05-21-2014, 10:41 PM
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Purveyor, Fine Asian Porn
Industry Role:
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 38,323
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What do you think of the new leader of the Bitcoin Foundation, Brock Pierce?
Other Members are already quitting in protest, since he has a somewhat sketchy past:
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The Bitcoin Foundation, which is a trade organization that promotes and seeks to standardize the unregulated currency, angered many of its enthusiasts by electing Pierce, a pioneering digital currency entrepreneur who has been sued for sexual abuse and fraud, and who lived in a mansion where embattled X-Men director Bryan Singer allegedly abused underage boys. Pierce vehemently denies any wrongdoing, as does Singer.
Recently, Pierce angered bitcoin enthusiasts through his involvement in KnCMiner, a company that sold broken computers to bitcoin miners. Pierce says his involvement with the company is limited, and that the firm is committed to compensating its customers.
The sexual abuse allegations against Pierce, detailed in three lawsuits, date back as far as the late 1990s. But they have resurfaced amid the media firestorm around Singer, who was sued last month in federal court for allegedly sexually abusing an underage man in 1999 and 2000. Pierce lived at an Encino, California, mansion where some of the assaults by Singer allegedly occurred, according to court documents.
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Collins-Rector stepped down as CEO of DEN in October 1999. Soon after he was sued in New Jersey for allegedly sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy from 1993-1996. Pierce also quit his position at DEN and left the United States as the company filed for bankruptcy. The Los Angeles court awarded default judgments in favor of the plaintiffs in the civil lawsuits against them, according to court documents.
Pierce and Collins-Rector were arrested two years later at the Spanish seaside resort of Marbella after a grand jury in Newark indicted Collins-Rector for sex offenses against minors, according to the Associated Press.
Pierce was released without charges, according to the AP.
Collins-Rector spent two years at a Spanish prison before being extradited to the United States, where he was convicted of transporting minors across state lines for the purpose of having sex with them, according to the AP and court documents.
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After his arrest, Pierce started Internet Gaming Entertainment, a company that mined and sold e-currency for use in online games like World of Warcraft and Everquest, according to court documents, which also indicate that Collins-Rector was an early investor in the venture. Pierce told BuzzFeed that Collins-Rector has never been involved with IGE in any capacity.
The company, which Pierce has said sparked the interest in crypto-currencies that eventually lead him to bitcoin, became the subject of much controversy in the gaming community. Critics complainted that Pierce had ruined games by allowing people to purchase perks for which other players had to fight.
The controversy resulted in a class-action lawsuit filed against the company by a group of gamers in a Florida District Court in 2007, according to court documents. IGE settled a year later for an unknown amount.
The same year, Alan Debonneville, Pierce?s co-founder, sued him in a California District Court for fraud. According to court documents, Debonneville alleged that Pierce had stolen stock and misappropriated about $200,000 in company money to pay for default judgments against him and Collins-Rector. Pierce settled the lawsuit in 2008 for an undisclosed amount, according to documents.
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Source: http://www.buzzfeed.com/nicolasmedin...ctor-joins-the
This goes into much greater depth:
The Shady History of Brock Pierce
Amazing after the prior turmoil on the board that they would appoint Brock Pierce to lead the organization.  
ADG |
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