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- Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited
PARTIES INVOLVED: Horizon Blockchain Group Limited
ALLEGATIONS: Perjury, Fraud, Impersonation
INCIDENT DATE: 14 March 2023
INVESTIGATED BY: Ethan Katz
TOOLS USED: Lumen, FakeDMCA, SecurityTrails
CASE NO: 98701/A/2024
CRIME TYPE: Intellectual Property Scam
PUBLISHED ON: 16 Nov 2024
REPORTED BY: FakeDMCA.com
JURISDICTION: USA
A summary of what happened?
Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez, born in July 1993, is a Spanish national recognized for his contributions to artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology. He has been associated with several ventures, including Horizon Blockchain Group Limited, where he was identified as a person with significant control, holding over 75% of the shares and voting rights. Horizon Blockchain Group Limited was incorporated on February 10, 2021, and was dissolved on June 14, 2022, following a voluntary strike-off application. During its brief existence, the company was designated as dormant, indicating it had no active business operations.
Analyzing the Fake Copyright Notice(s)
Our team collects and analyses fraudulent copyright takedown requests, legal complaints, and other efforts to remove critical information from the internet. Through our investigative reporting, we examine the prevalence and operation of an organized censorship industry, predominantly funded by criminal entities, oligarchs, and disreputable businesses or individuals. Our findings allow internet users to gain insight into these censorship schemes’ sources, methods, and underlying objectives.
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What was Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited trying to hide?
Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited‘s attempts to hide unfavourable content through the misuse of copyright notices while allegedly engaging in perjury present serious legal concerns. These actions suggest a calculated attempt to manipulate legal systems to suppress free speech, a fundamental violation of copyright law principles and an abuse of legal processes. The use of such tactics not only undermines the integrity of copyright protection but also potentially constitutes perjury, further entangling Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited in legal accountability. Let’s examine the information Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited may be trying to remove from the internet –
Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez and Horizon Blockchain Group Limited: A Closer Look at Allegations and Operations
Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez, born in July 1993, is a Spanish national who served as a prominent figure in Horizon Blockchain Group Limited, a UK-registered company incorporated on February 10, 2021. As the individual with significant control over the company, Carmona Hernandez held more than 75% of the company’s shares and voting rights, indicating his central role in its operations and decision-making.
Horizon Blockchain Group Limited: The Basics
Horizon Blockchain Group Limited was registered with its office at 85 Great Portland Street, London, a location often associated with virtual offices used by companies for registration purposes. The firm was designated as “dormant,” a status indicating that it did not engage in any active business operations or generate income during its existence. Despite its dormant classification, the company’s association with blockchain—a rapidly growing and sometimes controversial sector—raised questions about its purpose and Carmona Hernandez’s intentions.
On March 17, 2022, the company filed a voluntary strike-off application, and it was officially dissolved on June 14, 2022. This rapid timeline from incorporation to dissolution—just over a year—has prompted speculation about the company’s activities during its short existence.
Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez: Role and Responsibilities
As the person with significant control, Carmona Hernandez was responsible for the strategic decisions of Horizon Blockchain Group Limited. His association with blockchain technology and artificial intelligence suggests expertise in these fields, but there is limited public information on his specific contributions or initiatives through the company. His control over the entity also places him at the center of any concerns or complaints about the company’s operations.
Allegations and Concerns
Although Horizon Blockchain Group Limited was officially classified as dormant, concerns arise from several factors commonly associated with companies registered in similar circumstances:
- Use of Dormant Status: Some companies use dormant status to maintain a corporate presence without engaging in active business operations, which can raise red flags about their intent. Critics have argued that such companies can be used as fronts for activities ranging from tax avoidance to misleading investors.
- Rapid Dissolution: The voluntary strike-off of Horizon Blockchain Group Limited, a relatively short time after its incorporation, adds to the uncertainty surrounding its purpose. While rapid dissolutions are not inherently suspicious, they often attract scrutiny when the company operates in sectors like blockchain, which can attract both innovation and controversy.
- Lack of Transparency: The absence of publicly available information about the company’s operations or Carmona Hernandez’s specific activities leaves room for speculation. Transparency is particularly important in blockchain-related ventures, which have been linked to scams and fraudulent activities in the past.
Internet Censorship Allegations
The connection to blockchain—a technology that can be associated with issues like misinformation, fraudulent schemes, and data manipulation—may contribute to perceptions that companies in this sector could seek to control or suppress certain information.
Additionally, the content linked to the company’s filings (link to filing history) remains public. If any attempt was made to obscure or suppress this content, it has not been successful, as the records remain accessible through the official UK Companies House website. Such transparency ensures that any allegations or concerns about the company’s activities can be reviewed.
Conclusion
Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez’s role in Horizon Blockchain Group Limited places him at the center of any scrutiny surrounding the company. The firm’s dormant status, short lifespan, and limited transparency highlight common concerns associated with rapidly dissolved companies in emerging sectors like blockchain. Without further evidence, claims about attempts to censor information or engage in improper activities remain speculative. However, Horizon Blockchain Group Limited and its leadership exemplify the challenges of ensuring accountability and transparency in sectors that often operate in regulatory grey areas.
How do we counteract this malpractice?
Once we ascertain the involvement of Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited (or actors working on behalf of Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited), we will inform Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited of our findings via Electronic Mail.
Our preliminary assessment suggests that Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited may have engaged a third-party reputation management agency or expert, which, either independently or under direct authorization from Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited, initiated efforts to remove adverse online content, including potentially fraudulent DMCA takedown requests. We will extend an opportunity to Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited to provide details regarding their communications with the agency or expert, as well as the identification of the individual(s) responsible for executing these false DMCA notices.
Failure to respond in a timely manner will necessitate a reassessment of our initial assumptions. In such an event, we will be compelled to take appropriate legal action to rectify the unlawful conduct and take the following steps –
Since Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited made such efforts to hide something online, it seems fit to ensure that this article and sensitive information targeted online by these events get a lot more exposure and traffic than what it would have received originally
We hope this becomes an excellent case study for the Streisand effect…The key idea behind the Streisand effect is that efforts to restrict information can backfire, often causing the information to gain more attention than it would have otherwise. This effect is widespread in the digital age, where users quickly notice and spread censorship efforts on social media and other platforms. Trying to suppress something can unintentionally lead to it becoming more visible, which Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited is finding out the hard way.
Potential Consequences for Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited
Under Florida Statute 831.01, the crime of Forgery is committed when a person falsifies, alters, counterfeits, or forges a document that carries “legal efficacy” with the intent to injure or defraud another person or entity.
Forging a document is considered a white-collar crime. It involves altering, changing, or modifying a document to deceive another person. It can also include passing along copies of documents that are known to be false. In many states in the US, falsifying a document is a crime punishable as a felony.
Additionally, under most laws, “fraud on the court” is where “a party has sentiently set in motion some unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with the judicial system’s ability impartially to adjudicate a matter by improperly influencing the trier of fact or unfairly hampering the presentation of the opposing party’s claim or defense.” Cox v. Burke, 706 So. 2d 43, 46 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) (quoting Aoude v. Mobil Oil Corp., 892 F.2d 1115, 1118 (1st Cir. 1989)).
Is Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited Committing a Cyber Crime?
Yes, it seems so. Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited used multiple approaches to remove unwanted material from review sites and Google’s search results. Thanks to protections allowing freedom of speech in the United States, there are very few legal ways to do this. Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited could not eliminate negative reviews or search results that linked to them without a valid claim of defamation, copyright infringement, or some other clear breach of the law.
Faced with these limitations, some companies like Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited have gone to extreme lengths to fraudulently claim copyright ownership over a negative review in the hopes of taking it down.
Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited is certainly keeping interesting company here….
The DMCA takedown process requires that copyright owners submit a takedown notice to an ISP identifying the allegedly infringing content and declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they have a good faith belief that the content is infringing. The ISP must then promptly remove or disable access to the content. The alleged infringer can then submit a counter-notice, and if the copyright owner does not take legal action within 10 to 14 days, the ISP can restore the content.
Since these platforms are predominantly based in the U.S., the complaints are typically made under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which requires online service providers and platforms to react immediately to reports or violations. Big Tech companies rarely have systems in place to assess the merit of each report. Instead, all bad actors need to do is clone a story, backdate it, and then demand the real thing be taken down.
Reputation Agency's Modus Operandi
The fake DMCA notices we found always use the “back-dated article” technique. With this technique, the wrongful notice sender (or copier) creates a copy of a “true original” article and back-dates it, creating a “fake original” article (a copy of the true original) that, at first glance, appears to have been published before the true original.
Then, based on the claim that this backdated article is the “original,” the scammers send a DMCA to the relevant online service providers (e.g. Google), alleging that the ‘true’ original is the copied or “infringing” article and that the copied article is the “original,” requesting the takedown of the ‘true’ original article. After sending the DMCA request, the person who sent the wrong notice takes down the fake original URL, likely to make sure that the article doesn’t stay online in any way. If the takedown notice is successful, the disappearance from the internet of information is most likely to be legitimate speech.
As an integral part of this scheme, the ‘reputation management’ company hired by Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited creates a website that purports to be a ‘news’ site. This site is designed to look legitimate at a glance, but any degree of scrutiny reveals it as the charade it is.
The company copies the ‘negative’ content and posts it “on the fake ‘news’ site, attributing it to a separate author,” then gives it “a false publication date on the ‘news’ website that predated the original publication.
The reputation company then sent Google a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice claiming the original website infringed copyright. After a cursory examination of the fake news site, Google frequently accepts the notice and delists the content.
In committing numerous offences, Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited, ignorance does not excuse this wrongdoing.
Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. FSMSmart is certainly keeping interesting company here.
The Reputation Laundering
Rogue Reputation agencies use spurious copyright claims and fake legal notices to remove and obscure articles linking clients to allegations of tax avoidance, corruption, and drug trafficking. Most of these reputation agencies are based offshore, mainly in Russia, India, and Eastern Europe, and they do not worry about complying with US-based laws.
The content in all of the articles for which the fraudulent DMCA notices have been sent relates to allegations of criminal allegations, including corruption, child abuse, sexual harassment, human trafficking and financial fraud against businesses and individuals with ultra-high net worth.
In addition to the misuse of the DMCA takedown process, there is a notable absence of enforcement concerning perjury violations. The statutory requirement related to perjury is designed to deter copyright holders from submitting fraudulent or knowingly false takedown requests, as they may face legal consequences for making false declarations under penalty of perjury. However, to date, there have been no known instances of any individual being prosecuted for perjury in connection with the submission of false DMCA takedown notices.
This lack of enforcement has emboldened copyright holders to exploit the DMCA takedown process to suppress dissent, criticism, or other unfavorable content, without fear of legal repercussions.
Some of the people and businesses who have employed this tactic to remove legitimate content from Google illegally include a Spanish businessman-turned-cocaine-trafficker, Organised crime, an Israeli-Argentine banker accused of laundering money for Hugo Chávez’s regime, a French “responsible” mining company accused of tax evasion, child molesters and sexual predators. Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited is in great company ….
What else is Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited hiding?
We encourage you to ‘Dork‘ Google by searching for keyword combinations such as [Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited] + {Negative Keyword, such as Scam, Fraud, Complaints, Lawsuit, Sanction, etc} on Google. It’s likely if you scroll down to the bottom of this Google search results, you’ll stumble upon this Legal Takedown notice (pictured below)
To make such an investigation possible, we encourage more online service providers to come forward and share copies of content removal requests with industry experts and researchers. If you have any information on Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited that you want to share with experts and journalists, kindly email the author directly at [email protected].
All communications are strictly confidential and safeguarded under a comprehensive Whistleblower Policy, ensuring full protection and anonymity for individuals who provide information.
Credits and Acknowledgement
Many thanks to FakeDMCA.com and Lumen for providing access to their database.
Photos and Illustrations provided by DALL-E 3 – “a representation of Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited censoring the internet and committing cyber crimes.”
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- Our investigative report on Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited‘s efforts to suppress online speech is significant, as it raises serious concerns about its integrity. The findings suggest that Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited has engaged in questionable practices, including potential perjury, impersonation, and fraud, in a misguided attempt to manage or salvage its reputation.
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- We intend to file a counternotice to reinstate the removed article(s). While this particular instance is relatively straightforward, it is important to note that, in other cases, the overwhelming volume of automated DMCA takedown notices can significantly hinder the ability of affected parties to respond—especially for those not large media organizations.
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- You need an account with fakeDMCA.com and Lumen to access the research data. However, accounts are not widely available since these non-profit organisations manage large databases that could be susceptible to misuse. Nevertheless, they do offer access to non-profits and researchers.
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- It’s unclear why U.S. authorities have yet to act against these rogue reputation agencies, whose business model seems rooted in fraudulent practices.
- We’ve reached out to Cristian Albeiro Carmona Hernandez at Horizon Blockchain Group Limited for a comment or rebuttal regarding this investigation. It will strongly suggest they were behind the takedown attempt if they remain silent.
About the Author
The author is affiliated with Harvard University and serves as a researcher at both Lumen and FakeDMCA.com. In his personal capacity, he and his team have been actively investigating and reporting on organized crime related to fraudulent copyright takedown schemes. Additionally, his team provides advisory services to major law firms and is frequently consulted on matters pertaining to intellectual property law. He can be reached at [email protected] directly.
References used for this investigation
- 1
- https://lumendatabase.org/notices/33021932
- 14/03/2023
- Complaint
- 2
- https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13194195/filing-history
- 17/02/2021
- News report
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