A bitter legal feud involving Melbourne-based crypto billionaires Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani is playing out in the US and could spill over into Australian courts as the pair tussle with a former business partner over allegations of stolen bitcoin, lies, and fraud.
Florida-based tech entrepreneur Christopher Freeman – a childhood friend of Tehrani and friend of Craven – has been battling for two years to gain a $600 million slice of the fortune linked to online casino Stake.com.
Bijan Tehrani (left) and Ed Craven at the February launch for the Stake F1 team Kick Sauber.Credit: Bijan Tehrani, X
The tussle over control of the fortune, estimated at $2 billion, has led to lawsuits in US courts, while Tehrani – a US citizen who lives in a Melbourne penthouse – has claimed he is “stateless” and unable to be sued in the US.
Stake.com, which allows only cryptocurrency payments, is a hugely popular site that sponsors Everton FC and has rapper Drake as a brand ambassador.
In 2021, an investigation by this masthead unmasked Tehrani, 31, and Craven, 29, as the founders of Stake.com. The site is not associated with the Australian share trading platform Stake, which is suing the online casino group in Australia for trademark infringement. Stake.com has also faced criticism over its gambling practices in Curacao.
It has been a lucrative business. Craven has bought several top-tier properties in Melbourne, among them an $80 million mansion in Toorak, while Tehrani has splashed $85 million on a Manhattan townhouse.
This masthead can reveal that Freeman is being sued in Florida by a company associated with Craven and Tehrani for $US247 million (about $365.7 million), over allegations that he had embezzled 1280 bitcoin – worth $106 million at today’s prices – that was earned from an earlier project. He allegedly used the money to buy a flash car and a condo in Miami as part of his “fraudulent” scheme.
The Florida claim alleges Freeman was safeguarding $200 million in cryptocurrency in a “cold storage wallet” that was used by the Stake founders.
The claim alleges that in 2020, Tehrani asked Freeman to release the coins, but Freeman refused. “Freeman sent a text message to Tehrani declaring his illicit intent to “keep at least half” of the bitcoin (to which he was not entitled) in the cold storage wallet that he was holding and storing in Florida, for the express and improper purpose of retaining “leverage” over his partners,” the claim says.
Christopher Freeman says he is a founder of Stake.comCredit: LinkedIn
In April, a Florida court threw out the allegations of theft, but allowed for the claim to be amended and refiled. A new complaint was filed in the case in May.
At the same time, Freeman is continuing his legal fight for a slice of the Stake.com fortune in New York. In that case, Freeman claims Craven and Tehrani engaged in fraud by concealing from him their plan to use cryptocurrency to set up the online casino to cut him out of the project.
Freeman relaunched his legal action despite a first legal tilt by the 31-year-old being thrown out because there was no proof any business took place in that state and no party to the case was a New York resident.
Lawyers for Craven, Tehrani and the various Stake entities recently told a New York court they would again seek to have the case thrown out for the same reasons as the first case. “This is the second New York court that’s been burdened by an action that really belongs, if it were to go forward at all, in Australia.”
Lawyers for Freeman claim to have uncovered fresh evidence to help his claim for a $600 million-plus slice of the Stake.com fortune.
At a recent court hearing, lawyers for Freeman said a letter and draft statement of claim sent by a lawyer for Tehrani to Freeman in 2021 relating to the allegedly stolen bitcoin originally appeared to indicate some business had taken place in New York.
The draft statement of claim reads: “This is an action for breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, unjust enrichment, and conversion under the laws of the State of New York, and for violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.”
Tehrani’s New York townhouse purchase will also be used to argue he is a resident of the US state. Freeman’s lawyers said they would produce evidence to show New York was the “hub” where they all started working together on a project called Primedice.
“Tehrani is living in New York from ... summer of 2015 through the end of 2016, early 2017. Freeman actually spends about half of his time sleeping at Tehrani’s apartment ... because they are a couple of kids working together on an internet project,” Freeman’s lawyer Scott Schirick said. “That is the way these things happen in the movies. That is how this actually happened.”
Freeman, Stake.com, Craven and Tehrani were all contacted for comment.
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