We noted another set of transactions that put more shares into the hands of Honig’s associates shortly before the Global Bit Ventures deal was announced.
Marathon Patent had raised $2.7 million in April 2017 by selling shares at 70 cents each (not split-adjusted) to three buyers — Intracoastal Capital LLC; CVI Investments Inc.; and Anson Investments Master Fund LP.
Those three funds also got warrants to buy 2.3 million shares at 83 cents each. Intracoastal Capital has invested in a number of companies that were created or bankrolled by Honig, including Riot Blockchain. Anson Investments has provided capital to some of those same companies. The Marathon Patent deal did not turn out well for the funds. Within three months, the company’s share price had fallen by half.
In mid-July, however, Marathon Patent agreed to exchange the warrants — which were not yet exercisable and were well out of the money — for 598,500 shares of common stock (split-adjusted), with a market value of more than $700,000.
Marathon Patent’s SEC filings did not explain why it made that concession, and we found no language providing for that sort of exchange in the original investment agreement.
A registration statement that Marathon Patent filed in September revealed that two-thirds of those warrants no longer were held by their original owners. It showed that Intracoastal Capital sold its warrants, exchangeable for 198,000 shares, to Dr. Ronald Low. He is a New Jersey physician whose daughter is married to Jonathan Honig. The filing showed that Anson Investments sold its warrants, also exchangeable for 198,000 common shares, to Melechdavid Inc. That company is owned by Groussman.
Marathon Patent said in its annual SEC filing for 2017 that it completed the exchanges at the end of September.
If Low and Groussman sold their portions in October, they would have collected around $300,000 each. If they sold during the price surge in November and December, they could have collected more than $1 million each, or even as much as $1.5 million if they were able to sell near the peak.