Case examiner says Cred platform hired escaped prisoner as CFO

Bankrupt cryptocurrency lending platform Cred Inc is believed to have unwittingly appointed a prison escapee as its Chief Financial Officer.

A report filed by examiner Robert Stark of Brown Rudnick LLP on March 8 asserts that former Cred CFO James Alexander has been identified by U.K. authorities as a financial fugitive who had been sentenced to more than three years imprisonment in December 2007. Stark said:

"At the time of his incarceration, there was a prison break at this facility. Mr. Alexander has been identified by the UK government as a fugitive." 

Stark was appointed by Judge John Dorsey in December to investigate allegations from Cred’s customers that the firm had lost $66 million in less than two years through fraud and incompetence.

The report found Cred’s accounting and compliance practices to be "un-systemic, chaotic and, in some instances, nonexistent," noting a lack of standardized reporting and tracking processes, in addition to blatant comingling of customer and company funds.

"By the time Cred filed for bankruptcy, it had not performed a comprehensive financial reconciliation of accounts in almost a year," he said, adding:

"Cred, it seems, excelled at its marketing objectives; but, its failures in the most basic of business functions portended its eventual demise." 

Alexander has been at the center of Cred’s bankruptcy proceedings since they were filed in November, with the firm’s lawyers accusing him of seeking to take over its subsidiary, Cred Capital. They accuse Alexander of transferring $4.3 million of the firm’s crypto to accounts under his control, and losing an additional $11.5 million in digital assets to a scam.

The accused filed to dismiss Cred Capital’s bankruptcy filing, claiming he was its director and the sole individual able to authorize the filing. The motion was dismissed earlier this month.

Last month, Alexander’s lawyers moved to withdraw from the case, asserting the defendant is improperly holding crypto assets they have repeatedly instructed him to turn over to authorities.