Final yr, 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 a way she might assist Suriname as president each on-line and in particular person at conferences comparable to Bitcoin Amsterdam.
Outstanding members of the Bitcoin neighborhood comparable to Bitcoin mining analyst and management coach Daniel Batten have vouched for Parbhoe in latest months, whereas Jan3 CEO Samson Mow was the one who inspired Parbhoe to run for president. I, too, helped convey consideration to her candidacy.
Nonetheless, in latest 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 studies declare that Parbhoe has overstated her odds of changing into president of Suriname to the worldwide neighborhood and that her political messaging inside the nation has had little to nothing to do with Bitcoin.
What’s extra, some studies that at the moment are reaching the worldwide Bitcoin viewers additionally contend that Parbhoe’s candidacy is just not well-known inside Suriname. And whereas Parbhoe has positioned herself as an advocate for these inside her nation who’re struggling financially, one supply instructed Bitcoin Journal that she has disdain for the nation’s poor.
On prime of that, reported intel from the U.S. authorities estimates that Parbhoe could also be working as “controlled opposition,” a political determine who serves as a placeholder for people who they purport to be towards. In accordance with 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.
Before diving deeper into the latter allegations, it’s first essential to know 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 accordance with 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 vp 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 towards corruption within the nation, and he or she says that she desires to hold on his legacy by talking out towards corruption in Suriname, as effectively.
The a part of this story that Parbhoe has disregarded 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 have been additionally concerned in drug trafficking and cash laundering. In accordance with a former senior advisor for Parbhoe’s marketing campaign, Shamay, Parbhoe is conscious that her father knew he was in enterprise with these individuals, as she has instructed him as a lot.
Micah Dunford, a retired Inexperienced Beret and CEO of Greyscale Safety, an organization that Parbhoe contracted to guard her in the course of the starting of April, when she gave beginning 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.]
Once 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 authentic story and denied that her father was in enterprise with two Colombian drug traffickers after I not too long ago reached out to her to ask her in regards to the matter.
“My father was in business with Dorsett Resorts,” Parbhoe instructed Bitcoin Journal through e mail.
“It was a publicly traded company in the U.S. and he bought $500,000 in shares so he could be in investor meetings. My father went to the then Minister of Justice, Santhokhi, and all authorities, including the three letter agencies, when he realized what was going on,” she added.
“His case against de [De] Surinaamsche Bank is currently being delayed by the president at our highest court of justice. The case against the CEO, COO and Manager from Dorsett goes to court on April 28th. I am his only living heir fighting 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 in relation to a few of 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 characterize 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 primarily based on their place on the social gathering’s candidate checklist — the upper on the checklist, the higher the chances of profitable a parliamentary seat.
Though it was technically doable for a candidate decrease on the checklist to be elected into parliament immediately if sufficient individuals vote on this candidate particularly (relatively than the social gathering chief), this hardly ever occurred.
As soon as parliamentarians have 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 person, one vote” system.
Suriname’s New Electoral System: One Individual, One Vote
In August 2020, the Constitutional Court docket of Suriname dominated the previous electoral regulation in Suriname unconstitutional in that it violated the precept of 1 particular person, one vote, in accordance with the aforementioned 2022 report from the U.S. Division of State.
The doc states that “the court found that votes in rural, less populated districts outweighed those in urban, more populated areas, since it required far fewer votes to win a seat for the National Assembly in rural districts [and it] mandated that the government and National Assembly amend the legislation as soon as possible for the 2025 elections to take place on time.”
Below 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 totally different political events primarily based on the overall variety of votes on all candidates for these events. These seats then go to the candidates of every of those events that obtained essentially 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 essentially the most particular person votes; their rating on the social gathering’s candidate checklist is irrelevant.
Any group of at the very least seven members of parliament (no matter social gathering affiliation) can submit a candidate for president. Parliament then votes primarily based on that checklist of candidates, and a two-thirds majority vote determines who wins the presidency.
Parbhoe’s Technique To Become President
Parbhoe, who is just not the top of the political social gathering with which she’s affiliated, the Nationwide Social gathering of Suriname (NPS), is seeking to capitalize on this new system by aiming to get as many votes as doable within the normal election.
She mentioned that she would want 5,380 votes to win a seat in parliament, which she believes she will be able to get. (This appears logical in that 283,834 individuals voted in Suriname’s 2020 election, and if every of the 51 candidates elected to parliament acquired 5,380 votes, this might imply that 274,380 individuals voted, which may be very near the voter turnout from the earlier election. Additionally, underneath the previous electoral system, Parbhoe would have wanted a minimal of seven,000 votes as a candidate primarily based in Paramaribo, the biggest constituency within the nation.)
A ballot performed on April 21, 2025 reveals that NPS could win 10 seats in parliament (7 greater than they presently have), however the ballot doesn’t point out which of NPS’s candidates are hottest.
Nonetheless, 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 scenario.”
It is because her aim isn’t to change into a member of parliament — it’s to change into president.
“I am not running for a seat in the National Assembly,” she wrote in an e mail to me.
Parbhoe is aiming for a best-case situation through which she will get essentially the most votes within the nation, as “usually, the candidate with the most votes gets elected by members of parliament to become president,” in accordance with her. (What she didn’t point out, although, is that the candidate who virtually at all times will get essentially the most votes is the chief of the largest political social gathering.)
She acknowledged that the chief of NPS, Gregory Rusland, is considered one of her greatest opponents. A report reveals that in a latest 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 nearly all of the voters within the nation are underneath the age of 45.
Parbhoe additionally added that “most of the candidates that have announced that they are running 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 put up on April 13, Michel Greijmans, a businessman primarily based 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 inside the NPS.
What Greijmans didn’t acknowledge, although — in all probability as a result of he was not aware of 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 inside 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 checklist of her social gathering (quantity 50 or 51). In Surinamese parliamentary system — at the very least 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 checklist simply to endorse a selected social gathering. (One of these candidate is usually known as a Lijstduwer, which interprets to “list pusher,” and it exists within the Surinamese and Dutch parliamentary methods. Checklist pushers typically embrace celebrities, artists, or athletes who haven’t any intention of serving in parliament.)
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 foreign money, which has a mean yearly inflation price of 8.7% and which spiked as excessive as 59% in 2020, with bitcoin.
Nonetheless, 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 inside the nation and that her technique to interchange the nationwide foreign money with bitcoin gained’t work.
The Actuality On The Floor: Parbhoe’s Lack Of A Bitcoin Technique
Greijmans, in his aforementioned Reddit put up, talked about that, in his expertise on the bottom in Suriname, nobody exterior of Bitcoin circles knew who Parbhoe was and that these inside Bitcoin circles within the nation didn’t wish 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 similar to his personal.
I adopted up with Greijmans to be taught extra about his expertise on the bottom.
Greijmans’ Take
“The fact that the people I spoke to didn’t want to talk about her raised concerns for me,” Greijmans instructed Bitcoin Journal.
Greijmans didn’t converse up about his expertise instantly after his go to, although, as a result of he felt it was doable that members of the native Bitcoin neighborhood have been merely attempting to distance the neighborhood that they have been constructing from her marketing campaign.
He additionally famous that members of the Bitcoin neighborhood on the bottom in Suriname are doing “tremendous work” and that he doesn’t need the injury that Parbhoe could be 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 predominant difficulty with Parbhoe was that she was projecting a picture to the world about her candidacy that’s removed from the fact on the bottom.
He mentioned that considered one of his motivations in writing the Reddit piece was to let the worldwide neighborhood know that Parbhoe appeared to be profiting from the truth that it was simple for her to mission a sure picture to a world viewers, as her actions are tough to audit for many who aren’t on the bottom in Suriname.
“I wanted to at least alert people like, ‘Hey, listen, you’re dealing with a culture, a political system, a country that’s very opaque to its international audience,’” mentioned Greijmans.
Parbhoe’s Chief Financial Advisor’s Take
Rahim Taghizadegan, Parbhoe’s chief financial advisor, claimed in a latest X put up that, when he visited Suriname, he additionally discovered that the fact on the bottom was totally different from the picture Parbhoe had been projecting to the world.
“It did not surprise me in the slightest that the on-the-ground reality — regarding both Bitcoin adoption and Maya’s actual role — fell significantly short of the media hype,” wrote Taghizadegan.
Taghizadegan additionally talked about that he’d communicated to Parbhoe that her plan to make bitcoin the first foreign money in Suriname wasn’t reasonable, an evaluation she wasn’t keen on.
“Maya disliked my assessment that her proposal to convert the national currency directly into [b]itcoin by governmental decree was unfeasible,” he wrote.
Moreover, Taghizadegan additionally famous Parbhoe’s shortcomings as a businesswoman.
“Her business track record revealed deficiencies in judgment and execution, but this was hardly unexpected and quite typical for someone 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 started speaking together with her quickly after, visited Parbhoe in Suriname twice, as soon as in January and as soon as in February of this yr, additionally voiced issues about Parbhoe primarily based on her lack of potential to execute in addition to her poor enterprise acumen.
Whereas he was with Parbhoe on the bottom, Parbhoe tearfully instructed 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 have been profitable or she wouldn’t be revered as a younger lady in politics in Suriname. He added that she was very fearful that this reality may get out and damage her status.
One other supply acquainted with the matter confirmed that Quickship Logistics is just not 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 just a few unpaid staff members and that there was “no discussion about bitcoin.”
“Parbhoe did not have a Bitcoin platform within Suriname,” mentioned Shamay.
Beexplanation for 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 Group Members’ Take
One of many members from Greyscale’s safety staff 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 people based on how they dress and how they present themselves,” the safety staff member instructed Bitcoin Journal.
“If they are poor, you can tell that she does not give a flying shit about them. We would walk through the streets, and if somebody walked past her or walked too close to her, she would act like they were dirty — she did not like these types of people being around her,” he added.
(Taghizadegan additionally commented on Parbhoe’s habits towards others in his X put up. He wrote that “She was unkind to many people.”)
Parbhoe additionally demeaned and belittled each this safety staff member and his companion on the bottom, he mentioned.
In accordance with the safety staff member, she requested him how a lot cash he made, and when he instructed her, she responded by saying, “I didn’t know you’re one of the poors.”
The safety staff 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 accordance with the safety staff 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.
Satirically, Parbhoe claims that having to pay Greyscale, which supplied its providers to her at a reduction, is a part of the explanation she doesn’t have the funds she must run her marketing campaign correctly or to assist these she claims to assist.
“[My] chances [of winning] decrease if I pay companies like Greyscale 3x for [a] contract and they deplete us out of funds,” wrote Parbhoe, alluding to the notion that Greyscale had overcharged her.
“I have projects for the teachers (painting schools, materials for the kids), orphanages (we still deliver food daily and have also planned sports/play days for them) and nurses (they’ve planned delivery of 70 bags with products new moms need) with deadlines and now less resources to complete,” she added.
“If I need to pick between airtime, billboards, and actual projects that help people, I will always pick the latter.”
(Shamay instructed me that she not too long ago bought a billboard for her marketing campaign for $11,000, plus spent $7,000 on different advertising bills.)
Parbhoe additionally suffers from insomnia, in accordance with the safety staff member, and each hour and a half in the course of the night time, Parbhoe would come out of her room and switch the lights on within the room through which the safety staff members have been sleeping on couches.
“She would flip the lights on and say ‘If I’m awake, you’re awake,’” mentioned the safety staff member.
What’s extra, early one morning, she made the safety staff member with whom I spoke transfer to the ground to sleep.
“She came out to the couch and said, ‘You’re in my spot — get out. You can sleep on the floor,’” mentioned the safety staff member. “For the rest of the time that we stayed at that house, I just slept on the floor in the kitchen, and it was horrible.”
Moreover, this safety staff 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 ‘Help’ Messages On X
On April 2, Parbhoe posted each a “Help” message on X and in addition recorded a 6-minute House entitled “Life and family under threat. SOS,” which didn’t characteristic any proof of a menace. Each the tweet and the House have been solely not too long ago deleted.
Many within the Bitcoin neighborhood who’re on X turned involved, as there have been no studies of her standing for the hours that adopted.
Hours after the unique messages, she posted one other message on X through which she acknowledged “The US Secret Service is here in Suriname to protect me and to help me uncover corruption.” (This message has since been deleted.)
Days later, Parbhoe acknowledged in an X put up that it was as a result of she was “under heavy medication 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 beginning by the point she’d revealed the X put up.
Moreover, two sources confirmed that Parbhoe was underneath no quick menace when she made the preliminary two posts.
Hiring Greyscale
Within the days main as much as Parbhoe’s coming into the hospital in preparation to present beginning, she grew more and more paranoid that “they” have been going to kill or hurt her whereas she was giving beginning.
“They” included the hospital workers and her political opposition. Dunford surmised that Parbhoe’s emotional state on this state of affairs was a results of a mixture of her being each paranoid and irrational partially as a result of she was being “controlled by the opposition.”
“She is under their thumb,” mentioned Dunford. “They most likely wanted to cut ties because she wasn’t endorsed to run a campaign and/or went off the reservation either politically or businesswise with whomever she is in bed with — which is most probably a combo of government [officials] and narcos, which 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 yr and a half prior, and the 2 had labored collectively in a small capability as their respective firms (Daedalus Labs for Parbhoe) have been targeted 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 seemingly felt, as I’ve acquired my fair proportion of panicked messages from Parbhoe, particularly as her youngster’s due date approached. She has a powerful potential 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 acquainted with Parbhoe’s purported mission to convey Bitcoin to the individuals of Suriname and agreed to supply his firm’s providers to Parbhoe whereas waiving his private payment.
Within the following days, Dunford despatched two of his staff members to protect Parbhoe, one a fight medic who’s able to delivering infants, as she gave beginning.
Parbhoe didn’t signal the contract with Greyscale, as she claimed she was being pressured to take action underneath 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 comfy 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 in the course of the latter a part of 2024 and urged others to comply with 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 community.”
Parbhoe gave beginning the day the Greyscale guards arrived.
And whereas Dunford’s males have been with Parbhoe within the hospital and again at her house, a contact within the U.S. authorities shared intel on Parbhoe with Dunford.
That intel included details about Parbhoe being “controlled opposition” and probably being concerned with cash laundering.
Managed Opposition
Dunford shared that he was bowled over when he acquired this data on Parbhoe, because it shattered his phantasm of her.
He wished to imagine she was the following 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 people,” Dunford instructed Bitcoin Journal. “She’s controlled opposition — it’s not a real candidacy.”
As talked about, managed opposition refers to a state of affairs 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 in the country have coerced her through financial manipulation and they own her,” mentioned Dunford.
“This way, they could ensure that even if she got into some sort of power, that they would never be extradited to the EU,” he added. (Once I first spoke with Parbhoe in July 2024, she mentioned that the leaders of her nation concern extradition, as a result of, if extradited, they might be tried for the worldwide crimes they’ve allegedly dedicated.)
“She puts on a policy platform that would make the people think, ‘Yeah, we’re going to fight the powers — we’re going to implement Bitcoin, blah, blah, blah, and that just isn’t true because they are 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 subjects.
On the night earlier than the 2 Greyscale safety staff members left Suriname, “unknown entities, perhaps members of national security services,” tried a pressured entry into the lodge room through which the 2 Greyscale staff members have been staying to “change a lightbulb,” because the unknown individuals put it, in accordance with Dunford.
“Speaking as a guy that does this, if you have bad placement on a microphone or a camera, you’re not going to know that until you get back and you start to assess the audio and video — you might realize you can’t hear the conversation or that there’s something blocking the camera,” defined Dunford.
“So, they sent five really burly dudes to get into the hotel room to fix the batteries and the light or whatever it was, but we assessed that they were making a battery, camera, or microphone adjustment to correct their initial placement.”
I used to be in contact with these two Greyscale staff 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 “controlled opposition,” as Dunford put it.
Is Parbhoe Concerned With Cash Laundering?
In accordance with 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 of 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 considered one of Parbhoe’s accounts have been getting used for such exercise, it will extra seemingly be the account for Icarus Geosystems, an organization that builds infrastructure comparable to roads in distant areas of the nation.
Parbhoe is the monetary director of this firm, and six-figure sums of cash incessantly movement 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 a few of the six-figure deposits have been for through e mail and he or she responded with the next:
“Though Icarus is a private company, I can share that that’s revenue from projects currently in progress at Newmont and housing development and a retaining wall/channel project in Guyana.”
(Newmont is brief for Newmont Company. The corporate has a subsidiary known as Newmont Suriname, LLC — previously Suriname Gold Firm, LLC — which is {a partially} state-owned firm.)
An organization with the phrase “Newmont” in its identify did in reality 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 approach.
Delusional, However Not A Felony Mastermind
Quite a lot of sources described Parbhoe as “delusional,” “narcissistic,” and “mentally unstable,” however virtually all of them have been reluctant to name her a prison.
“She’s more delusional than fraudulent,” is how one supply put it. “She’s also very good at spinning the truth.”
In my private interactions with Parbhoe, I’ve witnessed her stretch the reality on a variety of events.
An instance of that is final yr 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 accordance with Mick, the founding father of Geyser Fund, Parbhoe’s Geyser marketing campaign raised roughly $70,000 value of bitcoin, as per bitcoin at a worth of roughly $90,000.
(Different donors additionally donated to her marketing campaign exterior of Geyser, however these quantities haven’t been made public.)
Beexplanation for latest studies 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 satisfaction in being clear about the place the funds have been going.
She’s not too long ago taken down the marketing campaign funds tracker, although.
Once I requested Parbhoe for an outline of bills, she supplied me with a hyperlink to this doc (screenshot under), which solely has eight line objects.
Taghizadegan talked about in his X put up that some funds have been spent on bringing famend economist Arthur Laffer to Suriname to publicly voice his assist for Parbhoe on the bottom and on digital camera.
Parbhoe supplied extra data on this in my e mail communication together with her.
“Arthur Laffer was engaged by a third party and paid by him, John, who himself negotiated terms with Dr. Laffer,” wrote Parbhoe. “He is engaged to be economic advisor once [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 significant donor to the marketing campaign.)
Whereas in Suriname, Parbhoe performed 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.
Nonetheless, there aren’t any studies of him talking about Bitcoin adoption with these with whom he engaged whereas on the bottom in Suriname, although he spoke with NPS about cash and authorities financing.
“He gave a presentation for the NPS, which had a great impact on how the party views taxes and monetary incentives,” wrote Parbhoe.
Parbhoe additionally paid Daniel Batten $2,500 in complete, although half of that funding got here from Daedalus Labs, in accordance with her.
Parbhoe wrote that Batten’s providers have been useful partially as a result of the respiration strategies he taught her helped her to deal with a state of affairs that occurred roughly one week earlier than she gave beginning 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 $17,000 monthly, however her most up-to-date marketing campaign supervisor left the marketing campaign after solely being paid $8,500 after two months.
Parbhoe’s aforementioned billboard and advertising bills value the marketing campaign $17,000, 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. Nonetheless, she additionally says that the beginning of her youngster has put the election in perspective for her.
“These last few weeks, I have undergone more trauma than I have endured my entire life,” wrote Parbhoe.
“The thought of losing my daughter, if you had given me 21 million Bitcoin, I would have spent it all to save her life. No election is worth her life,” she added.
“At this point, I don’t care if I win.”
Parbhoe additionally acknowledged 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 best, I’ll fight for [my daughter’s] future and continue beyond May 25th,” wrote Parbhoe.
She concluded her last e mail to me with a quote from Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto:
“If you don’t believe me or don’t get it, I don’t have time to try to convince you, sorry.”
What Parbhoe appeared to overlook in making this last assertion is that campaigning for political workplace is actually the method of convincing individuals that you just’re the fitting particular person for the job. And, proper now, many, together with a variety of former members of her staff, don’t appear to really feel that she is.
I don’t know for positive 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 tough factor to win again — particularly in relation to the Bitcoin neighborhood — and her lack of forthrightness has completed appreciable injury 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 around the globe come to my help with donations and different forms of marketing campaign help.
- Forge a slender path to victory to highest political place in Suriname, regardless of very low odds of such an end result.
A few of this performed out. The issue was that many who supported her finally rescinded their efforts once they noticed up shut what was taking place with Parbhoe.
However essentially the most maddening a part of this entire situation is that if Dunford is true in that Parbhoe is “controlled opposition” — that her marketing campaign has been little greater than a ruse and that she’s working with “nefarious actors” behind the scenes — then nearly all of this piece was written for naught and Parbhoe ought to merely be categorized as the primary main scammer of this cycle.
If that is 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 — shouldn’t so readily imagine that sure characters on this area, particularly political figures, are the whole lot they purport to be.
