Stephen McCullah Tried to Bribe Me $5,000 to Remove My Exposé Videos

-




When you’ve been exposing Ponzi schemes as long as I have, you start to notice a pattern. The louder the scammer shouts about being innocent, the more desperate they become behind the scenes.

And that’s exactly what happened when Stephen McCullah, the man behind Apollo, GSX, LunaOne, and now GRAPE (GRP/GGT), tried to buy my silence with a $5,000 bribe.

The $5,000 Bribe Attempt

After I released my last video exposing his latest project, I received a series of iMessages from McCullah — not from his team, not from a lawyer, but from Stephen himself. The messages started friendly enough: a bit of small talk, a few lines about how misunderstood he was, and then, slowly, it turned into the same manipulative tone I’ve seen a hundred times before.

He told me, “I’m the opposite of a scammer.” He said he’d “sold everything” and “made no money in years.” He insisted his projects were legitimate — that the critics just didn’t understand his vision. It was a rehearsed performance, equal parts flattery and pity.

But then came the real offer.

He told me that if I took my videos down, he would donate $5,000 to my anti-scam cause. He also said he could “get people to remove the smear websites” about me. The message was crystal clear: silence me, and the problem goes away.

I didn’t need to think twice. I told him exactly where to shove his bribe.

This wasn’t a donation — it was reputation management disguised as generosity. It was a scammer’s version of hush money.

“You can’t buy integrity. And you certainly can’t bribe The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger.”

When Manipulation Fails

Once he realised I wasn’t going to play along, the tone changed. Suddenly he was calm again — pretending it didn’t matter. He wrote, “I’m not using any energy on you, but I wish you the best.”

That’s a classic narcissistic retreat. When manipulation fails, they try to reclaim control by pretending they don’t care.

Retaliation: The Angry Messages and Edited Threats

After that, things escalated fast. McCullah started sending a series of angry messages, and because he was using an iPhone, I could see that he edited the same message six times. Each new version became more threatening than the last.

At first, it sounded like a bluff — but as the edits kept coming in, his anger was obvious. He started accusing me of things I’ve never done, like “hacking” and “destroying partnerships.” Then, he crossed a line by trying to intimidate me with fake legal threats.

Here’s a section of what he wrote:

“Because you admitted to hacking and actively destroying any partnerships we get, in text, and all the calls and texts you’ve sent everyone, we are finally able to work with the NZ authorities and they are working up the charges.

Thank you for finally giving me all we need to hold you accountable.

You may want to look up the Harassment Act and Crimes Act of 1961. It will equal years in prison.”

He repeated that message multiple times, editing it over and over — even adding the word “doxxing” at one point — as if rewriting it might make it true.

The reality is, these weren’t the words of someone confident in their innocence. They were the outbursts of a cornered scammer who had just realised his latest project was collapsing under public scrutiny.

When scammers can’t control the narrative, they try to control the journalist.

“Threats are the last refuge of someone who’s run out of lies.”

It’s the same psychological playbook: first they try charm, then bribery, and when that fails — intimidation.

The Same Old Scam Playbook

Sound familiar? It’s the same recycled playbook from every one of his previous projects.

In Apollo, he promised a revolutionary cryptocurrency that would change global finance.
In GSX, it was a gold-backed coin with “real assets.”
In LunaOne, it was a metaverse with land ownership, avatars, and “infinite opportunities.”
And now, in GRAPE, it’s AI, Web4, and a fake country.

Each project collapses. Each time, investors lose millions. Then he reappears with a new name, a new logo, and the same pitch.

Empty Promises in AMA 8

His latest AMA was pure theatre. He spoke about cutting down “circulating supply,” creating “on-chain AI prompts,” and developing “ways to reward holders.” But he never mentioned a single piece of verifiable evidence — no audit, no smart contract address, no development logs, no code. Just buzzwords and charisma.

When I ran the transcript through ChatGPT for analysis, the pattern jumped straight out. Every section contained deflection, emotional manipulation, and empty promises. It wasn’t an AMA — it was a script designed to maintain illusion.

Why the Bribe and Threats Matter

That $5,000 bribe and the string of threatening messages are smoking-gun evidence of guilt.
When someone truly believes in their project, they defend it with data, not hush money or fake legal claims.

McCullah’s behaviour — editing the same message six times, threatening to send me to jail under New Zealand law, and citing the Crimes Act of 1961 — shows he isn’t just panicking; he’s desperate to regain control.

“If you have to pay people to stop talking, you’re not running a business — you’re running a cover-up.”

I’ve spent years exposing Ponzi schemes, and I can tell you this: bribes and threats are the final stage of every scam. It’s the last gasp of a man who’s realised the lies are catching up with him.

Standing Up to the Scammers

This blog isn’t about money. It’s about accountability. I don’t take hush payments, I don’t make deals, and I don’t delete the truth.

My mission is to make sure no one else loses their savings to these repackaged crypto fantasies.

So, if you’ve invested in GRAPE, GGT, or GRP, take a step back and ask yourself — why does the founder need to bribe and threaten a YouTuber to stay quiet? If this project was legitimate, wouldn’t the results speak for themselves?

They don’t.
And that’s why I’ll keep speaking for the victims who can’t.

The Truth Can’t Be Bought — Or Intimidated

McCullah might have thought $5,000 could erase my work — but what it really did was expose him even further.
Because when you try to silence The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger, you don’t make the story go away — you become the story.

Disclaimer: How This Investigation Was Conducted

This investigation relies entirely on OSINT — Open Source Intelligence — meaning every claim made here is based on publicly available records, archived web pages, corporate filings, domain data, social media activity, and open blockchain transactions. No private data, hacking, or unlawful access methods were used. OSINT is a powerful and ethical tool for exposing scams without violating privacy laws or overstepping legal boundaries.

About the Author

Danny de Hek, also known as The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger, is a New Zealand-based investigative journalist specializing in exposing crypto fraud, Ponzi schemes, and MLM scams. His work has been featured by Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Guardian Australia, ABC News Australia, and other international outlets.

Stop losing your future to financial parasites. Subscribe. Expose. Protect.

My work exposing crypto fraud has been featured in:

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Origin LGNS Exposed: Crypto Ponzi Masquerading as DeFi with 3X Daily Profits and Cult Hype

-
Image
If you stumbled across a crypto project called ORIGIN or  OriginWorld.org , this blog is your warning label. You might’ve seen their slick graphics, cultish promises of “financial freedom,” and ridiculous claims like  7,909% APY  or a  “distributed encrypted civilization.”  It all sounds impressive until you scratch the surface and realise you’re looking at a  tech-wrapped Ponzi cult. But first, here’s how it landed on my radar. I received a  WhatsApp message  from a guy named  Don  who I thought wanted a professional review on an investment platform. Turns out, he was actually  trying to recruit me . He sent me a sign-up link for something called  Origin LGNS . He claimed it paid  0.3% every 8 hours , and that he had made  $100 in two weeks  from a  $800 initial investment , which he later topped up to  $1,000 . He said he hadn’t withdrawn any money yet because the platform was paying so well, so he ju...
Read more

BitNest’s Smart Contract Audit: Why a Clean Code Check Doesn’t Erase a Ponzi Business Model

-
Image
  Following the publication of our  Original Blog  and  YouTube  exposé on  BitNest  and Mellion Coin, we received a comment questioning whether we had properly reviewed BitNest’s smart contracts and its CertiK audit. It’s a fair question. And as always, we believe in full transparency. In this follow-up blog, we’re diving deep into the  technical side  — unpacking exactly what the CertiK audit says, what it doesn’t say, and why BitNest’s core business model remains fundamentally fraudulent despite the presence of “audited” code. What a Smart Contract Actually Means First, let’s clear up a major misconception: A  smart contract  is simply a computer program that says, “IF X happens, THEN Y automatically happens.” That’s it. It doesn’t guarantee that the  thing it’s doing  is ethical, profitable, or sustainable. A smart contract can execute a perfectly coded Ponzi scheme just as easily as it can execute a legitimate DeFi pr...
Read more

TOFRO.pro Exposed: The High-Risk Crypto Scam Masquerading as Copy Trading Through MTS Foundation

-
Image
  There’s a new so-called crypto “opportunity” doing the rounds — and it stinks to high heaven. It’s being pitched under the banners of  TOFRO.pro ,  Tofro.com , and the  MTS Foundation . If you’re being lured in with promises of copy trading, guaranteed profits, or passive daily income, stop right there. This platform is riddled with red flags, and if you value your money, your devices, or your sanity — you’ll want to stay well clear. What TOFRO and MTS Foundation Claim to Be According to their promotional video, pitch deck, and onboarding documents, here’s what they’re claiming: MTS Foundation is a crypto copy trading “community” supposedly led by a man named  Harris Levy . Users are encouraged to follow  daily trade signals  via Telegram, placing binary-style bets on whether Bitcoin will go up or down. You trade using the  Tofro.pro  platform (sometimes mistranscribed in videos as Tofra.com, but all pointing to the same domain). They claim...
Read more