We are short $SOS, which we believe to be an obvious China-based shell game reanimating the corpse of a former China based company that earlier imploded 90% from its highs.
We think SOS is a $0 and has significant regulatory risk.
Stocks tied to blockchain have been on the run lately, swept up in the euphoria of bitcoin breaking all-time highs.
$SOS has ridden this wave, reaching a market cap as high as $1.4b based on its claims of having pivoted into bitcoin mining and blockchain technology development.
We discovered $SOS principal office and headquarters doesn’t appear to exist. We visited the address listed in the company’s SEC filings and found it was a hotel.
A woman who worked for the hotel told us there were “no companies here”.
The company’s January 6, 2021 announcement of hiring a “Renowned Cryptocurrencies Security Expert” named Dr. Huazhong (Eric) Yan appeared to include fabrications related to Yan’s background.
FXK looks to be an undisclosed related party shell. Its website uses photos that appear to have been stolen from a separate and legitimate Chinese crypto mining company called RHY.
Its site only has one news item, announcing the SOS deal.
We could find no real office for FXK, no employees on LinkedIn, no glassdoor reviews, no customer reviews, no social media presence or news articles (other than press releases about the $SOS announcement).
$SOS uses a specific theme for its website labeled Sosbx in its website’s source code.
FXK’s website also uses the exact same SOS theme on its website, indicating both sites were set up by SOS.
Additionally, $SOS’s fonts and headers match with FXK’s website.
The FXK deal was announced on January 19th. But web crawler WayBackMachine shows no evidence that the site existed prior to February 17th, almost a month later.
The most recent web capture prior to February 17th was a Chinese page saying that the domain was for sale, in May 2019.
FXK included multiple pictures of their supposed mining center on their website.
A reverse image search of those pictures reveals the mining operation is not FXK’s, instead the pictures are lifted off a legitimate Chinese mining company called RHY.
Our investigator contacted RHY and was told that FXY was fake and copying their website
In late January, $SOS announced a deal with HY International, a purported seller of crypto mining rigs.
$SOS raised $198 million in gross proceeds through direct offerings over the last month. We think that money is gone and never coming back.
We think the company is a zero.
Update (1/3): It appears $SOS is actively attempting to remove digital traces of its suspect deals. Acquisition target FXK's website has been intermittently down.
It purports to be a Canadian company but is displaying this error message in Mandarin. fxk.com
Website esecurechain.com recently used the same ICP as $SOS, but it was removed. An ICP is a unique license to operate websites in China.
The prior source code is still available via Google cache:
UPDATE 2: Just days after we pointed out that $SOS's claimed headquarters didn’t seem to exist, the company changed its HQ address multiple times on its website.
After we pointed out that $SOS’s supposed Canadian acquisition target FXK seemed to have its website set up by $SOS and hosted on the same $SOS server, the company moved its server from Hong Kong to California and updated its source code to remove references to SOS.
We also showed that $SOS struck a supposed deal with HY, a company formed mid last year registered to the same address as an $SOS subsidiary.
That entity also ported over its server, masking the relationship with $SOS.
These appear to be yet more obvious signs of a cover-up.
Following our work showing that $SOS’s claimed HQ address didn’t match the HQ in its press release, the company posted the address for the first time.
We visited and found it was a match.
From the PR and our visit yesterday during working hours. A good start, however…
We examined the building and see why the address wasn’t listed in the first place.
$SOS has the ground floor, as can be seen by the SoS logo on the windows, but it appeared completely empty. We saw no people or signs of activity on the floor.
As we showed earlier, $SOS acquisition target FXK seemed to have stolen its entire website design from genuine blockchain co. RHY.
RHY posted an official statement corroborating our work and Culper's work, accusing FXK of blatantly stealing its website.
$AILE is a self-described “AI-powered learning automation” software company based in Bethesda, Maryland that was incorporated in 2010 and went public via a SPAC deal in April 2024.
(2/x)
The company claims to be an “early pioneer in enterprise AI” operating in the corporate and educational learning space.
We disagree. We suspect both $AILE's revenue and expenses are largely fake.
Super Micro Computer Inc. is a $35 billion server maker based in Silicon Valley, California that has ridden the wave of AI enthusiasm.
(2/x)
Our 3-month investigation, which included interviews with former employees & experts as well as a review of litigation & customs records, found glaring accounting red flags, evidence of undisclosed related party transactions, sanctions and export control failures & customer issues.
Buch’s response now publicly confirms her investment in an obscure Bermuda/Mauritius fund structure, alongside money allegedly siphoned by Vinod Adani. She also confirmed the fund was run by a childhood friend of her husband, who at the time was an Adani director.
SEBI was tasked with investigating investment funds relating to the Adani matter, which would include funds Ms. Buch WAS PERSONALLY INVESTED IN and funds by the same sponsor which were specifically highlighted in our original report.
This is obviously a massive conflict of interest.
(2/x)
Buch’s statement also claims that the two consulting companies she set up, including the Indian entity and the opaque Singaporean entity “became immediately dormant on her appointment with SEBI” in 2017, with her husband taking over starting in 2019.
Per its latest shareholding list as of March 31st, 2024, Agora Advisory Limited (India), is still 99% owned by Madhabi Buch, not her husband.
This entity is currently active and generating consulting revenue.
Furthermore, Buch remained a 100% shareholder of Agora Partners Singapore until March 16th, 2022, per Singaporean records, owning it during her entire time as a SEBI Whole Time Member. She only transferred her shares into her husband’s name 2 weeks after her appointment as SEBI Chairperson.
Axos Financial $AX is a $3.1 billion market cap regional bank headquartered in San Diego, California that was incorporated in 1999 and went public in March 2005.
(2/x)
$AX trades at a 35% P/TBV premium compared to similarly sized community and regional banks, pricing in investor expectations of outsized growth, a low-risk loan book and multiple years of runway ahead.
$EQIX is an $80 billion market cap data center REIT with over 260 facilities globally.
It has 10,000+ customers, ranging from small businesses to large cloud “hyperscaler” providers like Amazon, Microsoft and Google.
(2/x)
Even if you ignore our findings & take the financials of $EQIX at face value, the company trades at elevated levels; an ~86% premium to its peers on a price to forward AFFO basis and a ~59% premium on a price to forward FFO basis.