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alert The fund can't be withdrawal from Epik.com via Masterbucks wallet

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It happened on 23rd Aug 2022 and this matter lasted almost one month without any process. Masterbucks.com declined my fund withdrawal and disabled the button of fund withdrawal. And I contacted Epik.com and got no further action even if Rob Monster got involved in it for two weeks. All the time I was told in email by management review.

What is wrong with Epik.com? Do you think it is normal to disable fund withdrawal? How can I get back my fund from Epik.com? Thanks for your suggestion.

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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Another forum that is also currently discussing Epik, reports that Epik has deleted some tweets very recently. The tweets are still archived. -- h/t MD.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230504002422/https://twitter.com/EpikDotCom/

Below is a sample of deleted tweets, but there are more.

Code:
Deleted tweets:

Pinned Tweet
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 5
Epik 2.0 is moving out of a monster's shadow; we want to clarify that Rob Monster is NOT an officer, employee, or contractor for Epik. He is NOT involved in day-to-day operations. We're committed to moving forward stronger than ever! #BeEpik

Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 17
Aiming to connect with Rob Monster & exploring alternate paths, #Epik 2.0 remains hopeful for a debt resolution in the near future. #Resolution #Confidence
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 17
Nothing Mr. Monster is doing now to block Epik 2.0 is fair to the creditors. #CreditorsDisadvantage #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 17
Nothing Mr. Monster is doing now to block Epik 2.0 is fair to the shareholders. #ShareholdersDisadvantage #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 17
Nothing Mr. Monster is doing now to block Epik 2.0 is fair to the customers. #CustomerDisadvantage #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 17
Rob Monster's conflicts: 1) Indebted to the company, 2) Personal guarantor of company debt, 3) Defendant in litigation. He owes money & faces claims against him, creating multiple personal interests. #ConflictsOfInterest #DebtIssues #litigation #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 16
Rob Monster fails to comply with creditors. Two hold first-lien positions, expecting priority payment. All involved parties have requested his resignation from the board over apparent conflicts. #DebtPriority #BoardResignation #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 15
Due to Mr. Monsters' continued unwillingness to solve problems created by his clear mismanagement, Epik Holdings Inc. has no choice but to consider filing suit against him shortly. #LegalAction #mismanagement #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 14
Third parties have asked Mr. Monster to step down from the board because his decisions lack “rational business purpose” and create deadlocks. #BoardResignation #BusinessDeadlock #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 14
#BeEpik 2.0 Team & CEO shut down Masterbucks Dec '22 due to serious financial & security risks from Rob Monster's actions. Now, Epik struggles to manage debt from his company-wide oversights, including Masterbucks. #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 13
When he was CEO and even now as a director, Mr. Monster took actions and positions based on his self-interest rather than the corporations. That's a clear conflict and is disloyal to the corporation. #ConflictsOfInterest #CorporateDisloyalty #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 13
#BeEpik management & key creditor urge Rob Monster to resign from the board. His actions conflict with customers' & creditors' best interests. #CorporateGovernance #resignation #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 6
Epik returned to the lab and looked at what worked and didn’t work to serve our customers best. Epik 2.0 has a new vision, leadership, offerings, and a new direction.
Epik 2.0 offerings will include (web 3, emerging technologies, alt currencies, and cloud hosting) #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 6
Rob Monster’s step down as CEO reflects a new era for Epik. Epik has done a 180-degree turn in its business operations—prioritizing better relationships, better customer service, and more access to domains and website hosting. #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 5
At Epik 2.0, we know challenges are ahead, but we're confident in making great strides together. Thank you for believing in Epik and standing with us as we navigate these challenges. Let's #BeEpik and make Epik everything we know it can be!
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 5
Epik 2.0 is on a mission! We've improved our hosting products, launched a new help center, and are working on new services to increase profitability to fund Masterbucks. #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 5
Epik 2.0 is working to create a reputable company; we have paid out ~1m dollars in Masterbucks and have addressed multiple pricing and service issues. Every day the management team comes to work to turn Epik around and make the company Epik!
 
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A lot of the same tweets are on the BeEpik Twitter account, the last time I checked.

They can delete these tweets if they want, but the internet remembers.

Another forum that is also currently discussing Epik, reports that Epik has deleted some tweets very recently. The tweets are still archived. -- h/t MD.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230504002422/https://twitter.com/EpikDotCom/

Below is a sample of deleted tweets, but there are more.

Code:
Deleted tweets:

Pinned Tweet
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 5
Epik 2.0 is moving out of a monster's shadow; we want to clarify that Rob Monster is NOT an officer, employee, or contractor for Epik. He is NOT involved in day-to-day operations. We're committed to moving forward stronger than ever! #BeEpik

Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 17
Aiming to connect with Rob Monster & exploring alternate paths, #Epik 2.0 remains hopeful for a debt resolution in the near future. #Resolution #Confidence
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 17
Nothing Mr. Monster is doing now to block Epik 2.0 is fair to the creditors. #CreditorsDisadvantage #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 17
Nothing Mr. Monster is doing now to block Epik 2.0 is fair to the shareholders. #ShareholdersDisadvantage #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 17
Nothing Mr. Monster is doing now to block Epik 2.0 is fair to the customers. #CustomerDisadvantage #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 17
Rob Monster's conflicts: 1) Indebted to the company, 2) Personal guarantor of company debt, 3) Defendant in litigation. He owes money & faces claims against him, creating multiple personal interests. #ConflictsOfInterest #DebtIssues #litigation #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 16
Rob Monster fails to comply with creditors. Two hold first-lien positions, expecting priority payment. All involved parties have requested his resignation from the board over apparent conflicts. #DebtPriority #BoardResignation #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 15
Due to Mr. Monsters' continued unwillingness to solve problems created by his clear mismanagement, Epik Holdings Inc. has no choice but to consider filing suit against him shortly. #LegalAction #mismanagement #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 14
Third parties have asked Mr. Monster to step down from the board because his decisions lack “rational business purpose” and create deadlocks. #BoardResignation #BusinessDeadlock #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 14
#BeEpik 2.0 Team & CEO shut down Masterbucks Dec '22 due to serious financial & security risks from Rob Monster's actions. Now, Epik struggles to manage debt from his company-wide oversights, including Masterbucks. #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 13
When he was CEO and even now as a director, Mr. Monster took actions and positions based on his self-interest rather than the corporations. That's a clear conflict and is disloyal to the corporation. #ConflictsOfInterest #CorporateDisloyalty #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 13
#BeEpik management & key creditor urge Rob Monster to resign from the board. His actions conflict with customers' & creditors' best interests. #CorporateGovernance #resignation #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 6
Epik returned to the lab and looked at what worked and didn’t work to serve our customers best. Epik 2.0 has a new vision, leadership, offerings, and a new direction.
Epik 2.0 offerings will include (web 3, emerging technologies, alt currencies, and cloud hosting) #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 6
Rob Monster’s step down as CEO reflects a new era for Epik. Epik has done a 180-degree turn in its business operations—prioritizing better relationships, better customer service, and more access to domains and website hosting. #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 5
At Epik 2.0, we know challenges are ahead, but we're confident in making great strides together. Thank you for believing in Epik and standing with us as we navigate these challenges. Let's #BeEpik and make Epik everything we know it can be!
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 5
Epik 2.0 is on a mission! We've improved our hosting products, launched a new help center, and are working on new services to increase profitability to fund Masterbucks. #BeEpik
Epik.com
@EpikDotCom
·
Apr 5
Epik 2.0 is working to create a reputable company; we have paid out ~1m dollars in Masterbucks and have addressed multiple pricing and service issues. Every day the management team comes to work to turn Epik around and make the company Epik!
 
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How will that help things Derek? You've been saying you're here because you want to see all victims made whole. If you mess with this guy and get him hacked (or whatever you intend), then there is even less likelihood of that happening.
Yeah, I want to help the financial victims but I never said that is main reason I am here. I don't really concern myself with catching all the grifers on the internet. I focus specifically on Christian affinity grifters, infiltrators trying to set people up, sextortion ops, especially those involving kids and anti-human govt ops. We try to warn people, report to feds and give them a chance to do their job (they almost never do) and then handle directly.

Rob Monster fits into most, if not all of those categories. His troubles haven't even started and they will never ever end.
 
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Someone had a good point. Could this transaction have been included in the data breach?
I guess that is possible.

Though, that would be a lot of effort just to troll Epik victims on a forum.

Brad
The only value Epik ever had was the data, all those right wing political sorts. Extremely valuable to many different people on both sides and govts.
 
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as an update:
something is going on at (old?) Epik... the one domain I wasn't caring about that I'd "lost", just showed up in my control panel as renewed.
so I promptly transferred it away. :D
 
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I have no idea who is actually running this account, but they certainly have access to Epik records the average person would not. They mentioned a 2014 transaction that was never reported anywhere else.


I guess I could take their efforts more seriously if they didn't exclude Masterbucks and other debts to customers, by design, and intend to leave those customers holding the bag for Epik's corporate abuse / mismanagement.

Or, if there was less victim blaming, back patting, excuses, and snide comments.

What purpose do comments like these serve?

"As all of you have documented and somehow had the time to write up 299 pages about this rehashing the same thing 80 different ways"

"Rob Monster might have made a bunch of bad mistakes, but he worked tirelessly for the last 9 months behind the scenes to make this deal happen and Brian Royce worked nonstop around the clock trying to save Epik and both tried as hard as possible to help as many clients as possible."

"If you truly understood the mess behind the scenes what these two men pulled off is miraculous. And any of your speculation is worthless at this point also."

"The story isn't nearly as bad as many posts here make it seem."


Brad
Oh, I totally agree. Their public comments have left a great deal to be desired. I just thought their private efforts with both you and Dereek weren't that bad. Though probably not appreciated regardless since I think you're both pretty committed to never using them again! And it is the same for me. I won't be using them again either. I stayed way too long as it was, and consider myself fortunate to have got all my domains out before they went belly-up. But, at this stage, I hope they succeed, because as far as I can tell (with current known information), it's the only way that any of the victims will get any money at all. I'm pretty sure a lot (MB victims) will never get anything (which sucks), but some is still better than none. And the way it was going, none was a very real possibility.
 
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Oh, I totally agree. Their public comments have left a great deal to be desired. I just thought their private efforts with both you and Dereek weren't that bad. Though probably not appreciated regardless since I think you're both pretty committed to never using them again! And it is the same for me. I won't be using them again either. I stayed way too long as it was, and consider myself fortunate to have got all my domains out before they went belly-up. But, at this stage, I hope they succeed, because as far as I can tell (with current known information), it's the only way that any of the victims will get any money at all. I'm pretty sure a lot (MB victims) will never get anything (which sucks), but some is still better than none. And the way it was going, none was a very real possibility.
Rob Monster embezzled between $5-10M and his wife runs a successful medical practice. That is where the money should come from.
 
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@Rob Monster Did you get paid for the sale of Epik.com and Terra Host to Epik LLC?
 
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This is so very complicated. We don't know as much as we should.

While we here, all want fellow domain investors and customers to get paid, when deals get structured if it was truly an outside, at arms length new investor, they would look to keep masterbucks out, it would be a deal point, I have seen stuff like this in my previous career.

Company A is desperate, they might file bankruptcy and someone says I met an investor group who has operational expertise, they might want to takeover the company, turn it around, etc...

Once that investor group looks over everything, they are always going to cherrypick and choose, they are going to look to avoid as many liabilities that they legally can avoid.

Sometimes a larger company thinks some White Knight is riding in to save them, and purchase the whole company and they say we want X division, we will buy that from you for $xxxxxx. Now one exec might think we can't sell the only division that has a profit or has great assets or a great future if not encumbered by the whole company and it's problems. Another exec will say, well we will get some money and then we can use that to keep afloat or payoff a large amount of debt and do a bankruptcy deal that will enable us to come out the other side in a better position.

My point is that this might be Rob, I don't know, I have no idea. But it would not be odd for a new investor to come in cocky like hey we were your only chance. Without us 0% of everything and everyone was being made whole. At least we got you 50%.

That's not cool and if you are not one of the 50% made cool you could care less. But new investors a lot of times don't seem to care, they are not emotionally invested or legally obligated to care.

This is just such a convoluted mess, an absolute travesty. Domain registrar is a simple business it should have never gotten this complicated.

Domain investors really need to look at what they want, and that's an honest, debt free, registrar that secures your names, registers and renews immediately and provides you with 2FA, and is Afternic and Sedo MLS/DLS eligible.

The problem from the registrar standpoint is if all you do is sell domain names the profit margins are so thin they look to get into all these other businesses to increase profitability.

But this is 2023 and transparency is such a buzzword, so many customers value the company they deal with being transparent, it's odd a new buyer does not want to say, scratch that, YELL From A MOUNTAINTOP we are new, we are here to try to fix things, here are the credentials of our management team.

Besides that, what about the new buyer's financial position? Are you deep pocketed, having the ability to ride out the storm that is Epik?

It just sucks, that any customer, domainer or not is in this position. ICANN has to start to be more proactive. Customers should know they are watching over all these registrar's with a closer eye.
 
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Oh, I totally agree. Their public comments have left a great deal to be desired. I just thought their private efforts with both you and Dereek weren't that bad. Though probably not appreciated regardless since I think you're both pretty committed to never using them again!
Well, I guess the question is did they reach out to anyone else, or just a couple vocal critics?

There are plenty of other people here owed money. Did anyone else receive a DM?

If not, that seems like a pretty selective effort.

But, at this stage, I hope they succeed, because as far as I can tell (with current known information), it's the only way that any of the victims will get any money at all. I'm pretty sure a lot (MB victims) will never get anything (which sucks), but some is still better than none. And the way it was going, none was a very real possibility.
The problem is for them to "succeed" it means leaving customers to take the losses for Epik's malfeasance.

That is not success. It is merely avoiding accountability.

The asset transfer should only be allowed if it includes ALL debts owed to customers.

If ICANN allows this sleight of hand, it is not protecting consumers.

Brad
 
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While we here, all want fellow domain investors and customers to get paid, when deals get structured if it was truly an outside, at arms length new investor, they would look to keep masterbucks out, it would be a deal point, I have seen stuff like this in my previous career.
How many arm's length transactions require this level of secrecy? :ROFL:

Brad
 
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OK, so the APA explains that the purchase price was $4,905,700 but that wasn't what Epik.com and Terra Host sold for.

Terra Host and Epik.com sold for $4,305,700 because Epik Holdings Inc gave Epik LLC a $600,000 discount. Epik Holdings got $380,662 of the $4.9 million purchase price.

This was a terrible deal for Epik Holdings creditors and Epik Holdings angel investors. Rob Monster did not give a fuck about them.
 
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Well, I guess the question is did they reach out to anyone else, or just a couple vocal critics?
I haven't heard anything, but then I haven't had the same issues with them that you guys have.

It is merely avoiding accountability.
Hmm, the problem is that (as to @equity78 's point above), IF this is an arms-length transaction then it's not their job to be accountable for the previous owner's actions...
If it's just a way of moving assets (and leaving debts behind) while the ownership remains largely the same, then it's wrong, plain and simple. But if it's an unrelated buyer who has come in, then they are fully within their rights to cherry-pick what they want and what they don't. Again - if not for them, NO-ONE would get paid. But I also hasten to add that we don't have enough info to know what really is going on. Even if RM is running it for them, it may just be that they have hired him as the former CEO who therefore comes with a lot of experience. Experience they well may not have. But we just don't know...

The asset transfer should only be allowed if it includes ALL debts owed to customers.
Trouble is, that's not how corporate actions work. :(
 
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This was a terrible deal for Epik Holdings creditors, and their angel investors. Rob Monster did not give a fuck about them.
At least investors took a known financial risk. It was voluntary.
As an investor, you know a loss is a reasonable potential outcome.

The customers though are the innocent victims.

When you make a domain sale, you don't think the company is just going to keep the money.

Brad
 
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At least investors took a known financial risk. It was voluntary.
As an investor, you know a loss is a reasonable potential outcome.

The customers though are the innocent victims.

When you make a domain sale, you don't think the company is just going to keep the money.

Brad
There were many victims created by Monster, not just financial ones. Also, massive opportunity loss because of this human piece of garbage and his young apprentice.
 
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Trouble is, that's not how corporate actions work. :(
Well, the burden is on Epik (old and new) to explain how a deal that benefits certain creditors while screwing others, especially customers, is compatible with this language -

5.5 Termination of Agreement by ICANN. This Agreement may be terminated before its expiration by ICANN in any of the following circumstances:
...
5.5.8 (i) Registrar makes an assignment for the benefit of creditors or similar act;


We can only continue operations if we are allowed to screw those customers over, does not seem like a real compelling pitch.

Brad
 
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Rob / whoever that is kept saying that they were scammed by allowing purchases with some bad crypto (paraphrasing)... what's the deal with that claim?

For example, was Kathleen's sale, which Rob helped arrange, some sort of scam against his own company?

Or is this typical Monster playing the victim? Thanks.
 
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Well, the burden is on Epik (old and new) to explain how a deal that benefits certain creditors while screwing others, especially customers, is compatible with this language -

5.5 Termination of Agreement by ICANN. This Agreement may be terminated before its expiration by ICANN in any of the following circumstances:
...
5.5.8 (i) Registrar makes an assignment for the benefit of creditors or similar act;


We can only continue operations if we are allowed to screw those customers over, does not seem like a real compelling pitch.

Brad
It's a very good point, but I think the burden is actually on ICANN to investigate, see what's going on, and then request an explanation if so desired. They are the ones with power here, to look inside the transaction at things that none of the rest of us can see. And I sure hope they do. I for one, would love to know whether the transaction is above board (and has the blessing of ICANN), or if it's not then they actually have the ability to do something about it.
 
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Fraudulent Transfer Act​

Fraudulent transfer act refers to laws enacted by states that establish the rights of creditors against debtors where it appears the debtor fraudulently transferred property to avoid paying creditors. Almost every state has enacted the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act or the Universal Voidable Transfers Act which establish basic terms for when a creditor can bring a claim to recover fraudulently transferred property. Under these acts, a court will look to whether the debtor intended to defraud their creditors or whether the transactions were made without sufficient consideration. The standard case of fraudulent transfer involves a debtor gifting property or selling it at a fraction of its value to family members, friends, or to individuals trying to aid in the fraud. The fraud can occur before or after a creditor attempts to initiate claims for the debt, but if the transfer occurs after the debt proceedings occur, the transactions are looked at with even more skepticism by the court. The debtor may not even intend for the transaction to be fraudulent in the situation where they make a sale to someone, but creditors still can retrieve the assets if the court finds them to be constructively fraudulent due to their price.

More:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fraudulent_transfer_act
 
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Actual fraud always voids asset transfers​

Aggressive use of asset protection strategies is not illegal. However, crossing the line into fraud is illegal. If you want your transfers to hold up, you must avoid a finding of constructive or actual fraud. A finding of actual fraud often hinges on your motive, your financial condition and your attempts to conceal the transfer.

More:

https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/expert-insights/actual-fraud-always-voids-asset-transfers
 
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It's a very good point, but I think the burden is actually on ICANN to investigate, see what's going on, and then request an explanation if so desired. They are the ones with power here, to look inside the transaction at things that none of the rest of us can see. And I sure hope they do. I for one, would love to know whether the transaction is above board (and has the blessing of ICANN), or if it's not then they actually have the ability to do something about it.
ICANN should certainly do a deep dive into what is going on here.

The reason I say the burden is on Epik, is because they are in breach.

Outside the financial and compliance issues, you now have this (alleged) asset transfer to a week only entity which benefits certain creditors.

ICANN needs to be satisfied on every point. They have their reputation on the line as well.

Has any ICANN registrar ever been assigned while in breach, never mind one with this many issues?

How would this even work?

Technically "Old" Epik is in breach. "New" Epik is a company that has existed for a week, and was not mentioned in the breach notice.

Brad
 
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At least investors took a known financial risk. It was voluntary.
As an investor, you know a loss is a reasonable potential outcome.

The customers though are the innocent victims.

When you make a domain sale, you don't think the company is just going to keep the money.

Brad
We don't know if Epik Holdings were discussing with angel investors for the sale of Epik.com and Terra Host. Rob didn't explain that.

It's not reasonable for Epik to keep the escrow money, but that's not the investors fault. They lost money because of Rob Monster and Brian Royce.

Epik Escrow customers should be getting paid.
 
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Rob / whoever that is kept saying that they were scammed by allowing purchases with some bad crypto (paraphrasing)... what's the deal with that claim?

The deal is that Rob Monster is the most pathetically bad pathological liar and con-man I have ever seen.

If you take US dollars from person A in an escrow transaction, that money goes into an FDIC-insured US dollar bank account used ONLY for that purpose. It doesn't go anywhere, it doesn't get dipped into for operating funds, and it certainly doesn't go into a crypto wallet.

To give you some idea of the compliance requirements that apply to me when I hold a settlement, retainer or other funds which belong to a client, have a look at this:

https://www.paiolta.org/attorney-compliance/rules-regulations/

Rob Monster using "Swiss bank" analogies and saying "an escrow without a registrar is like a bank without a vault" advertised his phony-baloney escrow service. On the basis of his representations, people reasonably believed that their US dollar denominated funds would be held as such.

Whether he made shitty investments or got conned into taking lousy crypto has nothing, NOTHING to do with the US dollar funds he stole from his clients under the false pretense of providing escrow services.

It simply DOES NOT MATTER if some other customers paid for services with shitcoins or Canadian Tire Money. Those transactions would not affect the balance of an actual bank account holding US dollar funds of others in escrow by one god-damned penny.

It is ridiculous that this lying crook thinks he can explain away his absolute dishonesty, false advertising and theft of US dollar "escrow" funds with lame bullshit like that.

If the person behind that "Epik" account actually is a part of the "new Epik" then it is clear that the lying has not stopped. Only the hopelessly gullible like Samer here are naive enough to fall for that bullshit.
 
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