are going to send him a 1099 for services rendered, thus deducting Josh's bet from our bottom line. We may even send him a foam pitchfork for shits and giggles.
BitPay: Okay, it's done, but I don't feel too comfortable about doing this.
Sonny: Hey, you may not feel too comfortable now, wait till you we extort your ass in doing this exchange thingy on an ongoing basis over the next year or so to the tune of over nine million dollars more.
BitPay: Where are these bitcoins coming from?
Sonny: We mine them with ... wait for it ... miners that are customers already paid for and are waiting for them to be shipped, but we have them on hold believing that the machines aren't finished yet and that we're still testing them, with each test HAHAHA failing, but we're working hard to resolve the issues.
BitPay: Where the fuck do you have these miners?
Sonny: Some here at the office in plain site, some at my house, some at my family's homes, some in a cave, and even some in chicken coop.
BitPay: You guys are so bad! HAHAHA
Sonny: Yeah, we know. The other bitcoins came from the ones you already sent us for purchases which we've been sitting on till the price rises which has and continues to do so. We're simply returning them back to you in exchange for fiat (again, I'll be providing bank accounts info shortly).
QUESTION: How the fuck was I, Bruno Kucinskas, able to figure it all out and provide proof via ONLY Google et al., but the FTC couldn't do such with its unlimited resources, arriving at a tens of millions dollar fine, but reduced it to umpteen thousand dollars to the same dude fined ONLY $100 USD for ripping off tens of millions from the elderly with his lottery scheme, not counting never changed with stealing tens of millions via his LFC and online gambling (with Jeff Ownby) schemes?
