Paragon Coin: A Story of a Shady Startup
In the Cryptocurrency world, various ICO’s or “Initial Coin Offerings” are constantly popping up. Some meet success, and others failure. Most meet the latter fate. But there’s one worrying startup which makes a lot of bold claims. Why is it worrying? Because it attempts to defraud investors of their hard-earned money by using buzzwords, sex, and manufactured hype to manipulate the public. In this article, we’ll take a look at several concrete reasons to avoid this sham of a “company” at all costs. We’ll witness proof in action of their elaborate, albeit shoddy and ill conceived network of shills which are used to steer any online conversations away from dissent. There’s a lot to dig into here; so let’s break it down into some chunks.
The People
Let’s take a look at the two key players in this organization. Firstly, the CEO, Jessica Versteeg.
A model, one-time reality show contestant, and purported Miss Iowa 2014 (though I have yet to find a verified source for this claim; the Wikipedia page for the Miss Iowa pageant does not contain her name) Versteeg seems to have magically gained the qualifications and education to run a successful cryptocurrency company in just a few short years, with no business degree needed! Certainly she couldn’t be just a figurehead to put a sexy face on the organization, right? Lack of business experience and qualification aside, perhaps the worst aspect of Versteeg’s involvement in Paragon is her twisting of a tragedy for marketing purposes. In her “press release” about the company, she spins a tale of a star football player boyfriend who, after being repeatedly injured, died of an opiate overdose from the prescription drugs provided by NFL doctors. The death of Tyler Sash is a true and tragic story, but Versteeg manipulatively uses it to build sympathy and add pathos to her pitch. In fact, Versteeg has been asked by the grieving family to stop using his name for her financial gain!
“I wish she would just leave us alone… If she wants to have a business that’s fine. We just wish she would leave Tyler out of it.”
— Megan Wieland, sister of Tyler Sash
According to Versteeg, her boyfriend begged her to let him smoke marijuana instead of using the prescription drugs to manage the pain, but she denied him that relief because she was “ uneducated about the benefits of cannabis.” His death then supposedly sent Versteeg on a crusade to change the public perception of weed. She moved to San Francisco and cashed in, starting a company called AuBox, a weed subscription service that fell in the popular trend of monthly “box” business models. It was during this business venture that she supposedly encountered “problems” in the marijuana supply industry (Paragon is never too specific on just what these problems are) that could all be solved with Blockchain. Enter self-proclaimed millionaire, the Russian Egor Lavrov.
Lavrov, the CCO of Paragon Coin, doesn’t have nearly the online presence or sex appeal of his wife. A graduate of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, he certainly does have the qualifications to actually run a company, which suggests that he’s the one calling the shots while he sends his Instagram model wife out to wave her body around at investors. He’s run businesses in the past, including the failed social video chat app “Karizma,” which launched in 2010 and fizzled out shortly thereafter, as well as the defunct Zila Networks and Karma World app companies. (He’s also faced domestic violence charges and been asked to stay away from his previous model wife, Lourdes E de Lavrov, but that’s neither here nor there.)
The Red Flags
Aside from the classic indicator of buzzwords without substance (Cannabis! Blockchain!) Paragon has already attracted at least one class action lawsuit for violation of several sections of the Securities Act of 1933. The 23-page document detailing the suit is a fun read which is worth checking out; here’s a small sampling of the highlights of its claims:
- Paragon “Raised at least $70 million in digital cryptocurrencies by offering and selling unregistered securities in direct violation of the Securities Act.”
- “ From August 15, 2017 through September 15, 2017, Defendants ran the Paragon ICO “presale” during which time they purportedly “sold out” of 70,000,000 ParagonCoins (“PRG Tokens”) priced between $0.75 and $0.90 per PRG Token… Such price increases were clearly designed to entice early investments.”
- Paragon “ marketed the Paragon ICO as offering a path towards legalization of cannabis and a way to solve nearly every issue facing the cannabis industry. As discussed herein, the Paragon ICO was in actuality a way for Defendants to raise capital to purchase real estate.”
- “ Defendant Lavrov founded tattolizator.com, a website launched to run an online contest for artists to submit work that Defendant Lavrov would then have tattooed on himself. For this project, Defendant Lavrov issued a press release on Business Wire, in which he described himself as a “leading luxury life figure” that was a “cult figure” for a “new group of rich young Russians defined by their conspicuous consumption as well as their open disdain for poverty.”
Essentially, this document lays out a demonstrable pattern by Paragon of promising things it simply can’t deliver. It’s clear that the company requires a fair amount of online hype to be taken seriously by the misinformed investors. Which brings us to the red flags on their social media accounts.
Their twitter profile is followed by a staggering number of obviously fake accounts, and the #ParagonCoin tag is populated almost exclusively by spam bots and purchased accounts, all parroting the same generic tweets about the crypto industry, and most sharing the exact same sentiments about Paragon Coin. Take a look at a few of the profiles:
An analysis of the Paragon Coin twitter account with a tool such as Bot-O-Meter or Luca Hammer’s Account Analysis reveals many bots following the account. And it seems that every time Paragon Coin is mentioned on Reddit, posts get brigaded by brand new Reddit accounts attacking the original posters, downvoting posts and comments, and defending Paragon.
Ongoing Proof
Want a fun exercise seeing the Paragon propaganda team in action?
Watch the #ParagonCoin hashtag on twitter, and the accounts that use it; particularly when they “break character” if called out. Try criticizing Paragon publicly, and await the barrage of attacks from various social media accounts, all claiming not to be associated with the company. Look at any new post regarding Paragon Coin on Reddit, and watch the downvotes flow in all at once, and the shill accounts commenting with accusations of extortion and slander, as well as vague legal threats.
It is very likely that this very post will get brigaded by the propaganda team; watch the comments section. If this post disappears, it was not with the consent of the author.
Some additional resources for research are listed below:
https://picoloresearch.com/26/paragon-pgn
(download the full report for the full details)
The Future of Paragon Coin
Just like the future of Paragon Coin, this paragraph will be very short. Like many other shady startups who rely mainly on buzzwords and contrived fame, Paragon Coin will fizzle in time. This author does not recommend investing in their scheme, unless the reader enjoys lighting paper currency on fire.
