Serial scammer Darren Olayan’s latest grift is a Ponzi scheme run through Disruptive Studio.
BehindMLM first came across Disruptive Studio in our Crypto CNL review, published back in June.
Disruptive Studio was behind creative designs for a number of MLM crypto Ponzi schemes, but didn’t seem to be running any itself.
One of Disruptive Studio’s designs was for Naka Games, part of Darren Olayan’s BitMobb Ponzi factory.
Given the majority of Disruptive Studio’s designs were for Russian Ponzi schemes, I figured there was a tie-in. What I wasn’t clear on is where Olayan fit in.
I’m not exactly clear on the connection between Darren Olayan and this Russian Ponzi factory. But it appears they are likely working together in some capacity.
To my surprise Disruptive Studios popped up on my radar again last month. This time in connection to research into iComTech.
iComTech was an MLM crypto Ponzi that collapsed in mid to late 2019. Last month the DOJ filed criminal charges against four iComTech’s founder and three promoters.
Although not arrested, one of iComTech’s top promoters I came across in my background research was Refugio Aguilera.
As per the captioned screenshot above, taken and used in our iComTech arrest article, Aguilera is currently Marketing Officer at Disruptive Studio.
That same research lead me to this since deleted November 4th post on Refugio’s personal FaceBook account:
That’s Daniel Cruz on the left and Darren Olayan on the right, appearing on a Disruptive Studio Zoom webinar launch.
Cruz is Chairman at Disruptive Studio and operates out of Arizona.
Darren Olayan is a serial scammer behind a number of collapsed Ponzi schemes (branded primarily under Nui, Symatri and Mintage Mining).
So what were Cruz and Olayan launching?
Not content with designing logos and branding for scams, Disruptive Studio have gone and launched their own in-house crypto Ponzi. And of course its got Darren Olayan’s handiwork all over it.
There’s nothing remarkable about Disruptive Studio’s crypto Ponzi. It’s built around the DISR shit token, and is the usual trading bot, NFT, mEtAvErSe bullshit.
Behind that you have staking, which is the heart of the Ponzi scheme. Under the staking Ponzi model, investors invest in DISR, park tokens with Disruptive Studio and collect returns in DISR.
Like any Ponzi scheme, the goal is to cash out more than you’ve invested. Disruptive Studio pays withdrawal requests out of invested funds – crucial to it being a Ponzi scheme.
The DISR staking program and trading bot scheme are also securities offerings, which neither Disruptive Studio, Daniel Cruz or Darren Olayan are registered to offer.
In fact the reason Olayan has launched his new Ponzi scheme behind a partner is because he himself is no stranger to securities fraud.
After claiming his Kala Ponzi scheme had “stability and protection with the SEC“, US authorities filed a securities fraud cease and desist against Olayan and Nui back in 2018.
The C&D, issued by Texas, eventually led to a $25,000 fine.
In 2019 Montana issued a similar securities fraud cease and desist against Nui and Olayan. This was followed by Michigan in early 2020 – and an eventual $595,000 securities fraud fine from Utah later that same year.
The 2020 regulatory crackdown on Olayan, who was living in Utah at time, go underground.
As of May 2022, Olayan was still scamming people through BitMobb. BitMobb encompassed Nui International (a Ponzi targeting Brazil), with a host of other Kala centric failed or failing schemes.
Around the time BehindMLM covered BitMobb, Olayan appears to have abandoned it. BitMobb’s last official FaceBook post is dated April 26th, 2022.
I’m not seeing an MLM component to Disruptive Studio’s DISR Ponzi but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was weaved in.
For clarity, here’s a breakdown of the known components of Disrupt Studio’s Ponzi:
- Disruptive Studio – design company working with Darren Olayan
- Disruptiverse – NFT marketplace platform
- Disruptive Protocol – branding of DISR token, a BEP-20 shit token
- Disruptive Bots – trading bot securities fraud, fees collected per transaction in DISR
- Disruptive Payments – in house payment processor, i.e. the money laundering side of the Ponzi
- Tradetizen – planned exchange, might have been abandoned
In line with Olayan’s promotional efforts after the US crackdown, Disruptive Studios’ Ponzi targets Central and South America.