Final 12 months, Maya Parbhoe shortly turned well-known within the worldwide Bitcoin neighborhood as she introduced herself to the world as a presidential candidate in her nation, Suriname. She vowed to struggle corruption in a rustic rife with it and to make bitcoin authorized tender in Suriname to assist get the nation’s residents out of monetary “survival mode.”
Parbhoe’s story as an underdog candidate shortly gained traction as she made her case for the way she may assist Suriname as president each on-line and in particular person at conferences equivalent to Bitcoin Amsterdam.
Outstanding members of the Bitcoin neighborhood equivalent to Bitcoin mining analyst and management coach Daniel Batten have vouched for Parbhoe in current months, whereas Jan3 CEO Samson Mow was the one who inspired Parbhoe to run for president. I, too, helped convey consideration to her candidacy.
Nevertheless, in current weeks, some cracks have began to kind in Parbhoe’s story. Experiences from those that have visited the nation say that the picture that Parbhoe has been projecting of herself and her candidacy to the world could also be partially an phantasm.
The experiences declare that Parbhoe has overstated her odds of changing into president of Suriname to the worldwide neighborhood and that her political messaging throughout the nation has had little to nothing to do with Bitcoin.
What’s extra, some experiences that are actually reaching the worldwide Bitcoin viewers additionally contend that Parbhoe’s candidacy shouldn’t be well-known inside Suriname. And whereas Parbhoe has positioned herself as an advocate for these inside her nation who’re struggling financially, one supply informed Bitcoin Journal that she has disdain for the nation’s poor.
On high of that, reported intel from the U.S. authorities estimates that Parbhoe could also be working as “managed opposition,” a political determine who serves as a placeholder for those who they purport to be in opposition to. In response to Bitcoin Journal’s supply, the identical reported intel states Parbhoe’s father was knowingly in enterprise with drug traffickers and cash launderers and that there’s additionally an opportunity that the financial institution accounts for Parbhoe’s firms are getting used to launder cash.
Earlier than diving deeper into the latter allegations, it’s first vital to grasp the depths of corruption in Suriname and the way Parbhoe claims to be an antidote to it.
Parbhoe’s Anti-Corruption Political Marketing campaign
In response to a 2022 report from the U.S. Division of State, virtually each sector of Suriname’s authorities has been accused of corruption. These sectors embrace the central financial institution of Suriname and state-owned firms, together with the nation’s nationwide airline, Surinam Airways, and the federal government medical health insurance firm, SZF.
A few of the highest-ranking people within the nation have additionally been concerned in corruption, because the nation’s present vice chairman has been convicted of drug trafficking and the nation’s former president, Dési Bouterse, was convicted of drug trafficking and homicide and sentenced to twenty years in jail.
Parbhoe billed herself as an anti-corruption presidential candidate in Suriname’s upcoming elections, that are slated to happen on Might 25, 2025.
As a part of her messaging, she typically mentions how her father was murdered for talking out in opposition to corruption within the nation, and he or she says that she desires to hold on his legacy by talking out in opposition to corruption in Suriname, as nicely.
The a part of this story that Parbhoe has overlooked as she’s recounted it time and time once more, although, is that her father had two Colombian companions in his on line casino enterprise who he knew had been additionally concerned in drug trafficking and cash laundering. In response to a former senior advisor for Parbhoe’s marketing campaign, Shamay, Parbhoe is conscious that her father knew he was in enterprise with these folks, as she has informed him as a lot.
Micah Dunford, a retired Inexperienced Beret and CEO of Greyscale Safety, an organization that Parbhoe contracted to guard her throughout the starting of April, when she gave start to her daughter, knowledgeable Bitcoin Journal that reported intel from the U.S. authorities states that Parbhoe’s father was knowingly concerned with “nefarious actors” and was murdered by “narco terrorists.”
[Author’s note: Dunford would like to make it clear that he only shared the information above as well as other information in this piece about a client of his because he is a Bitcoin enthusiast and feels that Parbhoe is doing a great disservice to the Bitcoin community and to Bitcoin’s reputation.]
After I initially interviewed Parbhoe in July 2024, she provided an account of her father’s enterprise dealings that didn’t embrace his knowingly being in enterprise with drug traffickers and cash launderers. She caught to her unique story and denied that her father was in enterprise with two Colombian drug traffickers after I lately reached out to her to ask her in regards to the matter.
“My father was in enterprise with Dorsett Resorts,” Parbhoe informed Bitcoin Journal through e-mail.
“It was a publicly traded firm within the U.S. and he purchased $500,000 in shares so he could possibly be in investor conferences. My father went to the then Minister of Justice, Santhokhi, and all authorities, together with the three letter businesses, when he realized what was happening,” she added.
“His case in opposition to de [De] Surinaamsche Financial institution is at present being delayed by the president at our highest courtroom of justice. The case in opposition to the CEO, COO and Supervisor from Dorsett goes to courtroom on April twenty eighth. I’m his solely residing inheritor preventing this case.”
If Parbhoe’s father was knowingly in enterprise with drug traffickers and if Parbhoe knew that he knew this and continues to omit it from the story of her father’s homicide that she tells the media, what she’s doing is a part of a broader development on the subject of among the tales she tells — together with the one about her changing into president of Suriname.
Suriname’s Electoral System
In Suriname’s political system, a parliamentary democracy, voters elect candidates to signify them in parliament, the 51-member Nationwide Meeting.
Traditionally, most voters vote for the chief of a political social gathering, and if that chief gained sufficient votes for multiple seat, the extra seats went to members of their identical social gathering in predetermined order based mostly on their place on the social gathering’s candidate listing — the upper on the listing, the higher the chances of profitable a parliamentary seat.
Though it was technically attainable for a candidate decrease on the listing to be elected into parliament instantly if sufficient folks vote on this candidate particularly (quite than the social gathering chief), this not often occurred.
As soon as parliamentarians had been elected, coalitions would kind in parliament, and its members would then vote on a president. The Nationwide Meeting would then elect the president by a two-thirds vote — 34 of 51.
This dynamic will partially shift in upcoming elections, although, as Suriname is implementing a brand new “one particular person, one vote” system.
Suriname’s New Electoral System: One Particular person, One Vote
In August 2020, the Constitutional Courtroom of Suriname dominated the previous electoral legislation in Suriname unconstitutional in that it violated the precept of 1 particular person, one vote, in keeping with the aforementioned 2022 report from the U.S. Division of State.
The doc states that “the courtroom discovered that votes in rural, much less populated districts outweighed these in city, extra populated areas, because it required far fewer votes to win a seat for the Nationwide Meeting in rural districts [and it] mandated that the federal government and Nationwide Meeting amend the laws as quickly as attainable for the 2025 elections to happen on time.”
Underneath the brand new system, every voter votes for one member of parliament, and every social gathering has 51 candidates for the 51 seats of parliament.
Seats are divided between the completely different political events based mostly on the entire variety of votes on all candidates for these events. These seats then go to the candidates of every of those events that bought probably the most votes individually. So, if a political social gathering will get (say) 5 seats in parliament, these 5 seats will go to the 5 candidates of that social gathering with probably the most particular person votes; their rating on the social gathering’s candidate listing is irrelevant.
Any group of not less than seven members of parliament (no matter social gathering affiliation) can submit a candidate for president. Parliament then votes based mostly on that listing of candidates, and a two-thirds majority vote determines who wins the presidency.
Parbhoe’s Technique To Develop into President
Parbhoe, who shouldn’t be the top of the political social gathering with which she’s affiliated, the Nationwide Get together of Suriname (NPS), is seeking to capitalize on this new system by aiming to get as many votes as attainable within the common election.
She mentioned that she would want 5,380 votes to win a seat in parliament, which she believes she will get. (This appears logical in that 283,834 folks voted in Suriname’s 2020 election, and if every of the 51 candidates elected to parliament obtained 5,380 votes, this could imply that 274,380 folks voted, which could be very near the voter turnout from the earlier election. Additionally, beneath the previous electoral system, Parbhoe would have wanted a minimal of seven,000 votes as a candidate based mostly in Paramaribo, the most important constituency within the nation.)
A ballot carried out on April 21, 2025 reveals that NPS might win 10 seats in parliament (7 greater than they at present have), however the ballot doesn’t point out which of NPS’s candidates are hottest.
Nevertheless, this doesn’t matter a lot to Parbhoe anyway as a result of profitable a seat in parliament is what she calls a “worst case situation.”
It is because her objective isn’t to develop into a member of parliament — it’s to develop into president.
“I’m not working for a seat within the Nationwide Meeting,” she wrote in an e-mail to me.
Parbhoe is aiming for a best-case situation through which she will get probably the most votes within the nation, as “often, the candidate with probably the most votes will get elected by members of parliament to develop into president,” in keeping with her. (What she didn’t point out, although, is that the candidate who virtually all the time will get probably the most votes is the chief of the most important political social gathering.)
She acknowledged that the chief of NPS, Gregory Rusland, is one among her largest rivals. A report reveals that in a current ballot on the preferred presidential candidates in Suriname, Rusland ranked fourth. (Parbhoe wasn’t talked about within the report.)
Parbhoe believes that a part of her edge is that she’s a youthful candidate (She is 37 years previous). She famous that Rusland is over 60 years of age, whereas the vast majority of the voters within the nation are beneath the age of 45.
Parbhoe additionally added that “many of the candidates which have introduced that they’re working for president have an equal shot [of winning] as I do,” with out commenting on what these odds are.
The Decreased Significance of Rank Inside Political Events in Suriname
In a Reddit publish on April 13, Michel Greijmans, a businessman based mostly in Curaçao who visited Suriname for work in February, commented that Parbhoe has much less of an opportunity of profitable the presidency as a result of she is ranked quantity 21 throughout the NPS.
What Greijmans didn’t acknowledge, although — in all probability as a result of he was not aware about this data — is that Parbhoe, by her personal account, strategically chosen this rating of quantity 21 as an ode to Bitcoin, as a result of rank inside a celebration is usually irrelevant now anyway.
Parbhoe first knowledgeable me of her doing this through textual content weeks again when her rank throughout the social gathering was first introduced, and he or she reiterated this to me in our most up-to-date communications.
Had she not chosen quantity 21, she mentioned she would have opted for a rating on the backside of the listing of her social gathering (quantity 50 or 51). In Surinamese parliamentary system — not less than within the older model of it — when a candidate selects the bottom rating inside a celebration, it’s a sign that they aren’t essentially working for a seat in parliament, however are on the listing simply to endorse a specific social gathering. (Such a candidate is typically known as a Lijstduwer, which interprets to “listing pusher,” and it exists within the Surinamese and Dutch parliamentary programs. Record pushers typically embrace celebrities, artists, or athletes who haven’t any intention of serving in parliament.)
Such a candidate is typically known as a Lijstduwer, which interprets to “listing pusher,” and it exists within the Surinamese and Dutch parliamentary programs. Record pushers typically embrace celebrities, artists, or athletes who haven’t any intention of serving in parliament. (Such a candidate in Suriname’s present electoral race is Ingrid Bouterse-Waldring, widow of the late Dési Bouterse, the aforementioned former president of Suriname. She’s ranked quantity 51 throughout the NPS.)
So, apart from Parbhoe’s being a brand new, younger candidate, what else is she doing to distinguish herself from the competitors?
Nicely, she’s broadcasted to the worldwide Bitcoin neighborhood that she plans to interchange Suriname’s nationwide forex, which has a median yearly inflation charge of 8.7% and which spiked as excessive as 59% in 2020, with bitcoin.
Nevertheless, those that’ve visited Parbhoe in Suriname and who’ve reported again to the worldwide Bitcoin neighborhood have mentioned that Bitcoin is hardly a part of her messaging throughout the nation and that her technique to interchange the nationwide forex with bitcoin gained’t work.
The Actuality On The Floor: Parbhoe’s Lack Of A Bitcoin Technique
Greijmans, in his aforementioned Reddit publish, talked about that, in his expertise on the bottom in Suriname, nobody outdoors of Bitcoin circles knew who Parbhoe was and that these inside Bitcoin circles within the nation didn’t need to speak about her.
Dr. Jack Kruse, who’d met with Parbhoe on the bottom in Suriname in February and even gave a nationally-televised discuss on reforming Suriname at an NPS occasion throughout this go to, claimed on X that Greijmans’ expertise was akin to his personal.
I adopted up with Greijmans to study extra about his expertise on the bottom.
Greijmans’ Take
“The truth that the folks I spoke to didn’t need to speak about her raised issues for me,” Greijmans informed Bitcoin Journal.
Greijmans didn’t converse up about his expertise instantly after his go to, although, as a result of he felt it was attainable that members of the native Bitcoin neighborhood had been merely attempting to distance the neighborhood that they had been constructing from her marketing campaign.
He additionally famous that members of the Bitcoin neighborhood on the bottom in Suriname are doing “large work” and that he doesn’t need the harm that Parbhoe is perhaps doing to blow again on the neighborhood there. (Kemal Yaşar, Advertising Director for Blink Pockets, confirmed that the variety of transactions by Blink customers in Suriname elevated 2,389% from July 2024 to March 2025.)
To Parbhoe’s credit score, she established the Bitcoin neighborhood that Greijmans visited, Bitcoin Sranan, in 2021.
Greijmans additionally famous that as of the second week of April, Parbhoe had revamped her web site, eradicating all claims that she is working for president.
His principal problem with Parbhoe was that she was projecting a picture to the world about her candidacy that’s removed from the truth on the bottom.
He mentioned that one among his motivations in writing the Reddit piece was to let the worldwide neighborhood know that Parbhoe gave the impression to be benefiting from the truth that it was straightforward for her to challenge a sure picture to a global viewers, as her actions are troublesome to audit for many who aren’t on the bottom in Suriname.
“I needed to not less than alert folks like, ‘Hey, pay attention, you’re coping with a tradition, a political system, a rustic that’s very opaque to its worldwide viewers,’” mentioned Greijmans.
Parbhoe’s Chief Financial Advisor’s Take
Rahim Taghizadegan, Parbhoe’s chief financial advisor, claimed in a current X publish that, when he visited Suriname, he additionally discovered that the truth on the bottom was completely different from the picture Parbhoe had been projecting to the world.
“It didn’t shock me within the slightest that the on-the-ground actuality — relating to each Bitcoin adoption and Maya’s precise position — fell considerably in need of the media hype,” wrote Taghizadegan.
Taghizadegan additionally talked about that he’d communicated to Parbhoe that her plan to make bitcoin the first forex in Suriname wasn’t lifelike, an evaluation she wasn’t keen on.
“Maya disliked my evaluation that her proposal to transform the nationwide forex instantly into [b]itcoin by governmental decree was unfeasible,” he wrote.
Moreover, Taghizadegan additionally famous Parbhoe’s shortcomings as a businesswoman.
“Her enterprise observe report revealed deficiencies in judgment and execution, however this was hardly sudden and fairly typical for somebody transitioning into politics,” he added.
Parbhoe’s Former Senior Marketing campaign Advisor’s Take
Shamay, who first met Parbhoe at Adopting Bitcoin El Salvador in November 2024 and commenced speaking together with her quickly after, visited Parbhoe in Suriname twice, as soon as in January and as soon as in February of this 12 months, additionally voiced issues about Parbhoe based mostly on her lack of capacity to execute in addition to her poor enterprise acumen.
Whereas he was with Parbhoe on the bottom, Parbhoe tearfully informed him that the businesses she’d based — Quickship Logistics, Icarus Geosystems, and Daedalus Labs — weren’t worthwhile, however that she needed to sustain the picture that they had been profitable or she wouldn’t be revered as a younger girl in politics in Suriname. He added that she was very fearful that this reality would possibly get out and break her status.
One other supply accustomed to the matter confirmed that Quickship Logistics shouldn’t be worthwhile, and that Parbhoe makes use of funds from the corporate to pay for private bills.
Shamay was additionally taken again at how disorganized Parbhoe’s political marketing campaign was.
He mentioned that the marketing campaign was being run from her lounge sofa with a couple of unpaid group members and that there was “no dialogue about bitcoin.”
“Parbhoe didn’t have a Bitcoin platform inside Suriname,” mentioned Shamay.
Due to what he noticed in his visits with Parbhoe, he withheld a mid-six-figure donation that he deliberate to present to her marketing campaign.
A Greyscale Safety Crew Members’ Take
One of many members from Greyscale’s safety group who went to Suriname wasn’t as involved about Parbhoe’s lack of concentrate on bitcoin, which he nonetheless famous, as he was with how Parbhoe handled the much less lucky within the nation.
“She speaks to folks based mostly on how they costume and the way they current themselves,” the safety group member informed Bitcoin Journal.
“If they’re poor, you’ll be able to inform that she doesn’t give a flying shit about them. We’d stroll by way of the streets, and if any individual walked previous her or walked too near her, she would act like they had been soiled — she didn’t like some of these folks being round her,” he added.
(Taghizadegan additionally commented on Parbhoe’s habits towards others in his X publish. He wrote that “She was unkind to many individuals.”)
Parbhoe additionally demeaned and belittled each this safety group member and his accomplice on the bottom, he mentioned.
In response to the safety group member, she requested him how a lot cash he made, and when he informed her, she responded by saying, “I didn’t know you’re one of many poors.”
The safety group member additionally famous that Parbhoe’s critique of him appeared ironic since Parbhoe herself didn’t appear to have a lot cash (although, he reported that she owns a Mercedes-Benz), and virtually each supply for this piece mentioned that Parbhoe both owes them cash, owes somebody that they know cash, or owes somebody with whom she works cash.
In response to the safety group member, she repeatedly requested to both borrow cash from him or for him to pay for issues like her groceries or dinner at a restaurant as a result of she couldn’t afford them.
Mockingly, Parbhoe claims that having to pay Greyscale, which supplied its providers to her at a reduction, is a part of the rationale she doesn’t have the funds she must run her marketing campaign correctly or to assist these she claims to assist.
“[My] probabilities [of winning] lower if I pay firms like Greyscale 3x for [a] contract and so they deplete us out of funds,” wrote Parbhoe, alluding to the notion that Greyscale had overcharged her.
“I’ve initiatives for the academics (portray faculties, supplies for the youngsters), orphanages (we nonetheless ship meals day by day and have additionally deliberate sports activities/play days for them) and nurses (they’ve deliberate supply of 70 baggage with merchandise new mothers want) with deadlines and now much less sources to finish,” she added.
“If I would like to select between airtime, billboards, and precise initiatives that assist folks, I’ll all the time choose the latter.”
(Shamay informed me that she lately bought a billboard for her marketing campaign for $35,000.)
Parbhoe additionally suffers from insomnia, in keeping with the safety group member, and each hour and a half throughout the evening, Parbhoe would come out of her room and switch the lights on within the room through which the safety group members had been sleeping on couches.
“She would flip the lights on and say ‘If I’m awake, you’re awake,’” mentioned the safety group member.
What’s extra, early one morning, she made the safety group member with whom I spoke transfer to the ground to sleep.
“She got here out to the sofa and mentioned, ‘You’re in my spot — get out. You possibly can sleep on the ground,’” mentioned the safety group member. “For the remainder of the time that we stayed at that home, I simply slept on the ground within the kitchen, and it was horrible.”
Moreover, this safety group additionally mentioned that Parbhoe turned paranoid that her stepfather was attempting to kill her as a result of he’d left a cereal field on a panini press in her hospital room. She thought he was attempting to start out a hearth subsequent to her mattress.
This kind of paranoia and irrational considering had began weeks earlier, and the broader world began to get a glimpse of it on April 2, 2025.
The SOS and ‘Assist’ Messages On X
On April 2, Parbhoe posted each a “Assist” message on X and likewise recorded a 6-minute House entitled “Life and household beneath menace. SOS,” which didn’t characteristic any proof of a menace. Each the tweet and the House had been solely lately deleted.
Many within the Bitcoin neighborhood who’re on X turned involved, as there have been no experiences of her standing for the hours that adopted.
Hours after the unique messages, she posted one other message on X through which she said “The US Secret Service is right here in Suriname to guard me and to assist me uncover corruption.” (This message has since been deleted.)
Days later, Parbhoe said in an X publish that it was as a result of she was “beneath heavy medicine and recovering from childbirth” that she inaccurately posted in regards to the Secret Service defending her. The latter portion of that assertion is unfaithful, although, as a result of Parbhoe hadn’t given start by the point she’d revealed the X publish.
Moreover, two sources confirmed that Parbhoe was beneath no fast menace when she made the preliminary two posts.
Hiring Greyscale
Within the days main as much as Parbhoe’s getting into the hospital in preparation to present start, she grew more and more paranoid that “they” had been going to kill or hurt her whereas she was giving start.
“They” included the hospital employees and her political opposition. Dunford surmised that Parbhoe’s emotional state on this scenario was a results of a mixture of her being each paranoid and irrational partially as a result of she was being “managed by the opposition.”
“She is beneath their thumb,” mentioned Dunford. “They most definitely needed to chop ties as a result of she wasn’t endorsed to run a marketing campaign and/or went off the reservation both politically or businesswise with whomever she is in mattress with — which is most likely a combo of presidency [officials] and narcos, that are synonymous in Suriname.” (Extra on this within the following part.)
Round this time, Parbhoe despatched repeated erratic messages to the cofounder of Bitcasa Houses, Amanda Daybreak.
Daybreak had been launched to Parbhoe a 12 months and a half prior, and the 2 had labored collectively in a small capability as their respective firms (Daedalus Labs for Parbhoe) had been centered on the intersection of bitcoin and actual property.
On March 26, 2025, Parboe had reached out to Daybreak, frantically claiming that her life was being threatened.
Daybreak was rattled by the desperation in Parbhoe’s voice. (I can relate to how Daybreak probably felt, as I’ve obtained my fair proportion of panicked messages from Parbhoe, particularly as her little one’s due date approached. She has a powerful capacity to arouse sympathy and/or empathy from these with whom she engages.)
Daybreak, who believed deeply in Parbhoe’s alleged pro-Bitcoin mission in Suriname, reached out to a contact at Bitcoin Veterans, stating that she wanted to shortly discover safety for Parbhoe.
That contact linked her with Dunford at Greyscale.
Dunford was accustomed to Parbhoe’s purported mission to convey Bitcoin to the folks of Suriname and agreed to supply his firm’s providers to Parbhoe whereas waiving his private charge.
Within the following days, Dunford despatched two of his group members to protect Parbhoe, one a fight medic who’s able to delivering infants, as she gave start.
Parbhoe didn’t signal the contract with Greyscale, as she claimed she was being pressured to take action beneath duress, however Dunford despatched assist regardless. (Parbhoe by no means did signal the contract, which included a nondisclosure settlement. That is another excuse Dunford is snug sharing details about the ordeal.)
Peter Kroll, founding father of BTC Curaçao, despatched bitcoin to Parbhoe for the aim of paying the Greyscale invoice.
Kroll additionally donated 0.5 bitcoin to Parbhoe throughout the latter a part of 2024 and urged others to observe his lead by donating, although, he now regrets doing so.
He mentioned that he very a lot believed in Parbhoe — somebody he’d met by way of the digital Bitcoin neighborhood Eenentwintig. He added that she had credibility as a result of she’d “put time into the Bitcoin neighborhood.”
Parbhoe gave start the day the Greyscale guards arrived.
And whereas Dunford’s males had been with Parbhoe within the hospital and again at her residence, a contact within the U.S. authorities shared intel on Parbhoe with Dunford.
That intel included details about Parbhoe being “managed opposition” and doubtlessly being concerned with cash laundering.
Managed Opposition
Dunford shared that he was shocked when he obtained this data on Parbhoe, because it shattered his phantasm of her.
He needed to imagine she was the subsequent Nayib Bukele — one other pro-Bitcoin president — however what he realized from the intel modified his views on Parbhoe.
“She’s linked in with nefarious folks,” Dunford informed Bitcoin Journal. “She’s managed opposition — it’s not an actual candidacy.”
As talked about, managed opposition refers to a scenario the place voters really feel they’ve an possibility in an election, however the possibility is both owned financially or coerced into complying with the sitting energy in some method.
In Parbhoe’s case, Dunford believes that each are at play.
“The powers that be within the nation have coerced her by way of monetary manipulation and so they personal her,” mentioned Dunford.
“This fashion, they might be certain that even when she bought into some kind of energy, that they might by no means be extradited to the EU,” he added. (After I first spoke with Parbhoe in July 2024, she mentioned that the leaders of her nation worry extradition, as a result of, if extradited, they might be tried for the worldwide crimes they’ve allegedly dedicated.)
“She places on a coverage platform that may make the folks suppose, ‘Yeah, we’re going to struggle the powers — we’re going to implement Bitcoin, blah, blah, blah, and that simply isn’t true as a result of they’re pulling her puppet strings.”
Dunford additionally shared that he’s a specialist in managed opposition and knowledge operations (i.e., propaganda campaigns). He added that he trains particular operations forces (e.g., Inexperienced Berets) on these matters.
On the night earlier than the 2 Greyscale safety group members left Suriname, “unknown entities, maybe members of nationwide safety providers,” tried a pressured entry into the lodge room through which the 2 Greyscale group members had been staying to “change a lightbulb,” because the unknown individuals put it, in keeping with Dunford.
“Talking as a man that does this, when you’ve got dangerous placement on a microphone or a digicam, you’re not going to know that till you get again and also you begin to assess the audio and video — you would possibly notice you’ll be able to’t hear the dialog or that there’s one thing blocking the digicam,” defined Dunford.
“So, they despatched 5 actually burly dudes to get into the lodge room to repair the batteries and the sunshine or no matter it was, however we assessed that they had been making a battery, digicam, or microphone adjustment to right their preliminary placement.”
I used to be in contact with these two Greyscale group members through textual content as this case within the lodge performed out, and so they appeared genuinely involved about their security.
With that mentioned, I used to be not capable of finding additional data to corroborate that Parbhoe is “managed opposition,” as Dunford put it.
Is Parbhoe Concerned With Cash Laundering?
In response to Dunford, intel derived from a man-made intelligence system constructed by the U.S. authorities states that there’s a extremely credible likelihood that the financial institution accounts for Quickship Logistics and Icarus Geosystems are getting used to launder funds.
A supply aware about financial institution information at Quickship Logistics mentioned he didn’t get the sense that this kind of exercise was taking place by way of the corporate’s financial institution accounts, although.
If one among Parbhoe’s accounts had been getting used for such exercise, it might extra probably be the account for Icarus Geosystems, an organization that builds infrastructure equivalent to roads in distant areas of the nation.
Parbhoe is the monetary director of this firm, and six-figure sums of cash steadily circulation by way of a checking account for the corporate, as per financial institution information obtained by Bitcoin Journal.
I requested Parbhoe through e-mail what among the six-figure deposits had been for through e-mail and he or she responded with the next:
“Although Icarus is a non-public firm, I can share that that’s income from initiatives at present in progress at Newmont and housing improvement and a retaining wall/channel challenge in Guyana.”
(Newmont is brief for Newmont Company. The corporate has a subsidiary referred to as Newmont Suriname, LLC — previously Suriname Gold Firm, LLC — which is {a partially} state-owned firm.)
An organization with the phrase “Newmont” in its title did actually make a six-figure deposit on February 14, 2025.
In my analysis, I couldn’t discover something to verify or corroborate the notion that funds are being laundered by way of Parbhoe’s firms’ financial institution accounts, nor that she is concerned with cash laundering in every other method.
Delusional, However Not A Legal Mastermind
Plenty of sources described Parbhoe as “delusional,” “narcissistic,” and “mentally unstable,” however virtually all of them had been reluctant to name her a prison.
“She’s extra delusional than fraudulent,” is how one supply put it. “She’s additionally excellent at spinning the reality.”
In my private interactions with Parbhoe, I’ve witnessed her stretch the reality on plenty of events.
An instance of that is final 12 months at Bitcoin Amsterdam the place I overheard her inform somebody that she is an Oxford Alumni, when, in actuality, she’s solely accomplished a weeks-long certificates program on the college — not a correct diploma.
The place Did the Bitcoin Donations Go?
In response to Mick, the founding father of Geyser Fund, Parbhoe’s Geyser marketing campaign raised roughly $70,000 price of bitcoin, as per bitcoin at a value of roughly $90,000.
(Different donors additionally donated to her marketing campaign outdoors of Geyser, however these quantities haven’t been made public.)
Due to current experiences of Parbhoe’s lack of forthrightness, Geyser Fund has taken down Parbhoe’s “Maya for President” donations web page.
For a while, Parbhoe revealed a marketing campaign funds tracker, and he or she appeared to take delight in being clear about the place the funds had been going.
She’s lately taken down the marketing campaign funds tracker, although.
After I requested Parbhoe for an summary of bills, she supplied me with a hyperlink to this doc (screenshot under), which solely has eight line gadgets.
Taghizadegan talked about in his X publish that some funds had been spent on bringing famend economist Arthur Laffer to Suriname to publicly voice his help for Parbhoe on the bottom and on digicam.
Parbhoe supplied extra data on this in my e-mail communication together with her.
“Arthur Laffer was engaged by a 3rd social gathering and paid by him, John, who himself negotiated phrases with Dr. Laffer,” wrote Parbhoe. “He’s engaged to be financial advisor as soon as [I’m] elected.”
(Parbhoe didn’t make it clear who “John” was, however judging by the context within the e-mail, it appears he was a serious donor to the marketing campaign.)
Whereas in Suriname, Parbhoe carried out an on-camera interview with Laffer, which was revealed through the Bitcoin Journal YouTube channel.
(When Parbhoe reached out to me about publishing the video, which I helped facilitate, she didn’t point out that Laffer was paid to go to Suriname.)
Within the interview with Parbhoe, Laffer spoke about Parbhoe’s plans for Bitcoin adoption on the bottom in Suriname.
Nevertheless, there are not any experiences of him talking about Bitcoin adoption with these with whom he engaged whereas on the bottom in Suriname, even if he spoke with NPS about cash and authorities financing.
“He gave a presentation for the NPS, which had a terrific affect on how the social gathering views taxes and financial incentives,” wrote Parbhoe.
Parbhoe additionally paid Daniel Batten $2,500 in whole, although half of that funding got here from Daedalus Labs, in keeping with her.
Parbhoe wrote that Batten’s providers had been useful partially as a result of the respiration strategies he taught her helped her to deal with a scenario that occurred roughly one week earlier than she gave start through which she was hospitalized and claims she was taken off of IV and left with out water whereas she wanted to be hydrated. She communicated this story to me shortly after this occurred and believed it was an try on her life.
Shamay, who claims to have labored for her professional bono, mentioned that she’d agreed to pay her marketing campaign supervisor $15,000 per thirty days, however her most up-to-date marketing campaign supervisor give up after solely being paid $8,500 after two months.
Parbhoe’s aforementioned billboard expense value the marketing campaign $35,000, and he or she paid Greyscale $27,000 for its providers.
Parbhoe Continues On
Parbhoe continues to marketing campaign regardless of the challenges she’s confronted as of late. Nevertheless, she additionally says that the start of her little one has put the election in perspective for her.
“These previous couple of weeks, I’ve undergone extra trauma than I’ve endured my complete life,” wrote Parbhoe.
“The considered dropping my daughter, if you happen to had given me 21 million Bitcoin, I might have spent all of it to save lots of her life. No election is price her life,” she added.
“At this level, I don’t care if I win.”
Parbhoe additionally said that whether or not or not she wins the election, she’ll proceed to struggle for Bitcoin adoption in Suriname previous election day.
“I’ll do my greatest, I’ll struggle for [my daughter’s] future and proceed past Might twenty fifth,” wrote Parbhoe.
She concluded her ultimate e-mail to me with a quote from Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto:
“Should you don’t imagine me or don’t get it, I don’t have time to attempt to persuade you, sorry.”
What Parbhoe appeared to overlook in making this ultimate assertion is that campaigning for political workplace is actually the method of convincing folks that you just’re the fitting particular person for the job. And, proper now, many, together with plenty of former members of her group, don’t appear to really feel that she is.
I don’t know for certain whether or not Parbhoe is managed opposition or if she’s simply somebody struggling to execute a imaginative and prescient.
However I do know that belief is a troublesome factor to win again — particularly on the subject of the Bitcoin neighborhood — and her lack of forthrightness has carried out appreciable harm to her status.
Having been in contact with Parbhoe on a semi-regular foundation for the previous eight months, I’d think about, in her thoughts, her plan seemed one thing like this:
Announce underdog candidacy and leverage connections within the Bitcoin area. Bitcoiners from all over the world come to my help with donations and different varieties of marketing campaign help. Forge a slim path to victory to highest political place in Suriname, regardless of very low odds of such an final result.
A few of this performed out. The issue was that many who supported her ultimately rescinded their efforts once they noticed up shut what was taking place with Parbhoe.
However probably the most maddening a part of this entire situation is that if Dunford is true in that Parbhoe is “managed opposition” — that her marketing campaign has been little greater than a ruse and that she’s working with “nefarious actors” behind the scenes — then the vast majority of this piece was written for naught and Parbhoe ought to merely be labeled as the primary main scammer of this cycle.
If so, please settle for my apology for serving to to platform Parbhoe through Bitcoin Journal.
And whether or not that is the case or not, this case has been a powerful reminder of the favored Bitcoin-related adage: Don’t belief, confirm.
A few of us — myself included — mustn’t so readily imagine that sure characters on this area, particularly political figures, are all the pieces they purport to be.
