Guilty Bitwise CEO: ‘Actions caused trauma, hardship, grief, and profound hurt’

A day after pleading guilty to a $115 million wire fraud charge relating to the collapse of Bitwise Industries, one of the co-CEOs has offered the most extensive comments yet from defendants in the case.

Irma Olguin Jr. released an open letter on social media Thursday afternoon, saying an important lesson was to “Learn to apologize with your whole heart, and don’t ever let go of the people who still love you when you mess everything up.”

Here is the letter released by Olguin, which includes the name of co-CEO Jake Soberal. The pair face sentencing in November.

Dear Former Teammates, Investors, Lenders, and your respective families,

Yesterday we pled guilty to two felonies: one for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one for wire fraud itself. We will owe many people millions upon millions of dollars. Those will be the headlines.

What hasn’t been in the headlines is our apology—one you are owed, and that is long overdue. We have wanted to say these things for quite some time and are finally able to say some of the things we need to say.

In 2022 and 2023, we did many things wrong. First, we lied to lenders and investors in egregious ways so that they would give Bitwise money that we could use to keep the company going, and keep our teammates employed. Second, we were dishonest with teammates and others who trusted us deeply about Bitwise Industries’ financial health. Third, we’d lost our ability to see the collateral damage that was possible in these cases—and likely others—our actions caused trauma, hardship, grief, and profound hurt.

We wanted so badly to see Bitwise succeed, to see Fresno succeed, and to see our teammates succeed. That gave rise to the false belief that those things were only possible if Bitwise kept going. Over a critical period of time with much on the line, we absolutely, unequivocally, and irreversibly chose the wrong way.

We are deeply sorry.

We are sorry to have abused and broken the trust you placed in us. We are sorry to have failed in our leadership of the company that you loved. We are sorry for the money that you entrusted to us that you may never get back. We are sorry for the unique, real and painful stories of struggle that our wrong actions caused, most of which we may never even hear about.

For many, especially those we were closest to, you may be thinking this apology is too little, too late. We were in a relationship where the understanding was that we would tell you everything you needed to know so that you could make the decisions that were right for you and we did not do that. That was both deceitful and unfair to you. You should have been able to make informed choices, and we took that agency away from you.

As the company crashed in 2023, our first instinct was to try fix it. Unfortunately, by that point, we were no longer making good decisions and our bad decisions were getting more desperate. By June 1, 2023 the company had collapsed, and we resolved to prioritize two things: (1) telling the truth, and (2) cooperating with the legal process.

Our duty, as we saw it, was to assist government in learning everything it needed to know about what had happened, who had been hurt, and how it was all our fault.

One of the most difficult things in this process is that while all this was happening, you never heard from us. Our silence created fertile ground for rumors and feeling of abandonment and betrayal. We said nothing because that is what we were asked to do and, in the end, it was the only move we had that wouldn’t make things worse for everyone.

It never felt right to us to say nothing to you. If we had shown up and said something, anything, at least…you’d have recognized that.

There’s lots more we want to say. Probably our most burning desire is to talk about how our mistakes don’t diminish what so many of you were working on so tirelessly at Bitwise. The idea that a company, an industry, and a city can be different and better—that was real, and you did so much good. Our poor decisions trying to save the company shouldn’t erase your ten years of authentic impact.

The last thing that feels worth saying is about what comes next.

The next thing is that we will each almost certainly be sentenced to serve time in federal prison. We don’t know for how long, or where. That part will come soon enough. Until then, we are both here. Here to listen and make space to honor your feelings. If information can help create clarity, and clarity can help create peace, sign us up for that.

Regardless of how you feel about us, we still love you and want good things for you, and we are profoundly sorry that our failures led to this place.

Our Very—Though Totally Inadequate—Best,

Jake & Irma