In "Creating a Con: The Story of Bitconned", we’ll meet Ray Trapani. Ray grew up in a modest shore town outside of New York City. Once a happy-go-lucky kid, Ray's innocent summers on the beach quickly turned to sex, drugs, and schemes. By high school, Ray orchestrated an elaborate opioid prescription scam that made him more money than any sophomore could imagine. Ray's desire for wealth came at an early age and clouded his moral compass. His schemes didn’t stop in his teens. In 2017, Ray stumbled upon what would be the fraud of his life.
This season, we’ll explore how Ray and two friends started their company, Centra Tech, which very quickly became one of the hottest tech startups of 2017. They signed exclusive deals with the world’s largest banks, hired an incredible executive team, and partnered with DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather. They raised over $30 million dollars overnight. They were on the path of disrupting the financial industry. Until they weren’t. There was one small problem. It was all a lie.
Episodes will be premiering free to listeners starting Wednesday, April 3rd, on the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Creating a Con is a true crime anthology podcast series that goes inside the minds of the most prolific modern-day con artists. These criminals are finding opportunities to exploit our modern world for their own personal gain. Their schemes may be new, but their tactics are tried and true. We've seen the rise of modern-day fraudsters like Anna Delvey, Sam Bankman-Fried, and Elizabeth Holmes. We've heard their stories. In Creating a Con, you'll hear the names and crimes of some of the greatest con-artists you don’t know of...yet.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode Transcript
In the summer of twenty seventeen, my best friend founded
one of the hottest startups in the world.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I went from working construction hating my life to just
making nine grand, ten grand, twelve granted this, living like
a maniac.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
His company instantly became a massive success. He was the
poster child of an emerging market. Even the New York
Times profiled his company. But here's the thing about my
best friend Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I always wanted to be a criminal. If someone was like, oh,
what's your best way of making money, I'm like, Oh,
we should start some sort of scheme.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Ray had this crazy ability to find a loophole and
turn it into millions.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
He's like, this market's so on tap, we should definitely
jump on this. Anytime I see flaws and something like this,
I have to export. I cannot help myself.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
My best friend found himself at the helm of a
cutting edge technology company. His business, Centritech, was going to
disrupt the banking industry. I was just getting hyped up
about what was going on and what this company could be.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
They collected thirty million dollars. There were headlines about it.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Even some of the biggest celebrities jumped on board.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
You really got Djkalt and floy Money Mayweather to endorse Centrete.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
When something sounds too good to be true, chances are
it is.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
As just a regular person sitting on the outside, it's
hard to tell what's fact in fiction.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
I was like, this has a saying legitimate, absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
The came into my office, opened my email and the
subject heading was FBI request.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
I had gone into this thinking this is a pretty
wacky caper, but that took this to a whole different level.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It was only a matter of time before the truth
came out.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
You can only fake it till you make it for
so long before they find out that your Harvard degree
is not so Crimson. Could you sit there and do
something that you know will objectively cause more harm in
the world.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
You seem to develop quite a track record of not
paying people and not living up the contracts.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Fake pictures, vake degrees, stuff that's easy to prove is false.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
It was just like every day on super high alert,
thinking they're coming for me.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
This was not going to end well for them, and
they didn't seem to understand that.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
To learn the truth behind rache Or Panny and his company,
Centritech subscribe and listen to Creating a Con The Story
of Bitcoon. I wanted to let you know that all
episodes of Creating a Con The Story of Bitcoon are
available exclusively on the iHeart True Crime Plus subscription on
Apple Podcasts, and our one hundred percent are so you
can binge the entire season. So head to Apple Podcasts,
(03:05):
search for iHeart True Crime Plus and subscribe today
Host
Jonny B. Good
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