Sometimes, what happens at Burning Man should really stay there.
A lawsuit accusing cryptocurrency fraud for $5 million has been filed against a company led by a board chairman who is one of the most decorated military figures in the U.S., based on a meeting at Burning Man.
Retired General Wesley Clark is not just a Rhodes Scholar and a former Supreme Commander of NATO forces; he also ran for president in 2004 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Clark has been a presence at Burning Man since at least 2013, when he was seen at the now-closed Provocateur in the Meatpacking District, as reported by Page Six.
During a visit to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, it seems he formed a lasting friendship with Alex Martini-Lo Manto, a New York-based figure from Silicon Valley. Martini-Lo Manto, like many others, established a company named BlockFusion to tap into the blockchain hype.
Another tech firm, BitDigital, invested $5 million to help launch BlockFusion.
Martini-Lo Manto later opted to merge BlockFusion with Blue Acquisition Corporation, an investment firm chaired by General Clark, who was a fellow attendee at Burning Man.
BitDigital is now accusing Martini-Lo Manto in a New York court of intentionally structuring the merger so that their $5 million investment would vanish without a trace, leaving them with nothing.
While General Clark isn’t directly named in the lawsuit, sources acquainted with the case suggest he was supportive of the BlockFusion and Blue Acquisition deal “as a favor to some friends from Burning Man.”
The lawsuit seeks to prevent the merger and recover funds BitDigital claims are owed to them.
A source quipped, “Wesley goes to Burning Man and shows a little bit of his alternative side, and then he gets involved with them.”
No comments were provided by representatives for either Martini-Lo Manto or Clark.
