Family of Ex-OpenAI Researcher Turn to Crypto to Fund Disputed Death Probe

The household of a former OpenAi researcher discovered lifeless in his condo in San Francisco in November 2024, makes use of Solana-based meme cash to finance their authorized battle with town.

Whereas the medical investigator dominated the loss of life of such loss of life as suicide and didn’t discover any proof of cheat, Balaji’s dad and mom rejected that conclusion, “staged” the scene and began their very own investigation into what they declare was {that a} failed and reportedly lined probe was.

Balaji, who had overtly criticized OpenAi as a consequence of alleged coaching of chatgpt on copyrighted materials with out permission, had been a pronounced determine within the AI moral debate.

After his loss of life, supporters within the crypto neighborhood got here up for the case of the household and noticed it as a matter of justice and a combat in opposition to institutional protection.

In December, a household good friend launched the Justice for Suchir (Suchir) token on the baggage.fm Meme Coin platform with a complete inventory of 999 million tokens.

The coin briefly peaked at $ 0.015 on December 29, in response to Coinmarketcap, which generated $ 5,000 for the household.

Like many meme cash, it has since crashed 99% of his all time.

That effort adopted on a January 2025 crypto fundraising that resulted in additional than $ 140,000 in Solana and different tokens.

“It was overwhelming as a result of we not have sources,” mentioned Balaji’s mom, Poornima Ramaraoh, mentioned Decrypt. “Financing by Crypto is a good concept – it allows us to proceed when different choices are caught.”

The Solana pockets who has acquired $ 140,000 has not acquired any donation since April, in response to Solscan, however the pockets that’s linked to the Meme Munt nonetheless attracts funds.

Ramaraoh apparently has not been capable of retain a lawyer who will assume the case about unexpected occasion.

A lawyer, who after amassing $ 25,000 in hourly prices, mentioned he was “too busy” to maintain pursuing the case, Romararao mentioned.

A second lawyer has charged her $ 60,0000 up to now. She mentioned she spent one other $ 115,000 on reimbursements with regard to an investigation.

In February, the household introduced a lawsuit in opposition to town of San Francisco and the SFPD, claiming that researchers held data and didn’t examine the case appropriately.

“Only a few researchers know the right way to get the reality out,” mentioned Ramaraoh. “This makes it dearer.”