| Bitcoin
Ventures Sued Stojanovich Then Arrest
& Now Guilty Plea to 41-51 Months,
March 2
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Nov 29 –
Bitcoin Ventures 2020 and
others sued Chet Stojanovich
for scamming them out of
hundreds of thousands of
dollars for cryptocurrency
mining equipment. Now
Stojanovich disappeared
mid-deposition and the
plaintiffs want criminal
contempt.
On March 25, U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge
Lewis J. Liman held a
proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
Plaintiffs' counsel described
a deposition and Stojanovich
stepping out to his rental car
to get documents but never
coming back. They said he
should be arrested by the
Marshals.
Judge
Liman pointed out that a
hearing was necessary, and
convened one for April 11 at
10 am.
He asked if
Stojanovich understood the
risk of criminal contempt
(Stojanovich appeared by
phone, citing weak 3G service,
strange for a crypto miner).
On April 11,
Inner City Press went to Judge
Liman's courtroom - but Stojanovich
did not,
instead
calling in and
speaking at
length over a
speaker phone
about his
allergies and
the brand of
his cell
phone.
There were
arguments by
John F.
Harwick of
the firm
Stewart Jones
Hacker Murphy, down
by Amtrak.
Judge Liman,
fresh off the
US v. Larry
Ray trial,
ordered Stojanovich
to pay $1000 a
day to the
Clerk of Court
for contempt,
to provide all
requested
information
and to appear
on May 3 at 3
pm. Transcript
on Patreon here.
On April
19, he was
arrested on the Canadian border:
"arrest today of CHET
STOJANOVICH, a/k/a
“Chester J.
Stojanovich,” on
charges of defrauding
more than a dozen
victims of more than
$1.8 million, through
fraudulent
misrepresentations
that he would provide
the victims with
specialized
cryptocurrency-mining
computers (“Miners”),
and that he would
provide Miner-hosting
services that would
provide the victims
with a lucrative
stream of “hash power”
convertible into
cryptocurrency.
Instead, as alleged,
STOJANOVICH deceived
his victims,
misappropriated his
victims’ money, and
provided them with
almost no Miners,
Miner-hosting
services, or hash
power. The
defendant was arrested
early this morning
after crossing from
Canada into the United
States at Champlain,
New York."
Then
it was said that the
May 3 hearing in the
civil case would
be by phone: "Plaintiffs'
counsel has informed
the Court that
Defendant
Stojanovich has been
criminally charged
for claims arising
out of the
transactions at
issue in this civil
proceeding and that
Defendant
Stojanovich is
currently detained
as he has not yet
made bail. See Dkt.
Nos. 83-84; see also
USA v. Stojanovich,
22-mj-03298
(S.D.N.Y.). It is
hereby ORDERED that
the in person
contempt hearing
scheduled for May 3,
2022 at 3:00 p.m.
shall proceed as a
telephonic hearing."
Inner City
Press was
present - but
neither
party,
apparently,
was. Judge
Liman ordered:
"ORDER re:
[87] Letter
filed by Alex
Holmes.
Plaintiffs are
ordered to
show cause by
May 10, 2022
why this case
should not be
stayed during
the pendency
of the
criminal case
against
Defendant
Stojanovich."
Jump cut to
November 29, 2022 - after a stay in a
hospital in California and some
medically-related filing, Chet Stojanovich
came before District Judge Denise L. Cote to
plead guilty. Inner City Press was there,
thread:
OK - now at
crypto fraud guilty plea of Chet
Stojanovich, Inner City Press was covering
the civil case against him before this
criminal case overtook it
Chet
Stojanovich says his feet and tongue get
numb. He's found competent to plead guilty
to wire fraud - getting crypto for illusory
crypto mining (which judge defines).
Max term of 20
years - but plea agreement to be unveiled
soon
drum roll....
Plea agreement is dated Nov 22, 6 pages,
signed on Nov 28. The agreed sentencing
guideline is 41 to 51 months. He says he led
clients to believe he had crypto mining
computers that he didn't have, and kept
their money / crypto. Guilty plea accepted
Sentencing
is set for March 2 at 2 pm. Defense memo is
sure to be medical jargon heavy; AUSA asks
for extra days to respond.
Inner City
Press will stay on these cases.
The civil case is
Holmes et al v. Chet Mining
Co, LLC et al., 20-cv-4448
(Liman)
The criminal case is US v. Stojanovich,
22-cr-339
(Cote)
***
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