CoinDeal — A Phantom Acquisition That Took $45 Million from 10,000 Investors

Neil Suresh Chandran, the operator of a cluster of technology companies incorporated under the “ViRSE” banner in the United States, raised more than $45 million from over 10,000 investors between at least January 2019 and 2022 by promising them a share of proceeds from the imminent sale of a blockchain technology called CoinDeal to a group of unnamed, wealthy, and prominent buyers. No such sale ever occurred. No such buyers existed. The token itself had no working blockchain, no product, and no value beyond the representations Chandran and his co-promoters communicated through emails, conference calls, and referral networks. The funds were transferred to Chandran’s controlled accounts and spent on personal luxury, including real estate, vehicles, and a boat.

The CoinDeal scheme operated not through a public token listing or decentralized sale, but through a private referral and email marketing network in which intermediary promoters — including Michael Glaspie, who operated under the alias “Mike G” — disseminated Chandran’s false updates to investor communities already conditioned to expect crypto windfalls. Chandran framed each delay in the promised payout as temporary, sustaining investor belief through fabricated progress reports about negotiations with the fictitious acquirers. By the time investors recognized the scheme had produced nothing, the money had been spent.

The United States Department of Justice indicted Chandran in the District of Nebraska. A parallel Securities and Exchange Commission civil complaint, filed in the Northern District of Illinois in January 2023, named eight defendants: Chandran, Garry Davidson, Michael Glaspie, Linda Knott, Amy Mossel, and corporate entities AEO Publishing Inc., Banner Co-Op Inc., and BannersGo LLC. Glaspie pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in February 2023 and was sentenced to 72 months of imprisonment in October 2023. Chandran and Bryan Lee — charged separately in Nebraska — both entered guilty pleas on April 16, 2026. Chandran’s sentencing before Judge Susan M. Bazis is scheduled for July 9, 2026 and had not yet occurred as of the date of this dossier.

Garry Davidson, who served as an intermediary communicating on Chandran’s behalf, had previously been a victim in one of Chandran’s earlier schemes before being recruited as a participant. In June 2024, a federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan entered a final civil judgment against Davidson requiring disgorgement of $3,911,302 plus prejudgment interest and a matching civil penalty.