He claims that expensive cars was one the fews ways people were able to move money into the country because they held value well. As far as I can tell people actually did do that. He claims that is what he was doing. He wasn't selling the bitcoin invested in Cyprus, obviously, and it was not possible to just transfer cash in.
Whether you believe him or not, it does seem to be a legitimate reason.
The fuck? Utter bullshit.
The limit on funds transfers shortly following the 2013 incident which saw the banks close for several days did not apply IN ANY WAY to incoming payments and, even in the case of outgoing transfers, if the money had originated from outside of Cyprus in the first place then the limits did not apply.
In any event, by the time he'd conducted his bitcoin IPO for Neo & Bee in September of 2013, six months after the banking crisis, the financial transaction system was largely back to normal.
Even his claims towards justifying purchasing these luxury cars as a supposed means for NEO & BEE to hold assets of value is bullshit, too, given how their sale proceeds weren't used to pay N&B's debts.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/23lt4p/neo_bee_the_full_picture/2014
18th March: Brewster tells a member of the management team "we have 5,000 BTC left".
As from March 18th, Brewster, an active user of social media with daily presence for months, goes completely silent and absent from Reddit, Bitcointalk, Facebook and Twitter.
19th March: The next day Brewster shocks the management team by telling them that the 5,000 BTC have…..overnight become only 140! "Actually I thought we had 5,000, but I have checked the wallet and the coins are not there, I spent them somewhere but I don't remember on what.......we have only 140 coins left. I am going to the UK to find investors. I will send you the 140 coins left and also sell my Mercedes and Bentley and will send you the money to pay the March salaries and the creditors".
20th March: Brewster goes to N&B offices for 1 hour. Management team tells Brewster that they want him to step down from CEO. Brewster agrees to step down after transferring control of the company to “investors”, without these investors being identified.
21st March: Brewster goes to N&B offices for 1 hour and then disappears and remains out of contact with anybody from the management team.
21st - 27th March: The Mercedes is reported sold but the funds from the sale and the 140 N&B coins "travel" together with Brewster to the UK, instead of being sent to the management to cover salaries and creditors as promised. The Bentley is reported to be in a car dealership in Nicosia with changed plates, it is unknown whether it has been sold as well with proceeds being taken by Brewster, or whether it is up for sale.
