17 October 2024
The investigation is over, and I’m waiting to be sent home (or to France), and I’m ready to share some thoughts on everything that’s happened. I’m still limited in communication and movement, so I don’t have a complete, clear picture of what’s going on. My information on many issues is fragmented.

Living almost two years without the internet in the world of IT and cryptocurrency is a disaster, and I have a sense that once I’m home, it’ll feel like I’ve traveled in a time machine to the future. In U.S. prisons, there’s no real access to magazines or newspapers, let alone digital media or internet communication. I’ll write a separate article about daily life and conditions in American prisons, but in short, they don’t meet the standards you’d find even in places like Morocco or Romania. I’ve spoken with others in here, so this comes straight from the source.

In the American prison, I had no way to stay in touch, communicate with my company, or make any decisions. I can responsibly say I’ve had no involvement in whatever the company has done over the past two years. I also have no connection to BitPhoenix or SmartSwap, which Anton Shkurenko is promoting on Bitzlato’s channels.
Additionally, when I was arrested, all company assets went to Anton Shkurenko and the other remaining employees and company founders, except for the funds seized by French authorities. I have no remaining material assets.

I may still hold registrations for some domains and Telegram bots, but I’ll only be able to confirm this once I return home. Beware of scammers who may still control certain company resources. I also don’t know who currently owns the registered Bitzlato trademark.

Six months before my arrest, I wanted to shut down the company in its existing form. I had already left my position as a founder of Bitzlato Ltd. Hong Kong, and from that point, I no longer held any rights or responsibilities for the company. Disagreements with Anton prevented us from closing the company immediately. But fate had other plans.

I have neither the ability nor the desire to audit what’s happened within the company over the past two years. I’ll leave that to the current owners and management.

I wish the current management success in closing down the company and paying out any remaining funds to the extent possible. From what I understand, all users who reached out to the company within nine months after operations were halted received compensation. I consider that a good outcome. Nine months is a generous period for users to make claims and receive their funds. Plus, reimbursement in crypto is unusual—most companies don’t operate this way. Users’ funds multiplied many times over during those nine months. I hope everyone is satisfied.
In the near future, I’ll be posting more to shed light on key aspects of my case and other issues I’ve encountered.