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Centra Tech
'''Centra Tech''' is or was a company that sold $32 million of cryptocurrency in an [[Initial Coin Offering|initial coin offering (ICO)]] in 2017.  Two founders of the company, Sam Sharma and Robert Farkas, were arrested on Sunday, April 1, 2018 with federal charges including securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The following day the U.S. [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] filed a civil suit against Sharma and Farkas alleging securities fraud and seeking to close the project <ref name="NYTimes04022018">{{cite news|last1=Popper|first1=Nathaniel|title=2 Founders of $32 Million Centra Virtual Currency Project Are Arrested|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/technology/virtual-currency-arrest-centra.html|accessdate=April 5, 2018|publisher=New York Times|date=April 2, 2018}}</ref><ref name="SEC complaint">{{cite web|title=SEC Complaint against SOHRAB (“SAM”) SHARMA and ROBERT FARKAS,|url=https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2018/comp-pr2018-53.pdf|website=sec.gov|accessdate=April 5, 2018|date=April 2, 2018}}</ref>

The New York Times had exposed many of the activities of Centra Tech in an October 27, 2017 article, including how they had used endorsements from [[Floyd Mayweather]] and [[DJ Khaled]] and how Sharma had been indicted for perjury related to an alleged drunk driving incident. The CEO of the firm "Michael Edwards" was fictitious and in their sales material the firm claimed that another man's photograph taken from the web showed Edwards.<ref name="NYTimes10272017">{{cite news|last1=Popper|first1=Nathaniel|title=How Floyd Mayweather Helped Two Young Guys From Miami Get Rich|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/27/technology/how-floyd-mayweather-helped-two-young-guys-from-miami-get-rich.html|accessdate=April 5, 2018|publisher=New York Times|date=October 27, 2017}}</ref>

The main selling point of the ICO was that Centra had entered into a partnership with [[Visa Inc.]] to issue a debit card for cryptocurrencies.  That claim was denied by Visa.<ref name="SEC complaint"/><ref name="NYTimes10272017"/>⏎

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Cryptocurrency articles]]
[[Category:Bitcoin companies]]