Police in The Netherlands have detained CEO of Dutch blockchain gaming project Komodore64 Sam Narain for allegedly deceiving suppliers, employees and investors. He is currently detained at a police station in the Hague, awaiting questioning.
According to a Dutch publication Sprout, this arrest comes on a plethora of rumours that Narain put the project into bankruptcy – which is difficult to believe as he allegedly raised €78 million in investment, partly by hiring a group of people to masquerade as Goldman Sachs employees and investors – to dupe new investors. Komodore64 Employeeswent unpaid for months and the extravagant launch party that cost tens of thousands of euros was left unpaid with suppliers footing the loss.
An Italian investor told Sprout he even transferred 600,000 euros to the company in The Hague. Sprout also reported that the founder is said to have been arrested in the Hilton Hotel in The Hague, where he was holed up for some time because hiding from “…angry crypto investors.”
The project made major news in The Netherlands, even appearing in the financial section of de Telegraaf for their massive raise.
“The announcement led to considerable interest among private individuals in the startup: never before was a Dutch company active with cryptocurrency raised so much money so early.”
An anonymous source who previously applied to the company and knows several people who work there told Sprout that a number of employees have been without pay for several months.
“Nobody gets money, the company is bankrupt… Employees would have put down their work because they had not seen any money for months. It’s a big shit-show.”
Some of the Komodore64 investors grouped together in a Discord chat channel had been started to talk about the various troubles the company was going through and were suggesting Sam’s passport be detained to ensure his stay in Holland.
