from the class action to the formal notice of Bdo-Corriere.it

From Florence to Milan, from Genoa to Padua, the investigations into the The Rock Trading case are accelerating, which last February 17 interrupted operations on its platform, making the cryptocurrency accounts of around 34 thousand Italian customers inaccessible. Three weeks have now passed since the blockade and the fear of having lost everything they had invested is growing among savers.

But what can be done to try to save what can be saved? While waiting for the picture of what happened to become clearer, trapped customers should first address to the Oam, the body of mediators and credit agents where I activate the register of operators in virtual currencies, and then try to put the auditing firm Bdo on noticethus interrupting the prescription. And in the meantime, joining the class action promoted by Siti, the national union for the protection of savings and investments, could also be evaluated.

Investigations on the cryptocurrency trading platform

Computer fraud, unauthorized access to a computer system, fraud and embezzlement. These are the crime hypotheses being investigated by the Florence and Milan prosecutors. But from the investigations conducted in the offices of Milan, Genoa and Padua, e in the apartments of the two founders, Andrea Medri and Davide Barbieri, some violations also emerged in the preparation of the financial statements. This would also lead to the possibility of a corporate crime.

Already on two previous occasions The Rock Trading had ended up in the spotlight. In 2019, due to mismanagement of the company, and in 2021, when following a computer attack by hackers they managed to steal cryptocurrencies worth 904 thousand euros. On both occasions, the Italian cryptocurrency platform emerged unscathed. But this time around, reputational damage seems inevitable.

The role of the Oam and questions about society

The Oam, i.e. the Body of credit agents and brokers in which I activate the register of operators in virtual currencies, has no supervisory powers for, as it underlines Luca Valdameri, partner of Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associatihas the power both to suspend operations and to request periodic and timely information. Therefore, if I were a saver, I would begin by contacting the Oam to find out what they are doing. Also because, despite the announced block of operations and the launch of investigations by the Florence and Milan prosecutors, The Rock Trading is still active on the Oam, in all the services offered, which perhaps should have been suspended at least as a precaution. And this is very strange. The question remains why a saver has entrusted himself to a single-member limited liability company, with a share capital of 10 thousand euros, a sole director (Andrea Medri, ed) and without any type of corporate governance, wonders Valdameri.

Supervision of mayors

Going up the chain one level, we arrive at the parent company, Digital Rock Holding (100% owner of The Rock Trading), with a share capital of 955,393 euros, approximately 75% of which is in the hands of Medri (also managing director) and Barbieri . The remainder is distributed between Paolo Rebuffo, Andrea Rossi, Paolo Benazzi and other shareholders (15%). Digital Rock Holding also has a director, in the role of Daniele Pregnolato, and a board of statutory auditors (composed of the chairman Pier Paolo Vodola, the two statutory auditors Elisabetta Lucchini and Renzo Amadio, and the auditing firm Bdo), with respect to which it seems legitimate go and look for some responsibility, because they should have been vigilant, underlines Valdameri. On the other hand, the board of statutory auditors must control the activity of the directors, the company management, the keeping of the accounting books and the preparation of the financial statements.

The auditing company

The other person who should have supervised the auditing firm Bdo of The Rock Trading (also sole auditor of Digital Rock Holding) which, although not one of the Big Four (Pwc, Deloitte, EY and Kpmg), is nonetheless a well-structured multinational . a control body which must periodically carry out checks on the company’s continuity – explains Valdameri – and in December it should have finished the review, issuing the report in recent days. As an investor, I could think of putting the auditing company in default, which has professional insurance, thus interrupting the statute of limitations. With the new code on corporate crisis, auditors must immediately report situations of potential default. If the auditor had not carried out the necessary checks then I would be entitled to ask him for damages pursuant to art. 15 Legislative Decree 39/2010. We need to be timely at this time, evaluating every action with the help of competent professionals.

As essential documents to assert one’s reasons, Valdameri recommends downloading all the reports available on the platform (since 21 February all customers can access the platform only in information mode, ed) and to recover wire transfers made to transfer both fiat money and cryptocurrencies.

The class action

Meanwhile, to further protect yourself, it is also possible to join the class action brought against The Rock Trading by Siti, the Italian union for the protection of investments and savings. The collective action to protect the platform’s customers (we remind you that there are almost 35,000), but also those who had participated in the crowdfunding launched in July 2020 by the parent company Digital Rock Holding.
Siti’s decision to launch a class action comes after Stefania Barsalini (founder of the Db Tax company, in which Pier Paolo Vodolo and Elisabetta Lucchini, respectively chairman of the board of statutory auditors and statutory auditor of Digital Rock Holding, also work as collaborators), chairman of The Rock Trading, resigned on February 23rd.

A look at the assembly

Now the focus is entirely on the Digital Rock Holding shareholders’ meeting which will be held on first call on March 21st and on second call on March 22nd (the notice published on the company’s website). On the agenda is the appointment of the new administrative body, following the forfeiture of the board of directors due to the loss of the majority of directors appointed by the shareholders’ meeting, and information on the events that have occurred, as well as the measures adopted and the actions undertaken with reference to the interruption of operations of the The Rock Trading platform.

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