Bitcon! How BITCF's AppointmentOf This Particular Mathematician Adds Up

Written by Janice Shell

February 1, 2014: Following the publication of our first look at Grand Pacaraima Gold (BITCF) and its abrupt shift to the bitcoin exchange business, the stock suffered a sharp decline in share price.  That came to an end on the last day of January, when the stock rose 96.43% on news that was intended to impress.

BITCF Chart

That news gave encouragement to traders who believe a penny mining company that had been unsuccessful in all of its endeavors for a decade, with the help of a motley crew of white collar felons including Sandy Winick--currently cooling his heels in Federal custody while awaiting trial on charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life--can not only survive, but also become what's known in Pennyland as a "life-changer."

The news

Stressing its intended name change, the company declared that "Grand Pacaraima Gold Corp (PINKSHEETS: BITCF) (Pending Name Change to First Bitcoin Capital Corp.) Announces Appointment of Top Financial Mathematician Dr. Vyacheslav M. Abramov as Chairman of Advisory Board."

Wow! Really?

The press release went on to explain that Abramov had 30 years' experience as a "financial statistician, software engineer, algorithm and computer database developer."  All of that looks to be true.  His Ph.D was earned at Tel Aviv University, but he's originally from Tajikistan, and has lived and worked in Australia for the last ten years or so.  There's no doubt that he's an accomplished mathematician; a list of his selected publications may be seen here.

According to the press release, "Dr. Abramov is highly skilled in predicting financial markets and crypto-currency fluctuations and shared his opinion in the Asia Pacific Financial Markets journal with a review on 'Estimation and Prediction of a Non-constant Volatility'."  While Abramov may possess some of the skills touted, he did not discuss "crypto-currency fluctuations" in the article cited, given that crypto-currencies did not even exist when the paper was written back in 2007.  In reality, the article has to do with options theory, to which Abramov has dedicated a good deal of attention over the years.

Our email correspondence

Naturally, given our previous suspicions of fraud, the Big News piqued our interest, and we emailed Abramov for confirmation of his appointment to the BITCF Advisory Board.

Email to Dr. Abramov <click to enlarge>

Abramov quickly replied, from his vabromov126@gmail account.

Responsive email from Dr. Abramov <click to enlarge>

Question asked and answered.

Why Abramov?

Vyacheslave M. Abramov

Vyacheslav Abramov is undoubtedly an accomplished mathematician who's made valuable contributions to his field, but those contributions do not include publications about bitcoin or other crypto-currencies.  So then, why was he the first nominee to BITCF's Advisory Board, as chairman?  (The press release went on to say that  "The company is currently in negotiations with a number of other experts in the financial field on crypto-algorithm development to come on board as advisors.")

He appears to be a longtime friend of Greg Rubin, the cosmetic dentist who's headed the various iterations of BITCF since at least 2007. Greg emigrated from Israel to the States, opening a practice in California in the early 1990s.  Like Abramov, Rubin has ties to Tajikistan, too obscure of a country to just be a coincidence.  He's been a director of several companies with "Central Asia" as part of their names, working with fellow board member Abdoumalik Abdoullajanov, who once served as Tajikistan's premier.  In 1997, Abdoullajanov became involved in an unsuccessful plot to assassinate President Imomali Rahmon, and fled to Los Angeles.  One of those companies Rubin that had Rubin on its Board, Amerossi Energy Corp., was created by Sandy Winick in 2004; it eventually became Nadir Energy & Mining.  Both Rubin and Abdoullajanov served as directors.

Simon Rubin/Rubinov

Gregory Rubin

On at least one occasion, Simon Rubin, now titular Chairman of the Board of BITCF, called himself "Simon Rubinov".  It seems likely that Simon is Gregory Rubin's son. According to BITCF's current SEC filings, Simon lives in Vancouver, Canada.  Does he really?

This is complicated, but…  Let's take a look at Abramov's Facebook page.


https://www.facebook.com/vabramov126/friends

Vyacheslave M. Abramov's Facebook Page <click to enlarge>

Note that one of Abramov's listed friends is Luba Rubinov-Niazov.

Within Luba's own Facebook picture album, we find a photo of an apparent friend of hers with Simon:

Simon Rubin and friend in Luba's Facebook Album

It seems that Simon, like Greg, has an interest in dentistry, though it's apparently limited to appropriate apparel.  According to Simon's Facebook account, he is a member of this group. Who'd want to turn up badly dressed for a root canal?

Interestingly, when we first reported on BITCF, Gregory Rubin was a member of Simon Rubin's Google+ circle.  We should have captured that image, because now it's gone.

What next?

Evidently Greg Rubin called in an old friend to help out with BITCF's purported bitcoin venture. Despite a lack of any publications addressing crypto-currencies, Abramov's qualifications as a mathematician will evidently soon be used to advance the penny stock scheme.

Perhaps significantly, when Abramov replied to our inquiry, he copied Greg Rubin at grerub@gmail.com, which of course is not BITCF's email address, but Greg's personal email.

It seems obvious that BITCF didn't manage to pitch its nonexistent product to a disinterested scientist. But with bitcoin almost as sexy as medical marijuana at the moment, especially among penny players, this scheme is likely to broaden, unless the regulators intervene first.

BITCF's Destiny to Defraud becomes ever clearer.

Hit that bitcoin bong!