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Matthew Goettsche was a key player in the $722 million Ponzi scheme called BitClub Network.
After Goettsche was arrested in 2019, he said he was innocent. But Goettsche was thought to be likely to run away, so he was told to stay put.
After talks about a plea deal fell through, Goettsche filed an appeal against his detention. A $20 million bond was set for December 2020.
Goettsche paid the bail amount and was sent home to serve his time.
Goettsche is still struggling with the terms of his release after nearly two years.Goettsche has asked a court to let him go even though he still has tens of millions of dollars that he stole.
Goettsche isn’t the only one who is affected by the results of what he did. He has to be with a third-party caretaker at all times, which he says is “immensely burdensome.”
The schedules of Mr. Goettsche’s wife, mother, and mother-in-law are worked out every day so that they can all be home with him.
Goettsche’s not being able to use the internet, computers, or live off of rental income is also “burdensome.”
Goettsche filed a motion on September 21 asking that the terms of his release be changed to:
Goettsche only needs a third-party custodian if he leaves his Colorado home; full access to the internet and computers, as long as Goettsche doesn’t use or transfer cryptocurrency; and the release of rental income that is being held in escrow at the moment.
Goettsche says that the effective measures in place to stop him from running away and the fact that he hasn’t run away are reasons to relax those effective measures.
Mr. Goettsche has been out on pretrial release without a problem for over twenty months. He has had to follow a lot of rules because the government was worried he might run away, but those fears have been proven to be unfounded.
Goettsche says that he could run away at any time, no matter what restrictions the court puts on him.
Time has shown that the government was completely wrong when they said that Mr. Goettsche would not show up to court under any bail conditions.
Mr. Goettsche hasn’t run away or broken any of his bail conditions or changes. In fact, during the twenty months that he has been free, the government’s worries about him that were voiced during his detention, bail, and appeal have been shown to be unfounded.
Goettsche also says that he is like his co-defendant, Joby Weeks, whose release conditions are much less strict.
Joby Weeks, who is also a defendant, is currently on a curfew. Pretrial Services and the government have no problem with this.
He can go to family events, family gatherings, religious services, and family homes in Colorado as long as he is with a third-party custodian and gives Pretrial Services advance notice.
The main difference between Weeks and Goettshche is that Weeks has admitted guilt, while Goettshche has not. He also doesn’t have nearly as much money as Goettsche does.
Goettsche says that the changes he wants to make will
I intend to assist Mr. Goettsche in preparing for his trial defense by making it easier for him to obtain information about his case.
To make it easier on Mr. Goettsche’s third-party caretakers, who have to be with him at all times even though he has an electronic monitoring bracelet;
To provide his children with a reasonable level of normalcy; and
To give Mr. Goettsche the cash and assets he needs to pay for his family’s day-to-day expenses and his lawyer’s fees and costs.
Goettsche doesn’t have a trial date because COVID-19 is taking too long and the case against him is so big.
There has been a lot of discovery, and it is thought that there will be a lot more discovery in the future.
In my opinion, Goettsche is a flight risk as long as he wants to fight his case. I’m not saying that Goettsche shouldn’t be able to defend himself in court, but BitClub Network was a Ponzi scheme that made $722 million. This isn’t a heist from a milk bar.
Three BitClub Network defendants have already pleaded guilty, and Weeks is one of them. They will get their punishment in March 2023.
Goettsche’s partner in crime and the fourth person charged with child sex, is hiding out in Indonesia.
In all likelihood, Goettsche won’t win the trial. The BitClub Network wasn’t confusing because it was a typical Ponzi scheme with a crypto mining theme.
No matter how long it takes, Goettsche is likely to be found guilty and sent to prison for a long time.
As long as he thinks that’s what will happen, he’s still a flight risk.
In this case, the practical result would be that Mr. Goettsche could stay at home while his wife took care of the kids and ran errands without having to call another babysitter to the house.
The fact that Goettsche’s family has been hurt by his scams is neither the court’s nor the DOJ’s problem.
Both Pretrial Services and the DOJ are against the motions that Goettsche has asked for. At the time of publication, however, neither side had responded.
The motion from Goettsche will be looked at on October 5th.
