My Home About Me

When is lying and cheating just part of the game -- and when does it become really lying and cheating? And should the lying cheater be taxed on his ill-gotten gains? What if it mostly takes place only in the virtual world of online gaming? "Julian Murdoch" -- a pseudonym for an old and trusted friend -- has the answers (or at least the questions).

Last, week, Dentara Rask -- a character in CCP's Eve Online massively multiplayer online world -- pulled off an impressive stunt. He ran a classic Ponzi scheme and walked off with 700 billion ISK (in game money, and quite a lot of it). Normally, this kind of in-game bravado would generate nothing but a confuse stare from someone not deep inside the Eve universe, and little more than scandal-of-the-week titillation and subsequent yawns there. But I believe this case is more interesting than that.

I believe Dentara Rask committed fraud.

I believe he owes the IRS a lot of money...

His scheme was interesting, but unoriginal. He ran the EVE Investment Bank, in which he promised a return on deposits. And he delivered. If you got in early, he paid you your return, and most likely, you reinvested. It was, of course, just a Ponzi scheme. Investors were paid out of the capital from new investors. When the pyramid become too big to manage, he pulled back the curtain and proclaimed himself the victor. He'd amassed more than 700 billion ISK (in game cash), perhaps 10 times the previous record for a market scam. He gloated in the forums about his prowess. He basked in the glory of hatred, even posting a video confession complete with I'd-like-to-thank-the-academy antics. He took out a bounty on his own head, so people would hunt him down. The act of me writing about this plays further into the ego trip.

But there's a catch. What if he committed a real crime?

If this was a "real world" scam, few would argue that this was fraud. In the US (and we don't know where he lives) he would mostly likely be guilty of racketeering under RICO.

The first argument against the fraud case is one of substance. After all, this was imaginary money, right? Not really. Eve ISK is a fungible asset. While no regulated market exists for converting ISK into cash directly, there are markets available. CCP sells 30 day time cards for 120 million ISK. Time cards are available legally for $14 a piece. So the implied value of an ISK is roughly $2.0 × 10^11. Put another way, that 700 billion ISK is worth 5,833 time cards, or $81,666.

Basic Materials sector   Technical chart patterns   support/resistance levels   ETFs (exchange traded funds)   Deron Wagner   IRS denies trader tax status   trader tax status   mark to market accounting   Patience in the markets   Dow Monthly Performance   Dow Performance since 1900   Amateur Investors   Nasdaq Composite chart pattern   forex   trade   profit   S&P 500 chart pattern   euro   selling options   currencies