The Many Escapes of Justin Sun

An anonymous reader shares a report: Justin Sun, a budding Chinese cryptocurrency mogul, walked through the shiny lofted atrium of the departure terminal at South Korea's Incheon International Airport. It was September 2017, an early height of the crypto craze, and Sun had every reason to be nervous after his first ICO. An ICO, or initial coin offering, is like an initial public offering for a new stock. It's the first time cryptocurrency traders have the opportunity to buy a brand-new token. But Sun wasn't anxious about the money he stood to gain if it took off or what he'd lose if the token flopped. In fact, his company, Tron, introduced a coin called TRX -- a huge success, selling out quickly for $70 million. The problem for Sun was that the Chinese government, just days before, had banned ICOs entirely. The state claimed ICOs were vehicles for financial fraud, pyramid schemes, and other illegal and criminal activities -- a credible claim because, in 2017, hundreds of new and highly dubious cryptocurrency tokens were being introduced.

People buy into initial coin offerings for all sorts of reasons: sometimes because the coin's underlying blockchain technology is promising, or sometimes because they're speculating that a cryptocurrency's value might rise astronomically over time, like Bitcoin has. But in many cases, the coin founders immediately sold all the tokens they held for a vast sum of money, crashing the its value in the process and every other buyer's investment. These were "exit scams" or "pump-and-dumps," and all told, they bilked crypto buyers for billions of dollars. People were swindled so frequently the United States Securities and Exchange Commission could barely file criminal charges fast enough. The Chinese government's ICO ban was why, a week later, Sun was waiting for a flight in Incheon International Airport. Sources who heard him tell this story say Justin believed he was a fugitive and was ready to take off at a moment's notice.

Sun's true escape route from Beijing to Seoul remains cloaked in rumor. But the reason for his getaway was simple: he likely knew the ICO ban was coming and went through with it anyway. Sun pushed TRX to finish its token sale the day before the ban was announced. Sun had been tipped off by Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, the founder and CEO of Binance, one of the world's busiest cryptocurrency exchanges. "They were in it together," a former employee told me. Allegedly, Zhao learned of the impending government ban from his own connections. But at some point after the ICO ban, Zhao made clear his relationship with Justin Sun was not personal, saying, "We have only talked business and haven't really 'hung out' in any way." But as recently as 2019, Zhao and Sun vacationed together on the shores of Lake Geneva. Over social media, they gave the impression it was a business trip.

Who is this guy?

[phantomfive]

This quote is uh...

Sun took the head of the table and read a typed speech, calling himself “Chairman Mao,” telling the C-suite executives they were “his generals” and that, together, they would massacre their competition. “People were feeling uncomfortable and incredulous at the euphemisms and metaphors,” a person who was present said. When Sun finished, BitTorrent’s CEO made a key observation: “Weren’t all of Mao’s generals killed?” To which Sun supposedly confirmed, “Yes, yes.”

Re:

[Moryath]

Pyramid Scammer on run from the law. Film at 11.

Re:

[timeOday]

Or is he?

Sun also announced he's now Grenada's ambassador to the World Trade Organization, where he says he'll advocate for favorable cryptocurrency policy. Because of the new title, one of his senior employees issued proper guidance to workers on Slack for how to correctly refer to Sun as "his excellency." Former employees speculated the ambassadorship is a play for diplomatic immunity. But so far, he's most notably used his public office to promote Tron.

wild.

Re:

[s4080326]

You've led me astray, here I was thinking he was promoting a new Tron movie or series. Oh well guess this afternoon's work will be done to the soundtrack from Tron Legacy.

Re:

[Vomitgod]

don't you know random nobody's get articles written about them, as if they were somebody?

don't call him

[hdyoung]

a "budding cryptocurrency mogul". That's like calling Pablo Escobar a "young up-and-coming pharmaceutical executive".

Re:

[Catvid-22]

Escobar was born in 1949 and killed in 1993, so I doubt we can call him "up-and-coming", or "young" if he were alive today. Sun is probably just as shady as other people trying to make a fast buck in the cryptocurrency market. If he were dealing in stocks, he'd be more like a daytrader than a long-term investor.

Re:

[hdyoung]

I wouldn't call him a day trader at all. Day traders are nothing more than gamblers, but they're legit investors. This guy's actions just scream "pump and dump". Highly illegal and unethical in the US. Maybe it's fine in China. I don't know the relevant laws over there.

Re:

[Catvid-22]

You're right. Sun had a more longer term vision, even if it's on the darker side of the law. As for his actions being fine in China, I think that's why he carried out his "escape".

"many" escapes?

[93 Escort Wagon]

I only see one listed.

Re:

[phantomfive]

I tried to read the article to see if there was more than one, but I got bogged down in words. I couldn't escape the article.

Readers missed the wholesale manipulation part

[tekram]

âoeWe have a way to pump the price [of TRX],â he said. âoeYou know those folks that have a lot of money and donâ(TM)t have a lot of brains? You can influence them to do whatever you want them to do.â The teamâ(TM)s operations had ventured into the realm of what was essentially wholesale market manipulation. - this is pretty much true with most markets, but cryptos absolutely depend on it because of the lack of intrinic value and earnings.

"Business trip" my ass

[Krishnoid]

But as recently as 2019, Zhao and Sun vacationed together on the shores of Lake Geneva. Over social media, they gave the impression it was a business trip.

We all know why they were there [wikipedia.org]. Can't blame them too much for their venue information being stale, though. But with that kind of money, I bet they could bring it back there if they wanted to.

Re:

[nagora]

But as recently as 2019, Zhao and Sun vacationed together on the shores of Lake Geneva. Over social media, they gave the impression it was a business trip.

We all know why they were there [wikipedia.org].

That was the Lake Geneva I thought of first too. Which is ironic since for the first five or more years I played D&D I assumed that TSR was a Swiss company (I didn't know American what state abbreviations were back then).