From dramas like Inventing Anna to documentaries like Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened , Netflix has cornered the market on scam stories. The streamer’s latest offering is Bitconned , With the help of some of the people involved, the book reviews the rise and fall of cryptocurrency company Centra Tech.
One of those people is Raymond “Ray” Trapani, COO and co-founder of Centra Tech. In addition to interviewing Trapani throughout the documentary, Bitconned followed his sentencing in real time.
So, what did Trapani do? Where is he today? Here's everything you need to know about his role at Centra Tech and beyond.
What is Centra Tech?
As Bitconned explains, Centra Tech claimed to have created a debit card for cryptocurrency transactions in 2017. This innovative idea helped Centra Tech secure millions of dollars in investment, but the company was not what it seemed because it lacked technology and the CEO's credentials were misleading. Who does not exist.
Sentencing surprise
In April 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Trapani with being the "mastermind" of the Centra Tech fraud. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Trapani "conspired with his co-defendants to lure investors with false claims about their products and their relationships with credible financial institutions."
Trapani, along with co-founders Saurabh "Sam" Sharma and Robert Farkas, all pleaded guilty, but his outcome was very different from the others, who all went to jail.
In April 2022, the same day Trapani's wife went into labor, he was sentenced but did not go to jail. The judge's statement said Trapani had shown "extraordinary" cooperation in the criminal investigation.
Ray Trapani's new company
According to Bitconned, the judge ordered Trapani to pay $2.9 million to the victims. The last update in the documentary was that he planned to start a company called Cambridge & Brown, which would focus on "providing loans to 'needy people' at 50% interest."
Throughout his time at Bitconned, Trapani was open about the dishonest methods he used to run Centra Tech, even stating that he wanted to be a criminal since he was a child. However, he did not reveal much about his current financial situation. When asked where his money went, Trapani told the interviewer, "We have to stop this [question]."
He added, "I told the FBI, there's more money out there, you know? It's up to them to find it."
