Your Obligatory Butterfly Labs Case Update
What’s happened since our last installment in this series?
There, absolute proof that BFL bought us out. Not that it was ever ambiguous, but the defense counsel confirms it, so it’s officially been legally established: We were shills. Sorry about that.
Here is “Attachment O”, in which the FTC uses this article as evidence against BFL.
They took screenshots of the entire article for their records, which was really unnecessary. If they had asked, we would have happily sent them as many copies as they wanted, in whatever format they wished, for just one BFL foam pitchfork.
But now that the most important part of the update is done, lets see what other shit got dredged up recently:
- A look at the FTC’s complaints database between September 22nd-November 18th found 33 new complaints. The complaints had the same “They haven’t shipped” and “I want my money back” stuff you’d expect from a case against a fraudster. Here are just a few choice examples:
It appears people who are spending thousands of dollars in mining hardware cannot be bothered to learn who is doing what in relation to the case. The FTC does not have the power to get the funds back, at least not now. Remember, BFL is in trial, which includes the possibility that they win out and resume operations. If that happens, you can kiss your funbux goodbye. (Although that probably won’t happen.)
So apparently there are people still buying from Butterfly Labs, despite the warnings everywhere that this company is horrible. The box on the left is the date the complaint was logged, and the box on the right says when the customer made the initial purchase. However, in this instance, there is no date. Maybe they were embarrassed about recently purchasing product from this group?
I don’t mean to kick a guy when he’s down, but even the original, official Bitcoin site says that investing in Bitcoin is risky, that you shouldn’t do it unless you really know what you’re doing (which would seem to preclude investment at all, but whatever). That includes using your tax refund to invest in, essentially, a get-rich-quick scheme. Don’t invest in Bitcoin. Don’t fucking do it! Just stop!
No, they don’t, at least not right now. We’ll get to this later.
- In the evidence above was a transcript of episode 34 of the “Lets Talk Bitcoin!” podcast, where Josh Zerlan, AKA the guy who said that BFL was using mining rigs before shipping them to customers, mentions this:
It’s not anything official from the FTC (apart from the transcript), but I just think it’s odd how he remained vague on ship dates, which was a part of the original FTC complaint against BFL. Was it mandated at BFL HQ that all ship dates be made vague, or is this just some random happenstance where Zerlan really didn’t know? And how exactly did they plan on staying competitive when they barely had any product out there? Was that their main motivation for buying sites out, or was it some kind of unexplainable paranoia? Again, not official, just questions I had reading this.
What is official, however, is Mr. Zerlan identifying himself as Chief Operating Officer of BFL and detailing the company’s “TestNet”. Why this is in the documents is unclear, but I’m gonna speculate and say “TestNet” is where BFL used the miners before shipping these outdated machines to angry hordes, if they even got shipped.
I’m betting 0.0000001 Satoshi that he just described the size of the pre-mining operation, as well as accidentally disclosing that there was a pre-mining operation.
- Refunds! Ish. Temporary Receiver (TR) Eric L. Johnson, submitted his plan for earning cash back for customer refunds on October 29th. Around November 4, the plan was ordered and approved.
Butterfly Labs got a lot of its orders in Bitcoin and used BitPay to process them. The TR’s plan is to use the funds BFL got, send them to a court-held Bitcoin wallet, and eventually convert them to dirty fiat. To do this, the TR may hire outside help to do this, since these transactions have a history of getting stolen.
There’s also the fact that all sides MUST cooperate, probably in reference to BFL’s prior behavior that nearly landed them in a separate case because they were harassing everyone.
We did it guys! We got the US Government to take Bitcoins! Victory is ours at last!
Well, anyway, assuming things go the way we all expect them to, the court will find BFL guilty, and then the FTC will start getting refunds back to people. If BFL is not found guilty, they will attempt to resume operations. That will not go well because, at this point, they’ve antagonized and driven off everyone who would want to buy from them. Either way, BFL is fucked.
(And no court date has been set yet, probably because the trial already happened. They’re in post-trial briefings. Anyone who tells you of an impending trial date is a fucking idiot.)
CORRECTION: I’m a fucking idiot. According to commenter Curt Shaffer, the date linked to above was for their preliminary injunction, not post-trial briefings. Sorry about that. We’ll have more updates on the case later, promise.
Strelnikov
November 26, 2014 @ 7:19 pm
They lied to you before the sale, so I don’t hold you responsible for BFL making buttcoin.org into a shill site. It actually showed how insane Buttlefly Labs was – buying a jokey website to “scrub” an article off it….what control freaks.
Shill Exposer
December 1, 2014 @ 5:21 pm
Nic, I want to offer a CIA shill like you an offer. I will give you $1,000 if you agree to a debate with Jeffrey Tucker, one of the world’s most respected experts on Bitcoin,on the currency so you can show the world just how worthless your smug attitude really is. You think you’re such a fucking expert on Bitcoin because you can run fucking a troll site on it, you elitist piece of shit? Guess what? The world doesn’t work that way.
You must be really fucking desperate for money if you’re willing to allow someone from the CIA to handle you for these posts, you smug little faggot. Why don’t you get off your fucking computer and actually challenge someone who knows something on the currency before you open your little mouth? As a matter of fact, I have quite a few friends who would be more than willing than willing to shut your fuck face up.
It’s people like you that make me hope the dollar collapse is getting closer. As bad as it will be, I find happiness in knowing that people like you will be economically cleansed from the face of this planet. Darwinism truly is a gift. Seeing people like you in the street, begging for money will truly fill me with an unfettered sense of joy. Seriously: fuck you.
Nicsho
December 2, 2014 @ 8:38 pm
So all I have to do is debate some guy, and I get $1,000? Cause that’s really all I saw.
Anyway, I agree to your debate. When and where?
Nicsho
December 2, 2014 @ 9:32 pm
And, by the way, I’m completely, dead serious. Please set up this debate. Email me at [email protected] when your ready.
Curt Shaffer
December 4, 2014 @ 10:42 pm
That was just the court date for the preliminary injunction. If the injunction is accepted it doesn’t mean that BFL has lost yet, it just means they can’t continue on with their bullshit practices during the case. They still get to try to continue to (poorly) fight for their cause.
If the injunction is not accepted then BFL gets to carry on their merry way, but is still has to defend themselves in court.
This is just the first step of a long process.
Nicsho
December 5, 2014 @ 8:00 am
I apologize for the mistake. I’ll add a correction soon.