By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
A “magic mushrooms” co-defendant cited multiple attempts to poison him as just one of numerous bizarre explanations for why he failed to deliver a Bahamian lawsuit on behalf of FTX victims.
Jan Biere, a Dutch national with permanent residency in The Bahamas, variously blamed a $34,000 tax bill from The Netherlands’ revenue authorities; burns and other injuries suffered in an alleged “gas bomb” explosion; and efforts by his parents-in-law to gain custody of his daughter for why he was unable to initiate promised “free” litigation against Sam Bankman-Fried and other directors over FTX’s implosion.
He also asserted that the FTX co-founder’s associates had taken over the property next door to his Coral Harbour home as a base for several alleged “assassination attempts” against himself and his family, “throwing poison on my borders close to my windows”. Nothing was provided to substantiate the claims, which were greeted with scepticism by the crypto exchange’s former clients and creditors.
Tribune Business has obtained numerous videos and Telegram messages detailing how, in the aftermath of FTX’s November 2022 collapse, Mr Biere seized upon events to promise FTX victims that himself and Bahamian attorney, Philip Lundy, would initiate criminal lawsuits in this nation’s courts against Mr Bankman-Fried and the other directors for “no upfront costs”.
The Dutch national, who did not appear alongside his wife, Elike Hollink, when she recently pled not guilty to dangerous drugs charges because he is presently in Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre, said himself, Mr Lundy and other unnamed attorneys purportedly working on the FTX cases would work for free and take their compensation as 10 percent of whatever they recovered on behalf of victims.
However, within three days of making these pledges Mr Biere was online trying to solicit “an extra $20,000” from FTX victims - some of whom had lost access to most, if not all, their life’s savings and investments - to help finance the legal work.
The abrupt “u-turn” prompted multiple questions from already-sceptical and nervous FTX customers, who challenged the failure to file the criminal actions in the Bahamian courts by the promised date. They also queried the failure to provide proper legal contracts that would verify they were Mr Lundy’s clients and that he was acting for them in initiating legal action.
Mr Biere’s response was to accuse all questioners of being agents for Mr Bankman-Fried and FTX, and to block them from the Telegram message chat. None of the promised complaints were ever filed and, based on his last message dated May 12, 2023, the effort ultimately came to a shuddering halt after raising less than $100 in donations. Victims who came forward had less than $10m in claims
Mr Lundy, who heads Pride Rock Law Chambers, confirmed to Tribune Business that Mr Biere’s FTX lawsuit scheme “died a natural death”. He added that he informed his former client that the notion of working for free, with no upfront costs as promised by the Dutch national, is not how the system operates in The Bahamas.
However, he said he was unaware of Mr Biere’s efforts to obtain donations and legal funding from FTX victims. “It was all talk and no action,” Mr Lundy told this newspaper. “He never came up with the funds. He wanted me to file and pay later. That was his idea.
“I said that in The Bahamas it doesn’t work like that. Of course, for free meant I would have to pay the filing fees and everything else. All that stuff done for free, I never got to it. It eventually died a natural death. It never went anywhere and I was not getting involved any further. It never went anywhere because he never came up with any monies. I wouldn’t file anything otherwise.”
Mr Lundy added that he “wasn’t aware” of Mr Biere, his now-former, soliciting funding from FTX victims. However, he appeared alongside Mr Biere in a half-hour live You Tube video where they both answered questions on the latter’s promised legal crusade to recover client and creditor monies at no upfront cost to them.
Mr Biere, who Tribune Business previously revealed has been operating his own unlicensed crypto currency business from The Bahamas, as well as the Psilocybin Therapy Bahamas ‘magic mushrooms’ venture, seemed eager to prove his credentials and attract as many FTX clients and creditors to his legal bid as possible
Mr Lundy told those tuning in that he had “assembled a team of five experienced criminal lawyers” led by an unnamed KC, the highest-ranking attorney in the Bahamian legal system, “to lead the charge and, if need be, there are other members of the Bahamas Bar that I can [ask] to assist”. None of the five “criminal lawyers” nor the KC were identified on the video.
“We are still gathering information, but we are trying to file by the end of this week; by Friday at the latest,” Mr Lundy said of a court action deadline that was ultimately missed. “We’ll have the documents filed in the Magistrate’s Court. The documents we’re talking about are a criminal complaint against FTX.”
Mr Lundy correctly pointed out to attendees that it would be futile to sue FTX as a corporate entity, both in The Bahamas and elsewhere, because this nation’s provisional liquidation proceedings and the US Chapter 11 bankruptcy processes meant that any lawsuits are automatically stayed or frozen.
They also suggested that FTX’s $256m worth of Bahamian property assets would provide a rich source of recovery for clients and creditors, but this seemingly failed to take into account that the holding entity for these purchases, FTX Property Holdings, had already been placed in Chapter 11 before the Delaware Bankruptcy Court.
Mr Lundy added that the legal actions being contemplated were not a class action lawsuit but, rather, criminal complaints where each FTX client participating would have to “stand on their own two feet”. As for financing this, the Pride Rock chief said Mr Biere “is dealing with the money part”.
The Dutch national said he, Mr Lundy and the other unnamed Bahamian attorneys would be compensated for their efforts after they “won” the case against Mr Bankman-Fried and the other FTX directors. “We initially agreed 10 percent, right,” he added. “There are more lawyers coming in. It’s not even about the money for us. We just want to get this guy....
“The victims lost everything. We get that 10 percent if we indeed win the case and get you your money back. We get 10 percent and divide that among ourselves. The law firm would normally ask heavy fees upfront for something like this but we agreed that, since you lost everything we don’t want to ask you for money upfront until we get justice.” Mr Biere later said his share of that 10 percent would be 35 percent.
But, prior to the You Tube appearance on November 26, 2022, Mr Biere had already been forced to defend his and Mr Lundy’s credibility in the ‘FTX Lawsuit Bahamas’ messaging chat on Telegram. After telling FTX victims to e-mail their details to Mr Lundy’s law firm at info@priderocklawchambers.com, including the amount lost, identity and contact details, Mr Biere was immediately with “scam” accusations.
One poster asserted: “Bahamas lawsuit will contact you and ask for private information such as screenshots of your balances, e-mail registered with FTX and other information. Star Lord, the administrator of this group, has no real lawyers or law firm. The website of the law firm he is promoting was down and he he is the IT developer of the website for the law firm.
“Everybody here, this website is a scam.... Star Lord or guys related to this group, you are trying to scam people who have already lost everything in FTX.” The poster, who left their message on November 19, 2022, also alleged that Mr Biere was trying to suck FTX victims away from other litigation groups.
Mr Biere, who confirmed he was ‘Star Lord’, then posted the 2016 Business Licence for Mr Lundy’s firm as proof of credibility before producing more current documents. He vehemently denied the “scam” claims, hitting back: “What makes you think I am a scammer? I gave you my name and you want to be anonymous. What are you talking about? Why are you so angry?”
The Dutch national then faced allegations that he had “created a cloned fake account” under the name ‘Rey’ in a bid to pose as John Ray, head of the 134 FTX entities in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Again, Mr Biere rejected the claims, replying: “I have no idea who Rey is. Where do you even get that information? What are you talking about? I’m really working on this case.”
The pace of events quickened after the November 26, 2022, You Tube broadcast. Mr Biere alleged he had been forced to hire guards at his home to protect his family from FTX’s minions, while the video had drawn international interest including a November 27, 2022, interview with crypto influencer, BitBoy, at Baha Mar.
“I live maybe five kilometres away from Sam Bankman-Fried, “ Mr Biere asserted. “His lackeys are crawling all over the place. I had to hire guards to protect my family when I leave.” He then posted a Telegram video of travelling along the Airport Highway to Baha Mar that lacked only the James Bond theme music.
“I don’t think anyone’s chasing me right now,” he told viewers. “Everything looks alright. I’m kind of afraid they’ll [FTX] shoot me in the parking lot or something. The dreaded parking lot. This really sucks that I have to cross that parking lot but I’ll be fine I guess. It’s a long way from the parking lot to Baha Mar and they could gang me.
“Maybe some people think I’m joking but they really want to kill me. They’ve already threatened to kill me a couple of times. There have already been a couple of assassination attempts. They’ve been throwing poison on my borders, close to my bedroom, and they’re trying to poison me and my family.”
Mr Biere repeated the allegations the following day, November 28, 2022. “They have been trying to kill me for a while now,” he asserted. “They bought the property next to my house and their agents drop liquid poison close to my bedroom windows three times’ per week. The battle is real but I will never surrender.”
The Dutch national also claimed he had been blocked from his Skype and Gmail accounts after seeking to contact US senator, Rand Paul, and the Russian and Chinese embassies in an unnamed country. However, the very next day he went back on earlier promises by asking FTX victims for a collective “extra $20,000 before Mr Lundy can work on it every day for the next three months”.
This sparked immediate suspicion and push back from FTX victims. One, Raees, posted: “In the video you both said we are not charging anything up front and, if you win, you’ll take 10 percent. You also said that it’s a risk on our part but we’re taking it because it’s such a strong case. Theft is theft etc.
“Now you are saying $20,000-$30,000 a few days after you both said no upfront cost. You are now trying to justify why you want funds upfront with different excuses. Saying one thing and trying to do something that’s different to what you said is a no, no.... Your behaviour is casting doubt because you have done a complete u-turn.”
Mr Biere said the extra funds were needed to ensure the legal actions were “filed faster”, and to cover associated costs, adding that he had already worked on the case for free for three weeks. This explanation, though, did not satisfy the FTX victims.
Another asked: “Why not have a legal contract for us to sign so it is clear Mr Lundy is legally representing us? That would make it much less untrustworthy, and that’s also the normal way to work with legal affairs. I don’t understand why you don’t do that. It’s literally five minutes of Mr Lundy’s time to share a standard contract with us.”
Mr Biere’s response was that he did not want Sam Bankman-Fried and his legal team to gain a copy of the contract, which was why it was to be released close to the filing of the criminal complaints. This, though, again cut little ice with the FTX victims. One, Oster, posted: “You’re asking people who lost millions to lose even more. You know how pathetic that sounds?”
Another FTX investor, Samih, pointed out that the Friday deadline for filing the lawsuit had been missed. “I have been in this group for a few days now, and it seems that apart from paranoia and accusations nothing much else is going on.”
Mr Biere then blamed the $34,000 tax bill he received from the Dutch tax authorities at end-November 2022 for sucking time and funds away from the legal effort, hence the delay. He alleged that he had been ‘double taxed’, as his wife had already paid this bill two years, and claimed the timing showed Mr Bankman-Fried was controlling the Dutch tax authorities.
The poisoning allegations were also rolled out again, including a video showing patches or pools of liquid on the ground that were not identified and absent any commentary. “I don’t know what to believe any more. That is the point. With all due respect the word delusional comes to mind,” said Samih, who also complained that he had not even received an acknowledgement despite sending his details to Mr Lundy’s law firm four days earlier.
From then on, Mr Biere’s efforts appeared to slacken through December 2022 despite repeated promises that a filing was just “a few days” away. On December 13, he claimed that his attention had been diverted by his parents-in-law trying to gain custody of his daughter, while asserting that Mr Bankman-Fried’s arrest meant the cases had to be converted to a civil matter.
On February 10, 2023, Mr Biere was said to have been caught “in an explosion by a gas bomb” that had left him with second degree burns all over his arms and legs, which put him out of action for one month. In his last posting, on May 12, 2023, he wrote: “In case anyone wonders we are still working on the lawsuit against Sam Bankman-Fried in The Bahamas.”
Mr Biere could not be contacted for comment, while Christina Rolle, the Securities Commission’s executive director, said she was unaware of the lawsuit caper in her capacity as digital assets regulator.
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