In Bitconned, Ray Trapani, co-founder of Centra Tech, is the sole individual who faces the least consequence for orchestrating the scam perpetrated by Centra Tech.
In the documentary, Ray Trapani claims that he always dreamed of becoming a criminal.
Trapani hopped into the crypto business after hearing Sam ‘Sorbee’ Sharma’s plan for it. The light in Sorbee’s eyes convinced him to join this business.
Trapani had seen crypto as this new unfound territory, completely unregulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that can be exploited.
Though he and his colleagues didn’t know much about this business, it didn’t matter to them.
Along with Sam Sharma and Robert Farkas, Trapani founded Centra Tech with the goal of creating a debit card that will allow users to spend their cryptocurrency at any time and anywhere.
What they really ended up creating is a big scam that they tried to conceal from the world and went to lengths to do so.
In 2018, the SEC put together a case against Centra Tech for masterminding a fraudulent initial coin offering.
What happened to Ray Trapani and his colleagues?
Among Ray Trapani and his colleagues, Sam “Sorbee” Sharma and Robert Farkas, Sorbee was sentenced to 8 years in prison, while Robert Farkas had to serve a year.
Only Ray Trapani got away without spending jail time just because he cooperated with the FBI and the SEC.
He gave them enough information that would allow them to put Sorbee and Farkas away.
Ray Trapani admits that he is a criminal, and somehow, he is the only one who receives the lowest sentence in the case.
Where is Ray Trapani now?
On the day the verdict that he won’t be spending jail time was declared, Trapani’s wife gave birth.
Ray is ordered to pay $2.9 million to the victims. Two months after his sentencing in 2022, he bought a new house.
He claims that there is more money out there, and the FBI needs to find it. He also refrained from talking about his financial situation.
In the documentary, it’s mentioned that Ray is starting a new business offering loans to people in need at 50% interest.
He is naming his business ‘Cambridge & Brown’ after the two prestigious universities.
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