1: rikesh thapa, a 28 year old from san diego, california, was the co-founder and cto of blockparty, an event ticketing protocol and nft marketplace, from 2017 to 2019. thapa is charged with stealing $1 million in cash and 10 bitcoin from the company, as well as falsifying trading records to cover his tracks.
2: the theft occurred in 2019 when thapa agreed to hold the money in his personal bank account while the company looked at banking options. thapa then pocketed the investment without the company’s ceo knowing and refused to give back the money.
3: thapa spent the stolen cash on nightclubs, travel, and clothes, and also stole blockparty’s utility tokens and convinced would-be investors to give him cash for the assets. thapa falsified records to hide what he actually did with the money, and is now charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. according to fbi assistant director in charge michael j. driscoll, thapa “repeatedly stole from and defrauded the victim company.”
https://decrypt.co/116654/fbi-blockparty-co-founder-1-million-bitcoin
