Follow the money: How I found out who owns what, and what they’re making from it

I promised. You waited. Here it is. The official ownership and financial records tying the core team to wallets, developers, and accelerators

Listen to episode 5

Read a small summary courtesy of ChatGPT

We’ve gone through the financial and other records for the Finixio team’s web of crypto, gambling, and parasite SEO assets. On that journey, you must have noticed that ownership tends to have two things in common:

1: It’s never one company owning another, it’s always the same people owning a bunch of different companies, often with rotating roles — so that the owner of one is the director of another and CXO in a third. They own the companies that employ them, employ the companies they own, but the ultimate owners are the same handful of people

2: Official ownership records are hard to find, in a way that is just… difficult to square with normal business practices. Every asset is proximally owned by an entity in the British Virgin Islands or the Caymans, the Marshall Islands or Bulgaria or somewhere — anywhere where opacity and local taxation are conspicuous by their absence is a part of the value prop

All of which makes their actual organizational structure quite difficult to investigate. It’s less like reading a corporate org chart, more like trying to figure out just what, exactly, Michael Corleone actually owns.

But it’s not impossible.

After all, wherever your money’s been and however you got it, if it doesn’t wind up in a bank account with your name on it, it’s really not that much use.

That’s why we spent a lot of time and effort tracking down the business entities where the money actually leaves these networks.

And after four episodes it’s finally time to see what I promised you when you started reading: the official, government-issued receipts showing which individuals actually own the core assets of the Finixio/Clickout team’s operation.

We’ll start with Web3, the company that owns Best Wallet.

Best Wallet is the wallet that pretty much always gets recommended by Finixio-team controlled crypto projects, and it was developed by a company that we can be pretty sure is owned by the Finixio team.

As a side note, the British FCA has warned against using it and it was recently banned in Spain:

bestwallet banned in Spain

Link to Spanish article

We have a pretty clear idea that it’s a Finixio/Clickout team operation, but… wouldn’t it be better if we had the official, state-issued ownership records?

The Bulgarian Connection

Best Web3, the owner of Best Wallet, proved quite tough to track down; in the end we were able to find them on a third-party, Bulgarian-language database of companies in Eastern Europe, where they’re registered to:

best wallet Bulgarian-language database of companies in Eastern Europe

Link

(Translated by Google.)

That address in the original is:

g.k. Yavorov, Boulevard “Tsarigradsko shose” 9

At first, Mr. Todorov seemed like a dead end. I thought perhaps he was a professional ‘official owner’ of companies wishing to obfuscate their true ownership. That would be par for the course.

In fact, he’s a lawyer and professional liquidator who presided over the dissolution of Best Web3 in the first six months of 2024:

Link

(That dissolution was cancelled before completion.)

That’s doubly interesting because he owned the company until 2023, when he sold it to Mihail Nedelchev.

While he’s held board and managerial positions before, this seems to be a big part of what he does. His LinkedIn lists him as General Counsel at Doverie:

thiomir todorov linkedin

Linkedin

Doverie is a holding company which holds over 50 companies, according to the Financial Times.

 Put a pin in the name Block Law on his LinkedIn, too, because that’s also a Finixio team asset.

block law linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockllaw/

The mailing address for Best Web3, represented by Tihomir Todorov, was interesting, though.

Remember they’re at g.k. Yavorov, Boulevard “Tsarigradsko shose” 9.

And Block Labs (remember, we know the Finixio/Clickout Media team own this company) is registered to… this address:

The mailing address for Best Web3, represented by Tihomir Todorov

https://www.blocklabs.io/

That’s the same address.

(Interestingly, Block Labs’ LinkedIn says they’re based in London, or they did before they changed it.

blocklabs linkedin says they are based in London

Linkedin

At first, I thought that it might be a placeholder registration location, the way accountants or lawyers sometimes are. It’s right next door to Ivan Dehterov, a notary public.

But the plot thickens, because this location is actually the offices of Galin Kostov, a branch of the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office. (When I called them, they’d never heard of Best Web3.)

I emailed them to ask them for more information, way back in March, but I still haven’t heard back.

That avenue might seem like a bit of a dead end, but there’s no need to give up. We can still obtain the official ownership records for key Finixio team assets another way.

Meet the team

It’s time to meet a new cast member or two.

If you’ve read the other stuff I’ve published on Finixio, you know that we keep meeting Adam Grunwerg and Samuel Miranda over and over again. They’re directors here and heads of this or that there. When a project actually publishes its personnel, they’re usually in the mix somewhere. Lucky Block looks like the exception, but hold that thought.

We’ve met James Fenell too. Let’s meet him again, a bit more formally.

(If you’d like to meet him informally, it looks like this is his Reddit account:

james fennel reddit

Archive.org link

and it seems he’s JamesFennell on Telegram.)

JEF Holdings

James Edward Fennell is director of a company called JEF Holdings, incorporated in the UK in 2021 with £100 in capital.

These are screenshots of the filing:

James Edward Fennell is director of a company called JEF Holding

statement of capital jef holdingsLink

What does JEF Holdings do?

That’s been difficult to find out. Holdings companies normally buy, control, and sell other companies. But because JEF has claimed exemption from audited accounts and submitted only a bare-bones financial statement, we don’t know much about what companies they’re buying or selling.

We know a couple of the companies JEF Holdings owns. They own JEF Trading, where they took over from James Edward Fennell as a listed person with significant control in October 2023. The same year, they filed profits of £2.6 million.

The same year, they filed profits of £2.6 million

Link

The name on this isn’t JEF because the company changed its name to Stockd Ltd in 2023:

jef trading ltd changed names to stockd limited

Link

 

There’s also ARG Media (for Adam Robert Grunwerg):

arg media limited - Adam Robert Grunwerg

Link

And SBM Holding Group (for Samuel Broadbent Miranda):

sbm holding group ltd - Samuel Broadbent Miranda

Link

These are all shell companies for the core Finixio team members.

But to find out what all these holding companies really hold, we had to look to Bulgaria.

Business registration documents for the core Finixio team businesses

Maybe you’re wondering: Why Bulgaria?

Well, one reason might be that to access the UK business registry all you need is a web browser. You can go there yourself right now and look up any company you want, or anyone who holds a directorship:

https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company

But to access the Bulgarian business registry, you need special permissions. Foreigners can create an account easily enough, but to view documents, you need to have a Bulgarian citizenship or other official reasons.

Initially that made it difficult to know for sure what the rest of this might say:

articles of association of a limitied company in Bulgaria

Fortunately, though, you can hire a Bulgarian lawyer.

Which I did. (Thanks guys, great work. I really appreciate it.)

They were able to access the good stuff and send it to me.

Best Web3, Best Wallet, and Tamadoge

Let’s start with Best Web3. Remember, these guys are listed as the owner of Best Wallet.

best web 3 company details bulgaria

So there are no financials and the company recently changed hands. It was previously owned by Tihomir Todorov.

Yes, that Tihomir Todorov.

Who owns…

thiomir todorov owns tamadoge ltd on paper

Tamadoge is a memecoin project that also includes online gaming and other functionality. We’ve touched on other aspects of their business operations in the earlier parts of this series. Tamadoge also fell of a cliff value wise.

Todorov transferred ownership of Best Web3 to Mihail Nedelchev. Who also owns…

michail nedelchev owns best wallet eood on paper

…Best Wallet.

The development company and the wallet app are owned by the same person, registered to the same address as the crypto project which was until recently owned by the same person as the development company.

Again, this is the same handful of people owning and operating multiple assets.

Incidentally, we don’t just have the names of the owners.

We have the names of the operators too.

Here’s a screenshot (don’t ask me where I got it, this source wanted to remain anonymous) of BestWallet’s administrators in the company’s WordPress account:

bestwallet.com admin users in wordpress

You’d want to zoom in to see individual names. Zoom in to the URL at the top too: It’s:

https://bestwallet.com/wp-admin/users.php?role=administrator

Are those clickoutmedia.com emails? I even see finixiofreelancer.com and techalchemy.com, how interesting.

There are folks like Alan Draper, head of Cryptonews… and onetime senior editor at Clickout Media:

Alan Draper, head of Cryptonews… and onetime senior editor at Clickout Media

Linkedin

Alvaro Ortega, who also does SEO at Clickout…

Alvaro Ortega, who also does SEO at Clickout

Linkedin

And Amanda Wong, Clickout’s Regional Manager for Chinese markets:

Amanda Wong, Clickout’s Regional Manager for Chinese markets

Link

This pattern is identical to other Clickout/Finixio team-owned businesses.

The same people own it. Employees of the same company operate it. Above a certain level — a level above Evan, our source who once wrote content for Clickout/Finixio-owned brands through a content agency, to be sure — they’re sockpuppets.

To paraphrase Lars Lofgren:

It’s the same fucking business.

But while it’s nice to have the screenshots as well as the receipts, we kind of already knew all that.

And that’s not the good stuff.

Block Labs: directly owned by the core Finixio team

 

This…

Jef Holdings, Arg Media and SMB Holdings own block labs ltd

this is the good stuff.

JEF Holdings (now Stockd Ltd) isn’t just a shareholder.

JEF Holdings (now Stockd Ltd) isn’t just a shareholder he owns blocklabs

This document, required by Bulgarian anti-money laundering laws, demonstrates that JEF Holdings (now Stockd Ltd) exercises direct control over Block Media Ltd:

They’re not passive investors. They’re running the show.

JEF Holdings is a shell company owned by James Edward Fennell, longtime Finixio employee and associate, 50/50 with Jane Lucas Neale. She isn’t a company officer, just a person with significant control.

JEF Holdings is a shell company owned by James Edward Fennell, longtime Finixio employee and associate, 50-50 with Jane Lucas Neale

One of the weaknesses in the UK’s Companies House database is that it isn’t searchable by persons with significant control, so we can’t easily tell if she occupies that position in other companies.

We do know that up until it was dissolved this year for being dormant, she was an officer in FKN Properties Ltd. The name looks like an attempt to be edgy but our guess is that it could stand for Fennell, as in James Edward Fennell and Benjamin Fennell; Kenyon, as in Josephine Kenyon; and Neale, as in Jane Lucas Neale.

FKN Properties Ltd

Link

This company submitted one set of unaudited accounts in its existence. That’s a bit of a pattern with Finixio-associated companies, and so is them only existing for one or two years. There’s often a one- or two-year grace period for new businesses where they don’t have to submit full, audited accounts, which we know is a problem for Finixio the company (remember, their auditor quit in 2023 citing lack of transparency and apparent financial irregularities).

The other two shareholders in Block Labs are ARG Media and SBM Holdings, shell companies for Adam Grunwerg and Samuel Miranda.

The owners of…

finixio ltd owners

finixio company director 1 Adam Robert Grunwerg

finixio company director 2 - Samuel Broadbent Miranda

Link

Finixio’s owners also owned Block Labs until December 2024.

One of the company’s longest-term associates still owns it.

All through shell companies based in the UK.

Block Media was incorporated on June 15, 2022:

block media ltd

Petrov sold part of the company to JEF Holdings Ltd (Now Stockd Ltd) on September 8 the same year:

block media sold to stockd ltd

And dealt in ARG…

Petrov sold part of the company to Arg Media

 

And SBM:

Petrov sold part of the company to SBM Holding Group ltd

Each at 25%.

Later, ARG and SBM would sell out and leave JEF holding the bag.

The name would be changed on January 15 this year:

block media changed names to block labs

At the same time, the scope of business activity was established:

scope of business activity was established for blocklabs

That sounds pretty full-service.

Block Law: Yet another Finixio team asset

It’s not the only one they’re running.

Remember Tihomir Lyubomirov Todorov, from way up towards the start? He works for Block Law. 12.5% of that company is owned by…

12.5% of block law is owned by Tihomir Lyubomirov Todoro

 

… him.

Another 12.5% is owned by the person who was until November 2024 the sole owner, Danail Petrov. He’s also Director of Block Labs and was until recently also its sole owner.

And the rest of Block Law’s shares?

JEF Holdings. The company owns 70% of Block Law

JEF Holdings. The company owns 70% of Block Law.

These guys have their own lawyer, who also co-owns the law firm, while also co-owning their other core businesses.

It very much looks like the last couple of people who have real significant control and a major stake in Finixio’s operations are Petrov and Todorov. The core Finixio team — Grunwerg, Fennell, Miranda, Petrov and Todorov— have been passing their central assets around between them. Guys like Ryder are more peripheral.

The Finixio/Clickout team, millions

But wait, there’s more.

Because in 2023, ARG Media made £8 million in earnings:

in 2023, ARG Media made £8 million in earnings

Link

In 2022, the company made £287,397.

The following year, to January 2024, ARG Media made just under £25 million — around triple the previous year.

January 2024, ARG Media made just under £25 million

Link

SBM Holdings Group’s accounts for the year to June 2023 showed the company had just under £13 million on hand:

SBM Holdings Group’s accounts for the year to June 2023 showed the company had just under £13 million on hand

Link

By 2024 that was £34 million — nearly triple the amount of the previous year. SBM Holdings seems to have some highly remunerative businesses somewhere.

By 2024 SBM Holdings had £34 million

Link

That means the company made about £22 million in 2023–24 (this is cash on hand, not yearly earnings).

There are no SBM financials for 2022 beyond a statement of capital at incorporation with £100 in shares.

JEF (now Stockd) made £78,137 in 2022 and £13 million the year to September 2023:

JEF (now Stockd) made £78,137 in 2022 and £13 million the year to September 2023

Link

… and hasn’t filed financials since. JEF is still submitting unaudited accounts, as is SBM; ARG’s 2023–24 accounts were audited.

All of this sounds like a lot of money til you add it up and realize:

if between them these three people took £33 million from their various business activities in 2023, including Block Labs, which we now know is wholly owned by them…

…where’s the rest?

Because our Bulgarian lawyers were able to access Block Labs’ financials.

Block Labs’ financials

This image shows the 2024 audit of Block Labs.

After taxes and expenses, the total profit for 2023 is 128 million Bulgarian Lev (€65 million).

The total profit after taxes and expenses for 2022 is 46 million Lev (€23 million; Euro conversions are given at the current exchange rate).

You can see those sums in the image above on line 7, bolded and expressed in thousands of Lev.

In addition, our Bulgarian lawyers tell us that Block Labs holds approximately €26.7 million in crypto assets.

Here’s what the core UK-resident Finixio team have taken in  to the businesses they have registered in the UK that are essentially shell companies, in total, compared to the amount declared by Block Labs:

Year UK companies (JEF Holdings, SBM Holdings, ARG Media) in total Block Labs profit Remainder unaccounted in BlockLabs
2022 £365,534 (€432,397) лв46,070,000 (€23,555,922) €23,123,525
2023 £34,424,757 (€40,721,733) Лв128,834,000 (€65,873,751) €25,152,018
2024 £59,682,553 Undeclared Unknown

When I first collected this material, the 2024 financials from ARG and SBM weren’t out yet, and it looked like a hundred million Euros had just Kaiser Soze’d into the ether (or, you know, the Ether).

Over two years, between them, the UK-resident core Finixio team members have drawn £81 million into their UK shell companies. Whether all that came from Block Labs, I couldn’t say, but the money was there. (Some of the Bulgarian companies haven’t filed financials yet, and we don’t have any insight into the financials of the Caymans, British Virgin Islands, Marshalls or other overseas, low-oversight domiciled companies.)

There’s about €25 million Euros unaccounted for in Block Labs’ declared profits (after expenses and taxes, remember) every year. I have no idea what that’s for or where it went, so I won’t speculate, except to observe that there are two other partners involved — Petrov and Todorov — whose financials we haven’t seen. (And the €26 million in crypto too…)

I’m not a finance guy but I have run, bought, and sold businesses.

And financially, this all looks completely screwy to me.

When it came time to buy out ARG and SBM over at Block Labs, it was done with a share valuation that seems… a little off.

Jef Labs buys out Adam Grunwerg from blocklabs for 191 euro

(Todorov is the proxy for both parties, ARG and JEF.)

Todorov is the proxy for both parties, ARG and JEF

375 Bulgarian Levs is about €191, for 37.5% of a company that made over €65 million in profit the previous year. You can sell your shares in a company for what you want, of course, but there’s no way this was a normal profit-making business deal. If you owned a company that made that kind of money, would you sell your stake in it for €191?

The same deal was done with SBM:

Jef Labs buys out Samuel Miranda from blocklabs for 191 euro

And for the same price:

And for the same price

This looks more like the transfer of legal ownership between friends or family members than the kind of deal you’d strike if you wanted to make money.

And bear in mind, we’re talking about a company that made €25 million one year and €65 million the next. So I don’t think they’re uninterested in making money.

Stay tuned for part 6 where we’ll explore some more on-chain activities that may be related to yet another layer of the onion…

Latest episode

 

Previous episodes

Part 1: Under the surface: A first look at the murky world of online gambling, crypto casinos, and memecoins

Part 2: How the crypto, gambling, and marketing networks interweave: the case of 99Bitcoins

Part 3: As prices plummet and projects vanish, crash, sputter and fade, the same crypto wallets seem to profit

Part 4: On the surface, an ecosystem; underneath, the same owners profit from financial irregularities and suspected malfeasance