| 3d Misuse of
DMCA Causes Censorship for Story on Centra
Tech Crypto Fraud UN Echo
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 22 – Back in April 2022
Inner City Press published the
story below, about a crypto
fraud called Centra Tech. Three years and
nine months later, someone
hired a firm to (false) claim
copyright to the story and
photograph, which were written
and take by this reporting.
Google wrote: To the owner of
Inner City Press, Google has
been notified that your site
allegedly infringes upon the
copyrights of others, and
violates applicable copyright
laws in your region. We are in
the process of removing the
reported content from Google
Search results for users
globally. The notice is
on Lumen There we
found a complaint about this
article. We replied that this
was an attempt to censor by
misusing the DMCA, following
the shameful example of Louis
Charbonneau of Reuters now
Human Rights Watch at the UN,
who misused DMCA to get Google
to remove from Search a leaked
copy of his email to the UN
MALU's Stephane Dujarric
trying to get Inner City Press
thrown out of the UN (the UN
did it). While that block
remains, this time Google
wrote back: "we determined
that the request was invalid,
so we have restored access
globally to the content at the
URLs listed below" But on January
19, using a different firm - a
"reputation management firm"
apparently in New York, "Net-Legal.com"
filed another bogus DMCA
complaint against the same
article. We again wrote to
Google. But who in the below
is behind this? And what will
happen to them? Now on June 22,
2026, four more complaints
about the series of articles.
Inner City Press has
immediately written to Google: This is a
repeated request to try to
censor the same content. I am
a journalist who covers the
Federal SDNY court. I wrote
about a case, and earlier this
year Google wrote back to me
on a similar complaint finding
the complaint without basis.
See below. So how can the same
complaint, about the same
series of articles, be filed
again and again and I have to
waste my time
"appealing"? Tonight I
received from Google four
notice, all about the same
series of articles as the one
Google wrote to me about in
January: Note: each time spurious censorship is attempted, we will reiterate, resurface and built on the reporting. The story,
again: Robert Farkas was up
for sentencing on December 15,
on fraud charges related to
crypto-currency. Inner City
Press covered it. And
now, on August 20, 2021, the
re-arrest of Sohrab Sharma: "Re: United
States v. Sohrab Sharma, S3 18
Cr. 340 (LGS) Dear Judge
Schofield: The Government
writes to provide the Court
with a brief update regarding
the execution of the Court’s
August 17, 2021 bench warrant
authorizing federal law
enforcement agents to arrest
defendant Sohrab Sharma for
violating the Court-ordered
conditions of his release on
bail in this case. Law
enforcement agents with the
United States Marshals Service
arrested Sharma on August 18,
2021 in the Southern District
of Florida when he appeared
for a scheduled urinalysis
exam at the Probation Office.
Later the same day, Sharma was
presented, in the Southern
District of Florida, before
United States Magistrate Judge
Jacqueline Becerra. During the
presentment, the Government
requested that Sharma be
detained and ordered removed
to this District for further
bail violation proceedings
before this Court, pursuant to
18 U.S.C. § 3148. Sharma,
through his counsel, conveyed
that he would be seeking
release on bail conditions,
and requested several days to
prepare for a hearing on his
bail application. Accordingly,
Judge Becerra scheduled a bail
hearing for Monday, August 23,
2021 at 10 a.m. before United
States Magistrate Judge John
J. O’Sullivan, and remanded
Sharma pending the August 23
bail hearing. At the hearing,
the Government intends to
continue to seek Sharma’s
detention and removal to this
District for further bail
violation proceedings before
this Court." But at that bail
hearing, Sharma was again
ordered released "with the
additional requirement of a
$1,000,000 personal surety
bond signed by Mr. Sharma's
fiance Brielle Farkas and Mr.
Sharma's mother, Fourazan
Looladi and to surrender at
FCI Coleman... within 24
hours." He wants Judge
Schofield to sign off. Now on August 27,
the AUSA has written that "the
Government has confirmed with
staff from F.C.I. Coleman that
Sharma is in the custody."
Watch this site. U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Lorna G. Schofield held
the sentencing. Farkas' lawyer
emphasized that his client
grew up in rural New Jersey
and was not really a tech guy.
He said Farkas
had served 55 days at the
beginning of the case, in
maximum security Federal
facilities in Miami, then
Atlanta, then Oklahoma and
finally the MCC. Judge
Schofield asked if there were
any victims on the line, and
some beeping and loss of
reception began. On January 19,
victims filed a claim for some
of the $33 million (100,000
ETH) they say now DOJ is
trying to keep for its Assets
Forfeiture Fund. Rensel, Yun Hi,
Hao Poon, Fung Poon, Jae J.
Lee, Rodney Warren and Mateusz
Ganczarek requested a hearing
to adjudicated their interest
in a portion of the Victim
Fund and for restitution
instead of forfeiture. On March 4,
Sohrab Sharma got eight years.
Inner City Press live tweeted
it here
and below. Now in July,
co-defendant Trapani gets
permission to travel: "MEMO
ENDORSEMENT as to Raymond
Trapani (2) granting [512]
LETTER MOTION addressed to
Judge Lorna G. Schofield from
Joseph A. Bondy dated July 12,
2021 re: Request for
Modification of Pre-Trial
Release, to Allow Travel to
Boston, MA, from July 20-23,
2021. ENDORSEMENT: Application
Granted. The Clerk of the
Court is directed to terminate
the letter motion at docket
number 512. (Signed by Judge
Lorna G. Schofield). In April 2022,
Trapani got time served:
"Raymond Trapani (2). THE
DEFENDANT: pleaded guilty to
counts 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s,
7s, 8s, 9s, and 10s. Counts
1,2,3, and 4 are dismissed on
the motion of the United
States. IMPRISONMENT: TIME
SERVED on all counts.
SUPERVISED RELEASE: 3 Years on
to run concurrently on all
counts." On restitution -
Assistant US Attorney argued
that the claimants will not be
able to show that the Ether /
"Ethereum" in Sharma's wallets
belong to them. But Judge
Schofield seems ready to allow
an amended petition. Judge Schofield
says new petition seeking the
Ether in Sharma's wallet is
due March 15, Government
opposition by March 22 (and
then a reply). She'll issue a
written decision on the
forfeiture decision. Judge Schofield:
OK, let's proceed to the
sentencing of Mr. Sharma. I
acknowledge letters from two
of his uncles, his girlfriend,
his future sister in law and
employees, and others Judge
Schofield: Sharma wants a
downward variance, saying this
his prior crimes were about
substance abuse, not violence.
If I accept that, the bottom
of the guidelines range would
move to 12 years and 7 months
- still substantial. Assistant
US Attorney: This defendant
received $36 million from his
crimes. He diverted money for
personal expenses, high end
retail purchases. And here it
is: Sharma has been sentenced
to eight years, followed by
three years of supervised
release and a fine of
$20,000. He was ordered
to forfeit $36,088,960 -
that's the ongoing fight. Watch this site. The US
Attorney's Office announced:
Farkas "was sentenced on
December 15 to one year and
one day in prison, in
connection with his
participation in a scheme to
induce victims to invest more
than $25 million dollars’
worth of digital funds in
Centra Tech, Inc. (“Centra
Techâ€), a Miami-based company
he co-founded and that
purported to offer
cryptocurrency-related
financial products. FARKAS previously
pled guilty to conspiring to
commit securities fraud and
wire fraud in connection with
his and his co-conspirators’
use of material
misrepresentations and
omissions to solicit investors
to purchase securities, in the
form of digital tokens issued
by Centra Tech, through an
initial coin offering
beginning in approximately
July 2017." Meanwhile,
more delay in the OneCoin
case... This case is USA v. Sharma, et al., 1:18-cr-340 (Schofield)
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Editorial [at] innercitypress.com Mail: Box 130222 NY NY 10013 Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis. Copyright 2006-2026 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com |
Friday, June 26, 2026
3d Misuse of DMCA Causes Censorship for Story on Centra Tech Crypto Fraud UN Echo
