The Sifu Controversy Explained: Who is Michael Patryn/Omar Dhanahi?
It’s a dark day in DeFi. Community sentiment and portfolios were already down. Then information about Sifu, CFO of Wonderland and Daniele Cesta’s right hand man, was released on Twitter.
Sifu was a co-founder of QuadrigaCX, a confirmed Ponzi scheme
Sifu, who was going by the name Michael Patryn at the time, is a former co-founder of the notorious cyrpto exchange QuadraigaCX.
QuadrigaCX was a Canadian exchange that severely rugged their investors in 2019. 76,000 investors were collectively out $169 million and the Ontario Securities Commission confirmed the company was a Ponzi scheme after an investigation.
“What happened at Quadriga was an old-fashioned fraud wrapped in modern technology.” — Ontario Securities Commission
Even though QuadrigaCX collapsed Sifu made it out with his funds safely intact.
Sifu pleaded guilty to multiple charges and was convicted
Sifu/Michael Patryn is also Omar Dhanahi, a convicted felon who served time for being part of an online identity-theft ring through Shadowcrew.com.
“[Shadowcrew.com] trafficked in more than 1.5 million stolen credit card and bank card numbers, according to court filings.” — The Globe and Mail
In 2004 the United States Secret Service arrested Sifu and other members of Shadowcrew.com. Later in 2005 Sifu pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary, grand theft, and conspiracy to transfer identification documents.
Sifu was released from federal prison in 2007.
Dani believes in second chances, but ultimately lets the community decide what to do
The leader of Frog Nation and CEO of Wonderland released a statement to the community after the information about Sifu went public.
“I am of the opinion of giving second chances,” Dani writes in the beginning of his statement. Later he says, “Now having taken some time to reflect, I have decided that [Sifu] needs to step down till a vote for his confirmation is in place.”
Dani then posted an online vote so the community can decide whether Sifu should remain as treasury manager or be replaced.
If you want to contribute to the future of Wonderland and DeFi, now’s your chance. The vote is still open right now!
What’s the community saying about this controversy?
High profile DeFi architect Andre Cronje tweeted that he supports and wants to continue to work with Dani, though he believes allowing Sifu to handle funds is debatably negligent.
MidasTheFool, who posted Twitter threads about Sifu’s history, still supports Dani but is ready to see Sifu removed from the Wonderland treasury.
0xFitz tweeted that we need to continue to uplift the smaller devs and NFT artists — those who aren’t affiliated with Dani but emerged from Frog Nation.
Frog Token, a Wonderland Time tribute memetoken, also posted a thread addressing the irony of Sifu calling their project a scam.
And regarding Dani’s community vote, right now there’s a 82.17% majority to replace Sifu.
Thoughts from SoulfulCrypto
The crypto world is already full of scams and rugs. Sifu/Michael/Omar is a convicted felon who was part of a Ponzi scheme. We don’t benefit from this kind of energy around our money.
I’m in favor of replacing Sifu.
I still trust Dani’s leadership. I hope he uses better judgement in the future because we’re ultimately a reflection of the people we surround ourselves with. It seems like he messed up this time, but that doesn’t invalidate everything he’s done and built in the past.
The future of Frog Nation?
Given the state of the Wonderland ecosystem and freshness of this controversy, there’s unfortunately no way to predict the future of Frog Nation.
Please do your own DD, connect with community members, and cast your vote for whichever outcome you think best.
May all Frogs achieve peace of mind and lucrative portfolios.
Sources
Crypto exchange Quadriga was a fraud and founder was running a Ponzi scheme, OSC report finds. By Tara Deschamps for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. June 11, 2020.
Not your keys, not your coins: lessons from QuadrigaCX fraud. By Fiona Collie for Investment Executive. July 10, 2020.
Quadriga co-founder served time in U.S. prison for role in identity-theft ring, documents reveal. By Joe Castaldo and Alexandra Posadzki for The Globe and Mail. March 1, 2019.
