Romanian authorities have raided the places of work of CryptoData, a crypto improvement agency co-founded by Ovidiu Toma and Bogdan Mărunțiș.
Toma is a serial fraudster tied to a number of MLM crypto Ponzi schemes.
As reported by Gandul on February fifth;
DNA searches CryptoData, an organization owned by Ovidiu Toma. Prosecutors seize paperwork, telephones and computer systems from the corporate.
DNA refers to Directia Nationala Anticoruptie, a authorities company
tasked with stopping, investigating and prosecuting corruption-related offenses (resembling bribery, graft, patronage and embezzlement) that brought about a cloth injury to the Romanian state.
On the time of the CryptoData raids, Toma was in Dubai as a sponsor of the Untold music competition. Toma is believed to separate his time between Romania and Dubai, the MLM crime capital of the world.
As additional reported by Gandul;
The CryptoDATA workforce allegedly used synthetic intelligence to manufacture a pretend article about the usage of its gadgets within the battle in Ukraine and altered a Reuters article, stealing the identities of two of the Company’s journalists.
Bogdan Mărunțiș is reported to have fled to Laos.
Mărunțiș has locked down his social media profiles and, following the CryptoData raid, his standing is unknown.
Gandul’s report continues;
Bogdan Mărunțiș … allegedly despatched a pretend contract concerning the acquisition of Vladimir Putin collectible figurines between CryptoDATA and a Ukrainian firm. He admitted that the doc was fabricated by them.
A 12 months in the past, Gazeta de Cluj revealed that Elisabeta Mărunțiș, Bogdan Mărunțiș’s mom, is the present accountant of Ovidiu Toma’s firms, which means the one who coated up and organized all of the illegalities carried out by the Coldea – Toma – Mărunțiș and associates group.
Coldea refers to Mărunțiș’ godfather, Florian Coldea. Coldea, a former Romanian Intelligence Service Deputy Chief and retired normal, is a main suspect in one other corruption case involving “affect peddling and cash laundering”.
In keeping with țiripesurse.ro, CryptoDATA allegedly bought 250,000 collectible figurines of Vladimir Putin, price $375,000, delivered to the corporate’s headquarters in Voluntari at the start of 2024.
On the identical time, there are quite a few CryptoDATA merchandise on Russian web sites, and investigations present doable business partnerships between the corporate and firms in Russia, together with the promotion of merchandise on the pages of Russian businessmen.
Past that, Romanian prosecutors haven’t specified the character of any potential expenses.
A February fifth Capital article moreover ties Ovidiu Toma to Edain.
In 2024, surprising revelations emerged in regards to the digital foreign money launched and closely promoted by the homeowners of CryptoDATA, which ended up being a serious rip-off for passionate traders.
The digital foreign money, which had been launched in March 2022 with a worth of 4.5 lei, ended up being price lower than 0.007 lei final 12 months, i.e. over 640 occasions lower than at the start.
The losses for traders are immense, and many individuals complain that they had been lured and deceived by these behind CryptoDATA.
Edain was an MLM crypto Ponzi launched in late 2021. The rip-off was fronted by three co-founders no one had heard of; Hardy F. Schloer, Adela Fofiu and Mihai Spariosu (inexplicably deceased at time of Edain’s launch).
After Edain collapsed (the unique “co-founders” had long-since disappeared), CryptoData introduced it was “taking up” the Ponzi scheme.
Ovidiu Toma pulling the strings at Edain all alongside makes quite a lot of sense.
Right here at BehindMLM we all know Toma because the Chief Expertise Officer of the Karatbars Worldwide gold pyramid turned crypto Ponzi.
Toma labored carefully with Harald Seiz, Josip Heit and Alexandru-Nicolae Bodi (aka Alex Bodi), to defraud customers by Karatbars Worldwide.
Following a failed transition to crypto fraud by its KBC shitcoin, Karatbars Worldwide collapsed in 2019. A number of reboots had been tried however by late 2020 it was clear Karatbars Worldwide was over.
After KaratBars Worldwide, Harald Seiz labored with Russian scammers to attempt to get a couple of tasks off the bottom. Seiz finally fled Germany for Thailand.
Via guardian firm Gold Customary Company (GSB), Josip Heit and Alex Bodi went on to launch GSPartners.
Bodi is a widely known Romanian underworld crime determine. His wedding ceremony godfather is Adrian Tamplaru, former lieutenant of Romanian mafia don Ion Clămparu.
North American regulators issued over a dozen “fraudulent funding scheme” GSPartners warnings all through 2023.
GSPartners finally buckled underneath the stress and collapsed in December 2023. A regulatory settlement was reached in September 2024, by which GSB has agreed to refund North American GSPartners victims.
From December 2023 to current 5 GSPartners reboots had been launched, the newest of which is DAO1.
Following acknowledgement DAO1 is unavailable to North American customers in January 2025 and regulatory fraud warnings from Australia and New Zealand, Heit and Bodi at the moment are primarily focusing on Russians.
After Karatbars Ovidiu Toma tried to flog IMPulse K1, a privateness targeted mobile phone. After that flopped, CryptoData was launched in early 2020.
Via CryptoData, Toma has been tied to Edain, AI scams, a weird Vladimir Putin figurine scheme and who is aware of what else.
Analysis by Realitatea Plus, a Romanian information outlet, suggests Alex Bodi may additionally be concerned in CryptoData;
Alex Bodi additionally acquired concerned within the enterprise run by Ovidiu Toma and Bogdan Mărunțiș.
He reportedly invested important quantities of cash in cryptocurrencies, and his ardour went even additional. He even named his pet “Crypto”.
On the very least Gold Customary Company (then Gold Customary Financial institution, therefore GSB), has a historical past with CryptoData by Karatbars Worldwide.
In an editorial replace revealed by G4 Media on February fifth, Toma is quoted as stating;
DNA prosecutors requested paperwork associated to a former affiliate, which they made accessible.
Tomas doesn’t title the previous CryptoData affiliate.
If there are any updates on the Romanian investigation into Ovidiu Toma, we’ll maintain you posted.