The Mastermind
Rob Charles claims to be a polymath and business guru. His investment club counts Andrew Yang and Brock Pierce among its members. But his tales of success hide a criminal past...
“Half the Truth is often a great Lie.” - Benjamin Franklin
A few months ago while perusing the vast wasteland that is “Crypto Twitter,” we came across a brief video featuring two people. One wore his trademark hat and a brown checkered suit with an American flag lapel pin. It was Brock Pierce, the (in)famous former child actor and cryptocurrency mogul. The man next to Mr. Pierce stood about a foot taller, wearing a black leather jacket and oversized glasses. His name is Rob Charles, a.k.a Robert Charles Wells, a.k.a. “Rollie,” a.k.a “Baldy.”
Mr. Pierce is not the only well-known figure apparently involved with Goldfinger. According to Goldfingr promotional material and Mr. Well’s LinkedIn page, Goldfingr counts former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, singer Akon, two other former presidential candidates, 14 billionaires, “thousands of World Leaders, dignitaries, diplomats, [and] entrepreneurs,” and “over 100,000 accredited investors” among its members.
According to Goldfingr’s site, it is a “mastermind network” that combines elements of social media, investment clubs, and cryptocurrencies. They assert that “our revolutionary technical breakthrough helps solve credibility/reputation management, deal flow accessibility, and decentralizing investing all in the Goldfingr app:”
Goldfingr’s model is based on what Mr. Wells calls the “mastermind matrix,” which he describes as:
when two or more minds align in harmony, a third mind is created that is exponentially more powerful than the sum of its parts.
According to Mr. Wells, the mastermind principle has been used by people as diverse as Nikola Tesla, Henry Ford, and Benjamin Franklin. He also claims that the mastermind principle is at the core of both the United Nations and the United States Constitution.
Goldfingr makes big claims, has an odd business structure, and supposedly counts some of the most prominent figures in politics, business, and cryptocurrency among its members. And it all revolves around the CEO and founder of Goldfingr.
This led us to ask: Who is Robert Charles Wells?
Mr. Wells' story, shared in multiple Youtube videos, articles, and interviews, stays fairly consistent. It is a story of success after success, as Mr. Wells traveled the globe in search of new business opportunities. These successes culminated in his founding Goldfingr, based on ideas he had been developing over his entire career.
We were able to confirm many elements of his story, even some of the more fantastic bits. However, we also discovered that his autobiography omits some pertinent details about his past. According to court records, Mr. Wells filed for personal bankruptcy in 2019. More significantly, in 2014 he pled guilty to multiple counts including conspiracy to distribute >1000 kilos marijuana, wire fraud, identity fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Mr. Wells’ has shared his story in multiple videos and articles. According to one autobiography on an hour-long interview of Mr. Wells (key parts emphasized by us):
In 1996, during the tech bubble, Rob Charles Wells Co-Founded his first tech startup and the 1st online art gallery, Universal Artz. After running the company for over 2 ½ years, he moved to New York and became a desired 1st hire for tech companies, leading sales and marketing efforts for several startups, such as Janus and icims.com.
In 2001, after the tech bubble burst, he founded a consulting company, DMG, providing enterprise solutions for document process management and content management. From 2003 to 2006, as Founder/CEO he spearheaded international projects for Global Light Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit, building schools in India and Africa for underprivileged children. Concurrently, he was investing in real estate from 2004 to 2010. From 2006 to 2009, he was also an executive life coach for select entrepreneurs and investors. He was considerably early in the medical cannabis boom, investing in a legally compliant dispensary in 2003. He began investing in Oil & Gas starting in 2009, and raised capital from Asian investors for O&G projects, ranging from 10 to 50 wells per project. After the subprime crisis in 2008, and economic boom in Asia, he moved to Taiwan in 2009, and founded a Commodities Trading Company, Transcend Ventures LTD. Through his extensive international network, he successfully raised money for Transcend, penetrating both the African and China markets… In 2014, as a Co-Founder in an M&A firm, he returned to New York City. Shortly thereafter he launched Goldfingr, a private members-only investor network and social club, using mobile app technology.
…. Rob Charles has demonstrated excellence throughout his career as an athlete as well. He was a professional soccer player starting at age 18 in Bonn, West Germany. Later in life, Thai boxing became Rob’s passion. By 2006, while running multiple companies and investing, he won the North American WKA Light MiddleWeight Championship, and was ranked #2 in the world after fighting in the WKA World Championship in Spain.
Another video of Mr. Wells on the Goldfingr website largely replicates this story. Per the description:
Rob, a proven polymath, serial entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist, tells his story of playing professional soccer at age of 18, traveling and living in different countries in Asia, Africa, USA, Middle East and Europe, paying it forward by providing jobs and insurance to women, building schools for children, and even becoming Muay Thai North American Champion.
We were able to corroborate several features of his autobiography. For example, he claimed to have founded a nonprofit called the “Global Light Foundation,” which we found incorporation documents for with Mr. Wells listed as a director. He also apparently earned a silver medal in kickboxing at the WKA Amateur World Championship in Spain in 2006. However, we were unable to find corporate documents for other firms described by Mr. Wells and were unable to verify his business dealings in Africa and Asia.
Of particular interest is the period between 2009-2014, the years preceding the creation of Goldfingr. Mr. Wells claims that he moved to Taiwan in 2009 to retire, but soon became bored. In interviews, he states he built a business “buying commodities from West Africa and selling them to Asia.” He claims he returned to the United States in 2014 to pursue his dream of starting a social network for investors, an idea he claims he first had in the early 1990’s.
However, court records tell a different story about Mr. Wells. In 2010, “Rollie” and six co-conspirators were indicted in a Texas federal court on charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and money laundering. He was subsequently indicted in New York federal court for similar charges. According to a letter filed by his attorney in 2013:
By way of background, on May 5, 2010, Mr. Wells was indicted in the Texas Case and charged in a two-count indictment with (1) conspiring to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute 100 or more marijuana plants, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B); and, (2) conspiring to launder drug proceeds in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). He was arrested in Taiwan on December 8, 2010 and, after agreeing to be extradited to the United States, was brought to the United States on or about March 29, 2011. Mr. Wells was held without bail on that case.
While the Texas case was still pending, Mr. Wells was indicted in the New York Case and charged with a separate conspiracy to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of mixtures and substances containing a detectable amount of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A). He was transported from Texas to the SDNY and was presented on October 4, 2012.
Mr. Wells has reached a resolution in principle with the United States Attorney’s Office that will resolve both cases. In order to facilitate this disposition, the Texas Case was transferred to the SDNY pursuant to Rule 20. On March 12, 2014, it was wheeled out to Judge Carter.
According to court transcripts, Mr. Wells spent 31 months incarcerated during the proceedings and was eventually released on bail. In 2015, Mr. Wells pled guilty to all five counts, including wire fraud, identity fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was sentenced to time served, along with the forfeiture of $785,000. The judgment stated that Mr. Wells would sell his New York apartment to come up with the forfeited funds.
Five years later, in January 2019, Robert Charles Wells filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in New York federal court. The only asset he listed was his apartment, incidentally the same apartment mentioned in the 2015 criminal judgment. For debts, he listed a $945,000 mortgage against this property, as well as additional unsecured debts to Wells Fargo and a condo association:
These proceedings were terminated shortly afterward when Mr. Wells failed to pay the filing fee. In October 2019, Mr. Wells again filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. In this filing, he stated his annual income was $5,000 a month and cited liabilities of $1.18 million. According to the petition, Mr. Wells was employed by “M3 World Consulting” as a consultant:
It appears this bankruptcy was finalized in December 2019.
So, how can we be sure that Robert Wells, convicted of multiple federal crimes, is the same person as Rob Charles, founder of Goldfingr?
First, the same apartment is identified in the 2015 criminal judgment and in the 2019 bankruptcy proceedings. This demonstrates that the same Robert Wells who was convicted in 2015 filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
Second, in the bankruptcy proceedings Mr. Wells was represented by attorney Sergei Orel. According to Mr. Orel’s website, he specializes in intellectual property law. We discovered that Mr. Orel was also the attorney who filed the trademark of the Goldfingr logo in July 2019. Note that this trademark is owned by M3 World Consulting, Inc., doing business as “Goldfingr Corporation:”
Finally, in the October 2019 bankruptcy proceedings, Mr. Wells stated he was employed by M3 World Consulting. This is the same firm that owns the Goldfingr trademark and is doing business under the Goldfingr name.
It’s interesting to see how closely Mr. Wells’ autobiography matches with actual events. He shares that he was an “investor” in marijuana, that he traveled to Taiwan in 2009, and even that he had “financial troubles” around 2009 which he attributes to the real estate crash. However, instead of admitting that he spent much of the period between 2010-2014 incarcerated with his assets seized by the federal government, he concocted an elaborate story about building multiple commodities businesses in West Africa. Also, we have not found any interviews where Mr. Wells discloses filing for personal bankruptcy in 2019. This too is a significant omission, as he claims that he was “doing deals” with multiple billionaires in New York around that time. Seems unlikely, no?
To paraphrase the mastermind Ben Franklin, the best lies often contain a bit of truth. Mr. Wells appears to have taken that lesson to heart!
How did you learn to investigate so well? We are both interested in debunking fraud. I am in university and started reading Michael Bazzell for OSINT, but what other books do you recommend? You are very busy thanks for the great article. I really liked it.
Great article