::|CONTENTS
- Background
- October 2020
- Seizure by SEC
- The Raid on Vav's Secret Island
- Fanart and Related Battles
The Vavco Case 2020, also known as "the big Vav Scam", is one of the biggest known cases of
boon fraud in BotB history. The case, revolving around a boon investment scheme, resulted in the losing of over 140,000 boons among its many investors. The perpetrator behind the scheme is known to be mighty BotBr
Vav, whose entire scheme was taken down by the beginning of November 2020 by the Security and Exchanges Commission.
This article shall detail in full the history of the case and what exactly happened during Vavco's operating time.
Background
The seed of such an idea originated in an argument that resulted in BotB founder
puke7 giving both
Ominous Pigeon Master and Vav over
b20,000. While OPM proceeded into hosting a swath of boonloss OHBs, Vav soon after donated his
b18k to
Admin kleeder instead. A few weeks later, Vav asked kleeder to return to him the
b18k, stating that "he had an idea".
On September 25th, 2020, the first public thread related to the Vavco scheme was posted. It was named "Exciting Boon Investment Opportunity, Get in on the Ground Floor!"
{1} Listed below is a transcript of the initial thread message written by Vav.
We BotBrs live in a world filled with uncertainty and doubt, it is of paramount importance to find a solid financial foundation on which to build your future. In the past year BotB has experienced severe XHB market instability, with the introduction of new financial instruments in the form of 2HBs and 4HBs. New taxes have been enacted which have encroached upon unsuspecting BotBrs' nest eggs. Battle commodity speculators have skyrocketed the demand of allgears, creating the so-called "allgear bubble", while other formats are suppressed by shadowy forces in the highest echelons of BotB government and industry. One simple glance at the list of richest BotBrs is enough to show the rampant corruption and nepotism that plagues the entire financial sector. All of these forces combine to make financial navigation of our current situation almost impossible for the average BotBr on Main Street. I hate to see the little guy trodden down by the banksters and fat cats, so I decided it was time to do something about it.
Today I am very excited and proud to announce a new, low-risk, high-yield investment vehicle for growing your boon wealth quickly and safely. My crack team of expert trend forecasters and capital quality evaluators have developed a technology-driven, sustainability-focused resource allocation strategy which has shown very exciting returns over extremely short time horizons. In some cases, our investors have enjoyed yields in the high double digits within a few weeks of initial investiture.
I have recently bolstered my fleet of accountants and our team is now ready to expand into open market operations. There is still only limited room for new accounts during this first wave, so there will only be a short time to take advantage of this once-in-a-generation opportunity. Best of all, there is no minimum investment requirement! You can start an account with a single boon!
Starting your investment very easy! To start an account, simply send me any amount you would like to invest and you will begin to receive returns every Sunday during our weekly payout period.
An investor may get back less than the amount invested. Information on past performance, where given, is not necessarily a guide to future performance. All investments are subject to market risk. In point of fact, the risk for this particular investment is 100%, because this is a Ponzi Scheme. I'm keeping all of it. >:D
Looking forward to our bright futures together!
The last full paragraph was, in a similar fashion to intentional footnotes in a contract, written in the smallest text size possible, making it easy to overlook it at first glance. Nevertheless, the community took notice of the opportunity. BotBr
big lumby was the first to comment, reportedly saying, "damn ok take my boons". This was followed by an curious statement by BotBr
mirageofher: "It's a game of trust XD".
Sean stated that "i have also invested my b00ns," kicking off a wave of investment by alumni in the then-unnamed company. Kleeder reportedly took issue to Vav's choice of language, asking "couldnt you just talk normal english to me and not that corporate poop crap". Investors within the first week are still unknown, but it is commonly believed that big lumby, sean,
damifortune,
RadamLee,
maJsty14, and
Creenter all invested for the first week of operations.
The scheme got more attention in the second week when former co-SysOp and grandpa
Strobe invested a large sum of boons for the scheme, as evident with the stock results listed below. He was reported to say about the donation, "Could be one of the best investments I have made in my entire life. ;)"
October 2020
Due to transparency laws put in place in response to his scheme, Vav was required to post a report every Sunday. It listed all investors with their amount and how much they earned.
Astounding Trading Week, Congrats Investors!! (Oct 4)
This week we saw a bit of overall market lull early on but there has been a lot of big moves in the themed battle markets. We hit a high of 23% on Thursday, then with a small expected retracing we ended up with a very impressive 19.2% closing out the week. Because of recent transparency laws, we must publicly post each investor's deposit and earnings for the week. Congrats to all the big winners this week! We are all gonna make it!
Earnings Ranking for this week:
Strobe - Invested 5000, Earned 5960
Meanings - Invested 3000, Earned 3576
Jakerson - Invested 420.6956, Earned 501.47
ASIKWUSpulse - Invested 10, Earned 11.92
Creenter - Invested 1.26, Earned 1.5
Anyone who wishes to invest any amount of boons for the following fiscal week, please send your deposit to me ASAP. The next payout day is Sunday, October 11th, so only investments made before that date will give a payout for that week. Next week is projected to be another great week, don't miss out on a brighter future!
Another Solid Week! The Boons Are Rolling In! (Oct 11)
I just returned from a beach vacation on the beautiful Gulf of California, so here comes this week's Sunday boon payout for all our investors!
This week we hit a total yield of 10.3 percent, not our best week by far but definitely a huge success by any standard. Our analysts had foreseen this would be a somewhat slow week but our hard-working fact checkers and boon market wizards managed to pull out a huge win anyway! A big thank you to the whole team!
Now, to keep the FTC happy, here is the weekly Earnings Ranking (soon to be millionaires):
Strobe - Invested 12000, Earned 13236
big lumby - Invested 3098.84, Earned 3418.02
mirageofher - Invested 25.35, Earned 27.96
As always, anyone who wishes to invest any amount of boons for the following fiscal week, please send your deposit to me ASAP. The next payout day is Sunday, October 18th, so only investments made before that date will give a payout for that week. Act soon, this boon rocket is headed to the moon!!
This week was particularly controversial in the possible allegations of fraud being thrown around. This was due to the update for the investments made the week this update was posted being delayed by a day from the promised date. Strobe was the most prominent of the figures to speak out on this front, saying "R WE TEH SCAMMED......".
Sorry for the delay, here is the Sunday payout! Congrats brave investors! (Oct 19)
Sincerest apologies everyone, we had an extensive software update that took longer than was anticipated! The update is complete and we now boast some of the strongest encryption and data security in the world! Thank you for your patience and your hands of steel!
Our speculation activity generated a robust 12.7% yield this fiscal week, and as an apologetic gesture we are issuing a 2% gratuity, bring total payouts to 14.7%. Everyone should now have their payouts as follows according to this week's Earnings Ranking:
Strobe - Invested 20000, Earned 22940
Jakerson - Invested 2000, Earned 2294
sean - Invested 1931, Earned 2214.86
OminPigeonMaster - Invested 1000, Earned 1147
Castlenes - Invested 777.7, Earned 892.02
mirageofher - Invested 46.28, Earned 53.08
As always, anyone who wishes to invest any amount of boons for the following fiscal week, please send your deposit to me ASAP. The next payout day is Sunday, October 25th, so only investments made before that date will give a payout for that week.
The investment was, however, payed back and the mandatory weekly update was made as the investors had expected. The reaction to this week's payout were mixed. Some, such as Strobe, were noted saying "I never had any doubt in your ability to return my investment." Others, such as big lumby, referenced the potential suing by investors and federal charges brought to him by stating "nice lawsuit evasion maneuver".
Awesome Gains This Week, The Boon Train Is Leaving The Station! (Oct 25)
This week our crack team of trendspotters were able to carve out a few early opportunities for high-yield capital acquisitions after a few tell-tale patterns in the VRC6 battle market! The proof is in our 10.6 percent total yield on the week! Congratulations to all who invested! When items get implemented in 2025, you will be well prepared! Each payout is already in your designated accounts. Here is the weekly Earnings Ranking:
Strobe - Invested 40000, Earned 44240
meanings - Invested 3000, Earned 3318
sean - Invested 2274, Earned 2515.04
maJsty14 - Invested 1111.11, Earned 1228.89
damifortune - Invested 420.69, Earned 465.28
mirageofher - Invested 68.38, Earned 75.63
DevEd - Invested 56, Earned 61.94
Trreck - Invested 31.31, Earned 34.63
Creenter - Invested 1.89, Earned 2.09
Seems like the general BotBr public is becoming more aware of our surefire investment vehicles! Anyone who wishes to invest any amount of boons for the following fiscal week, please send your deposit to me ASAP. The next payout day is Sunday, November 1st, so only investments made before that date will give a payout for that week.
The most interesting detail among each of the investment weeks is how Strobe invested higher amounts every week, frequently topping the rankings of who invested for each and every week. This led to him ultimately investing
b50000 for the next week of investment. However, kleeder -- who hadn't invested anything to the scheme prior to then -- outbid Strobe in the last week of October by investing a sum of
b59000.
Together with Vavco's base capital and some smaller investments by others, Vav's boon amount was suddenly at over
b140000. It was the biggest week of investment Vavco had ever seen up until that point, toppling all other weeks before it with ease. All of the people who invested were expecting one of, if not the biggest payout in the history of BotB.
Seizure by SEC
On November 1st, a
Press Release (alternative link in webarchive) was posted via the
Public Toilet account. It had apparently come from the United States Security and Exchanges Commission, who had been investigating the Vavco case for a number of days by that point. The press release reads as follows:
SEC Charges Vavco for 140,000 boon Ponzi Scheme
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2020-293
Washington, D.C., Nov. 1, 2020 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Vav and his investment firm, Vavco, with securities fraud for a 140,000 Ponzi scheme that he perpetrated on advisory clients of his firm. The SEC is seeking emergency relief for investors, including an asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver for the firm.
The SEC was tipped off to Vavco's insolvency on October 27th by an anonymous informant. A sting operation was organized by a joint FBI and SEC task force, which raided both Vavco headquarters and Vav's private residence this morning. In the aftermath, records recovered from the headquarters implicate Vav in a premeditated Ponzi scheme. The purpose of the raid on Vav's residence was two-fold: detain Vav under arrest pending criminal trial and freeze what physical assets could be found in an effort to facilitate emergency relief for Vavco's investors. The raid failed on both accounts. Vav is at large and his whereabouts are currently unknown. A wizardhunt is underway, but no leads have yet emerged. According to regulatory filings, Vavco had more than 140,000 boons under management mere days earlier. It appears that virtually all assets of the advisory business are missing.
The complaint charges the defendants with violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. In addition to emergency and interim relief, the SEC seeks a final judgment permanently enjoining the defendants from future violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and ordering them to pay financial penalties and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest.
Although the SEC's investigation is ongoing, there was one preliminary finding of interest in the initial advertisement for the firm's services. We have decided to make this finding public to serve as a warning to all: Read the small print!
Vav forfeited ownership of the
b140000 invested to the SEC and, until March 10th, 2021, all assets were being held in the
Shell Corporation account.
The Raid on Vav's Secret Island
The storming of the Vav Island Treasury, also known as the
"Raid on Vav's Secret Island", was a
guerrilla attack that took place on March 13th, 2021, carried out by those who were a part of the 2020 Vavco case as well as others on the site. Vav had, 3 days prior to the treasury's siege, reclaimed the boons from the SEC holdings account and provoked those who had lost their boons in saying "you want your boons back so badly, come and get them - you're going to need a big crew and good teamwork for this one". In an anonymous note left behind, teamwork and good communication was the key focus with the mission was to center around.
Raiding the secret island base won't be easy, there are too many escape routes. You'll need at least 3 people to cover the underwater sea cave entrance, 3 people to cover the jungle path, 3 people to cover the bunker to the rocket silo, and 3 people to cordon off the creepy Vov high-tech cloning lab so he can't pull a classic switcharoo. Each person should make tense tactical espionage music appropriate for their assigned role in this mission. Good luck.
This meant that there needed to be at least 12 people in the storming to do at least 3 of each task in order for the raid to be successful. In the end, the raid had attracted 19 such combatants meeting the requirements, what some would consider overwhelming for one person to quell alone. Vav wasn't able to escape his secret island, relinquishing boon payouts the same day the rebellion happened. A total of 140,000 boons were redistributed to BotBrs on that day, and since then Vav has not requested another boon loan from the Battle of the Bits administration or banking staff.
Fanart and Related Battles
The whole case got an abundance of attention on BotBm with a few battles about it being hosted.
- Entry:
A matter of trust by
CastleNes
- Battle:
Vavco's Hiding Something...
- Battle:
Vavco has gone too far this time!!!
- Battle:
We must be prepared!!! Vavco must be stopped for good!
- Battle:
The United States v Vavco
