Thapa Charged with Wire
Fraud of Block Party Tickets Pled
to Structuring Now Gets 2 Years
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
April 29 – On December 7, 2022
DOJ announced "an indictment
charging RIKESH THAPA with
operating a scheme to defraud
a start-up technology company
(the “Victim Company”) of over
$1 million worth of United
States currency,
cryptocurrency, and utility
tokens."
On
April 29, 2024 Thapa after
pleading guilty came up for
sentencing before U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge John P. Cronan. Inner
City Press was there, the only
media in the courtroom. Thread:
US wants 30
months; his retained lawyer
has asked in writing for a
"lenient sentence."
Assistant US
Attorney: We believe for
deterrence, an incarceratory
sentence is appropriate here.
Judge: What about the
expenditures, lavish
ones? AUSA: There were
multi thousands dollar
expenditures in night clubs...
travel... hotels... Not
necessities. He was living in
an $11,000 a month luxury
apartment in Manhattan
procured through a fraudulent
application. It was greed.
Judge: He
is a deportable alien Judge:
Why supervised release, then?
AUSA: He pled to structuring,
not wire fraud, which will
increase his likelihood of
staying in the US. So we are
for supervised release in case
he's not deported [to Nepal]
Defense counsel:
This is a really weird case
Defense counsel: I don't
really understand how this
could have happened. He's been
in other start-ups. He's an
uncommonly decent man. There
was an Uber driver, a drug
addict, who he took in when he
was 20 years old. Judge:
He lied to a luxury apartment
building
Judge: On whether
his family was targeted by
Maoist rebels in Nepal, the
pre-sentencing report
disagrees. Defense: Something
happened. It wasn't the
easiest start in life. He's
started an anti-hacking
school. I asked him, Where's
your family? He: they're upset
[Note: the victim
company is Block Party
Tickets, which had a
blockchain-based protocol for
live event tickets. Thapa’s
LinkedIn profile, now offline,
listed himself as a founder
and chief technology officer
for the firm, now nearly
defunct]
Defense lawyer:
He did work for the state of
Pennsylvania. In his mind this
was a dispute, he was owed the
money. He'll either be
deported or lose the 10% good
time and halfway house credit,
as a non citizen. The AUSA let
us plead to structuring, he
might stay
Thapa: I
apologize for your time, the
Court's time, and obviously
the victim, I apologize for my
reckless behavior. When I
started Block Party, I was 23.
I had the smarts but now that
I'm 30, there's a whole other
level of responsibility
Thapa: My
mentor told me, you have to
look in the mirror and be
comfortable with yourself.
Block Party was entertainment,
we went to events, it was all
a blur. I'm disappointed
himself.
Judge: [after
taking a break] The guideline
range is 30 to 37
months...
Judge: This was
very serious conduct. The
offense of conviction is
structuring - but I must
consider the actual conduct.
Brazen theft of $1.3 million
from a start up. Since they
worked in crypto, they wanted
to diversify their banking.
They parked it with
Thapa
Judge: In the
summer of 2019, the CEO told
him to return the money. He
said no, he needed to discuss
it with a tax attorney. But he
had used the money on
nightclubs and travel. He took
crypto, Bitcoin and Ethereum.
He deleted the CEO's email
account
Judge: Here
the guidelines do a rather
effective job of capturing the
offense conduct. $1.3 million
is a large amount of money for
one individual to steal...
These were not lapses in
judgment. This was theft.
There is a need for general
deterrence.
Judge: On the
other hand I have considered
the conditions in Nepal - he
obtained lawful permanent
resident status in the US,
which provided him
opportunity. Then he committed
these crimes. He knew what he
was doing.
Judge:
Deportation may not be
certain. I have considered
letters. Mr. Thapa, I sentence
you to 24 months in prison,
then 3 years of supervised
release. Also $5000 fine.
More on X for
Subscribers here
& Substack here
The case is US v.
Thapa, 22-cr-654 (Cronan)
***
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