“With a small purchase of Prop, you can (and will) increase the value of your property from the profits generated by our real estate transactions.”
“Prop” is the cryptocurrency of the blockchain-based real estate project Propland. Propland’s own uppercase letters. The text continues:
“Profiting from real estate has never been so easy or lucrative.”
Behind him is the Norwegian Bernt Degrend Ellingsen, with the title of “CEO”. This is not the first time you can expect a quick profit, but this time not real estate is for sale in Oslo, but in Marbella on the sunny coast of Spain. Now it’s not about shares in real estate companies either, but about cryptocurrencies.
In 2018, DN told how Ellingsen and his company Omicron – without a license from Norway’s financial watchdog – brought in NOK 240 million from wealthy, elderly investors – the so-called “Golden Oldies”.
“I’m fairly new to blockchain technology,” Ellingsen says in a now-deleted video on Propland’s YouTube channel.
He is the only person acting under his full name in the Propland system, communicating with investors and stakeholders in a group on the Telegram app. There is also an account here with the alias “Donnie Cash”, which is described as “Chief Financial Officer” or CFO.
– I acted as a manager with a total portfolio of about $200 million, with investments in real estate and commercial properties. Other than that, I’ve been dealing with crypto for six years now, but this is my first project, says Donny Cash in the same video.
borrowed money
In another recording, shared on Propland’s Telegram channel, he performs face-to-face. This is the man formerly known as Edisan Kastrati. The Population Record shows that since the last time the DN wrote about him, he has changed his name to Kevin Kastrati.
It is also connected to the “Golden Oldies” complex selling at Indigo Finans. Last year, as a sales representative for United Beverages International, he was convicted of six cases of gross negligence fraud.
When the DN tries to make contact through the “Donnie Cash” account on Telegram, it’s the person calling himself Morten who answers. He does not want to give his full name, but writes:
“There were four people who used this account. Including two of our investors.”
“Kastrati is an investor in Propland, that’s right. He helped a little bit, but he has no role in Propland, other than the investor. He lent another 500 thousand to Burnet and Propland,” Morten said in another letter.
In an SMS, Kastrati wrote that he was no longer investing in Propland.
– He ended up there a while ago, he replies.
After follow-up questions about the loan, silence reigns.
DN Bernt Ellingsen asked a number of questions about the case. He did not respond to inquiries, but posted a statement in Propland’s Telegram group. Here he refers to DN journalism as false accusations and “fictional stories”.
company of march
«We take ours Million dollar business to the blockchain», It is stated in Propland’s media materials, but it is difficult to verify the validity of this claim. In Spanish business annals, Ellingsen is associated with one company: Cavok Estates, which according to their website is a real estate agent in Marbella. And this company was established in March this year, according to the record.
Cavok is Propland, typing “Donnie Cash” on Telegram, before the messages were deleted and the account stopped responding.
Propland has pre-sold its coin. Activity in an English-language Telegram group with more than 5,000 members indicates that more people have purchased.
The Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority has Beware of such salesin part because one cannot expect any form of investor protection.
“Investing in so-called coins or tokens is risky, with a high risk of losing investments. There are also risks of fraud and money laundering.”
resigns as president
When the DN asked questions about the case, the Telegram group was closed, and the details in the media materials changed: now it no longer says ” million dollar business. But the real estate industry is like this. Ellingsen also announced that he is stepping down as CEO.
“Although I have done my best to defend the integrity of my concept and my idea of Propland, it has become clear to me that the negative focus which the paper is trying to place again on me as a private person, could affect Propland,” he writes.
The statement also states that Propland investors will not receive a stake in a real estate project with an expected value of €1.4 million anyway.
Propland has also published 300 so-called NFTs priced at just under NOK 20,000 each, linked to this project. Ellingsen writes that those who bought these items will get their money back.
Data from Coinmarketcap shows that two-thirds of the cryptocurrency item’s value has disappeared following Ellingsen’s statement.
Sold gems
The Omicron case has had various legal ramifications. Small savers who invested tried to take over the assets of Burnet de Ellingen. Particularly controversial was the Hans Imperator Holding, with 8.5 million in shares, as Ellingsen sold this to his fiancée for NOK 300,000 – including the buy-back agreement. Oral negotiations over the arrest were settled in 2018. The broker was ordered to pay the elderly investor $1.3 million in damages.
Ellingsen’s holding company was taken over by her fiancé in 2017, but in 2020 the shares were returned. In this year’s accounts, fixed assets disappear from the company. Values estimated at NOK 3.5 million were written off, and an item worth NOK 284,000 titled “Gemstone Sale” surfaced. The following year it was closed.
A website named Ellingsen has published what it refers to as an independent report from Advokatfirmaet Gade, prepared by analysis firm KWC. This was set up in connection with a lawsuit from small savers who invested through Omicron, against attorney Anders Kvarberg who was responsible for settling various transactions.
He and insurance company Gjensidige were sued for a total of NOK 55 million, but the case was settled in a settlement in late 2021, according to court mediation protocol from the Oslo District Court. Here, the lawyer Kvarberg and the insurance company agreed to pay ten million kroner.(conditions)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We’d like you to share our statuses using links that lead directly to our pages. Reproduction or other use of all or part of the Content may be made only with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms see here.
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