Crypto Lawyer Kyle Roche Was the 'Victim of an Elaborate International Set Up' – Here's What Happened
Disgraced crypto lawyer Kyle Roche fell “victim to an elaborate international setup” that caused him to expose himself as corruptly beholden to Avalanche founder Ava Labs, reported the New York Times on Sunday.
The setup, which destroyed Roche’s career as one of the biggest lawyers in cryptocurrency litigation, began in December 2021 when Roche received an email from a trusted peer introducing him to a businessman named Mauricio Andres Villavicencio de Aguilar.
Villavicencio presented himself as an associate of Christen Ager-Hanssen, a venture capitalist claiming to be interested in one of Roche’s new Avalanche-based companies.
Roche met both men at Ager-Hanssen’s townhouse office in London, where the lawyer said he was coaxed into bragging about his extra-cozy relationship with Ava Labs.
Roche said he immediately detected that something was off when Ager-Hanssen pressed his index finger to Roche’s forehead, and told him he’d need to know everything Mr. Roche could do.
“I didn’t think it was a gun motion, but I thought he was trying to intimidate me,” explained the lawyer. He used the gesture as a signal to sell himself harder, though in hindsight, he wished he had gotten up and left.
During the meeting, Roche told the businessmen that he’d been granted 1% of the total supply of AVAX tokens – a figure he later admitted was exaggerated. Avalanche currently has a market cap of $3.8 billion – down 80% from its highs.
When explaining how he’d made himself useful to AVA Labs, Roche added that they “haven’t been sued yet, and there’s a reason for that,” – to which Ager-Hanssen replied “Good answer.”
Villavicencio secretly recorded the conversation, which was later released as part of a 20+ video compilation presenting both Ava
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