Benzinga - In a recent Substack post, “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli made an extraordinary claim that Paul Le Roux, a former programmer and criminal cartel leader, is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).
What Happened: Shkreli said he managed to decrypt the first transfer ever sent to the late Bitcoin pioneer, Hal Finney. He wrote in the post that “the transaction was made by Paul Leroux to Hal Finney on January 12, 2009.”
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Shkreli is a controversial pharmaceutical entrepreneur and former hedge fund manager. He gained notoriety in 2015 after dramatically increasing the price of the life-saving drug Daraprim. In 2017, he was convicted of federal securities fraud. He was released in May this year, after serving a seven-year prison sentence.
Paul Le Roux is a former computer programmer and alleged crime kingpin. He has been charged in the U.S. with drug trafficking, money laundering, and murder-for-hire-related crimes. In 2012, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) successfully arrested Roux after a sting operation.
Greg Maxwell, a prominent developer, has challenged Shkreli’s claims by pointing out that the type of digital signature attributed to Satoshi did not emerge until after Finney had died. This suggests that someone else may now have control of the late software developer's private key.
Shkreli's assertion, if accurate, implies Le Roux intended Bitcoin as a method for laundering money from his unlawful activities, verifying the concerns of many who have disparaged the use of cryptocurrencies.
Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $17,794 up 3.67% in the past 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.
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