Bitcoin Loans

“Bitconned” is a 2024 documentary detailing the Centra Tech cryptocurrency scam, where founders exploited Bitcoin’s unregulated hype to defraud investors of over $25 million through a fake ICO for a debit card and token. The film centers on Ray Trapani as the main character, tracing his evolution from small-time hustler to crypto fraud mastermind, using interviews with him, accomplices, victims, and investigators.

Centra Tech promised a Visa-backed debit card for spending Bitcoin and other cryptos in real-time, fabricating Ivy League executives, tech partnerships, and celebrity endorsements from Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled to lure investors. They capitalized on crypto’s lack of SEC oversight in 2017, raising millions via false claims of a working product that never existed, while pocketing funds for luxury lifestyles. Exposure came via a New York Times probe revealing fake CEO Michael Edwards and inconsistencies, triggering SEC charges and fund seizures.

Trapani starts as a Florida teen obsessed with his mob-boss grandfather, turning to oxy dealing via stolen prescriptions and ratting out partners to dodge charges, showing early manipulative traits. He graduates to a luxury car rental business with high school friend Sam “Sorbee” Sharma and Robert Farkas, which collapses from overspending, leading to his suicide attempt and desperation. Spotting crypto’s boom, Trapani launches Centra Tech as redemption, admitting in the doc, “We didn’t know anything about this fucking business… lied, cheated, made millions,