Ryan Kennedy of Moolah Arrested

As Coin Fire has previously reported, Ryan Kennedy committed fraud in the Dogecoin community last year. Kennedy, or “Alex Green” as he is known to the larger community, operated the cryptocurrency company Moolah before resigning amidst allegations of theft.

In October of last year, Kennedy allegedly stole upwards of 3,500 BTC from the Mintpal exchange. Shortly thereafter, Moolah announced it would begin filing for bankruptcy protection. Coin Fire shared a week later that both the CEO of Moolah and the company itself were under an SEC investigation for sales of unregistered securities over the Internet.

On October 16th, Kennedy posted publicly on the Moolah blog as Alex Green that he would be resigning from the company. At the time, he stated publicly,

I would like to start by saying that in context of the below, my identity is irrelevant. My identity becomes relevant if I break the law, which is something that neither myself nor my employees have done. To be as clear as I can, I could have been born as John Smith, and it wouldn’t matter. This is not to be taken as confirmation or admission of anything, that will follow at a later stage. In the eyes of the law, my name is Alex Green.

It was later found that Mr. Kennedy had allegedly plundered the cryptocurrencies stored on the Mintpal exchange for his personal use. He then disappeared, even as lawsuits and injunctions began mounting against him.

Mr. Kennedy failed to repay the 750 bitcoins as ordered by His Honor Judge Seymour in a UK court in actions filed for SYScoin.

SYScoin, which suffered massive losses due to the theft of cryptocurrencies from MintPal, provided an update this afternoon about the state of the company. This update also contains relevant information about the entire Mintpal situation. A representative from the company stated,

Undoubtedly people are wondering what is going on with the legal battle regarding the 750btc stolen from the Syscoin Escrow fund, Mintpal / Moolah / Ryan Kennedy / Alex Green / etc. We are permitted to disclose that both Ryan Kennedy and Chelsea Hopkins were arrested by UK authorities. We’re working with UK authorities, UK courts, Interpol and the legal bodies to resolve this properly and make sure any wrong doing is met with the full force of UK Justice. We’re also ensuring any accomplices who were complicit in this crime are being held accountable. There are no free rides.

We’re speaking with our legal team regarding what more specifically we can release as there is much to say but until we’ve reviewed with our team, I can only say that the litigation continues. We’ve produced evidence verified by a cryptographic expert; the story the blockchain tells is not one that aligns with the explanation provided (bug stole the bitcoin) for the loss of the coins by Moolah.

Coin Fire has verified the arrest claims made by SYScoin and is able to report that Mr. Kennedy and his partner Ms. Hopkins have been arrested. Mr. Kennedy was held for failure to comply with the injunction placed against him, and both are currently being investigated regarding the alleged theft from Mintpal.

How this arrest will impact the SEC investigations regarding the activity of Mr. Kennedy, his “PIE” investments, and illegal solicitation of investment funds via an unregistered security remains to be seen.

Coin Fire will continue to follow this story.