- Jorg Molt, a German DJ and entrepreneur who claimed to be a co-creator of Bitcoin has been arrested.
- He is accused of defrauding 50 people of $214 million through his “Bitcoin pension” project.
In November 2019, a German DJ and entrepreneur Jorg Molt appeared at the 2019 WCC Vegas Blockchain Week conference claiming to be a co-creator of Bitcoin. He also claimed to be running “Satoshi School” where only Bitcoin and blockchain were taught. At the time of the interview, he mentioned that he holds about 250,000 Bitcoins, a claim that was widely doubted.
Molt was later exposed by his ex-wife that he did not even have a computer in 2008 when Bitcoin was being created, further dubbing him “Faketoshi.”
Jorg Molt’s scheme
According to the latest report, the self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor has been arrested for fraud. The 48-year-old man was arrested at the Frankfurt airport when attempting to board a flight to South America. Law enforcement launched an investigation into his companion, a 54-year-old woman, and searched his Karlsruhe apartment of which undisclosed evidence was found.
Having gained a huge following on social media, Molt launched a scheme called “Bitcoin pension” which allegedly defrauded 50 people of $214 million. The Bitcoin pension scheme was closed down in 2020 after community members became suspicious of an alleged scam.
Further reports reveal that Molt lied to investors that 60 percent of the investments would be used to purchase Bitcoin mining hardware and generate returns with a facility in Sweden. He planned to keep the remaining 40 percent into a safe account which he claimed could be withdrawn at any time. However, an investigation into the project discovered that the funds were not invested in Bitcoin mining. In addition, its business model did not match its huge promises.
Antonopoulos labeled Molt a liar
Jorg Molt has had his claims questioned since 2019. In one of his interviews, he said Andreas Antonopoulos was his close friend. However, Antonopoulos labeled him a liar.
Apparently, a German person called ‘Jorg Molt’ has been showing a selfie taken with me and telling people that we are friends — This is a LIE. I don’t know him at all — I have heard from others that he claims to be the founder of Bitcoin and has thousands of BTC — A LIE.
The popularity of Bitcoin has caused a number of people to claim to be either Satoshi Nakamoto or his assistants. Just recently, the Bogdanoff twins claimed to have assisted in building Bitcoin. According to Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff, they played an active role in elaborating the source code, specifically the predictive code.
