BitFuFu Sues Over Alleged Bitcoin Mining Hosting Fraud in Mississippi

BitFuFu has filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court alleging it was defrauded in a Bitcoin mining hosting deal in Mississippi, with the dispute tracing back to a breakdown between a broker and the actual site owner.

Ethereal Tech Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based unit of BitFuFu, is suing DSO Projects LLC (DSOP), Deep South Operating LLC (DSO), and four individuals — Brandon Bryan, Basham Johnson, Paul Rogers, and Leon Shaw — alleging fraud, breach of contract, conversion, and conspiracy, according to a complaint amended on Jan. 22, 2026.

The case centers on a hosting arrangement for cryptocurrency mining machines at a site in Iuka, Mississippi, and how that relationship unraveled over nearly two years. It offers a detailed look at how Bitcoin mining hosting deals are often structured through intermediaries and highlights the risks when ownership, payment flows, and operational control are not clearly aligned — particularly as miners compete for access to low-cost power and available infrastructure.

According to the complaint, the relationship began at the Mining Disrupt conference in Miami between July 25 and 27, 2023, where BitFuFu representatives met Rogers, who allegedly claimed that his company, DSOP, owned and operated a mining facility in Mississippi.

In August 2023, BitFuFu personnel visited the Iuka site, where Bryan and Johnson allegedly reiterated that DSOP controlled the facility and its infrastructure. DSO’s manager, Brock Tompkins — whose company actually owned the site — was also present during the visit, a detail BitFuFu says reinforced the impression that DSOP had authority over the operations.

BitFuFu subsequently signed a Service Framework Agreement with DSOP on Sept. 7, 2023. Under the contract, DSOP agreed to provide hosting, operations and maintenance for Ethereal Tech’s mining equipment, initially for up to 10 megawatts (MW) of power capacity, later expanded to 16 MW. BitFuFu agreed to pay $0.074 per kilowatt-hour for electricity and provided more than $1 million in deposits and prepayments, including a security deposit of $812,520.

Those payments were directed to a bank account held by Environmental Attorney Group, a law firm allegedly controlled by Shaw, rather than to DSOP directly.

More than a month after signing the agreement with BitFuFu, DSOP entered into a separate agreement with DSO on Oct. 11, 2023, allowing DSOP to place customer equipment at the Iuka facility.

Operations proceeded into 2024, including a March addendum expanding BitFuFu’s power allocation. The first batch of 931 mining machines arrived at the site in September 2024.

The arrangement began to break down in early 2025. On March 19, 2025, DSO terminated its agreement with DSOP, alleging that DSOP had failed to pay the required service fees to the site owner and filed a separate lawsuit against DSOP.

Weeks later, on April 30, 2025, Tompkins and direct communications with BitFuFu, where he confirmed that DSOP did not own or operate the facility. In that communication, he stated that “DSO Projects is a broker, they own nothing associated with or on our site,” adding:

“DSO Projects is run by Basham Johnson and Paul Rogers, we have learned that the official owner of DSO Projects is a Brandon Bryan, we have no clue who this is, he appears to be a landscaper/handyman in Birmingham, AL who is friends with Basham or Paul.”

BitFuFu alleges that this was the first time it became aware that the company it had contracted with was not the actual site operator.

The situation escalated in May 2025. After DSOP failed to pay DSO, the site owner cut off services to Ethereal Tech’s equipment on May 21, leaving the machines offline. During that disruption, Ethereal Tech alleges that the hashrate of its machines was “abruptly redirected” to a different mining pool without authorization, in violation of contractual terms requiring prior written consent.

The complaint says the equipment was effectively left “stranded” at the facility as the commercial arrangement collapsed.

DSO restored hosting services on May 24, 2025, after confirming with the leasing documents that DSO — not DSOP — was the actual owner of the site. According to the complaint, that resulted in BitFuFu effectively paying twice for the same period of service — first through the DSOP payment “pipeline,” where the funds allegedly “had vanished,” and then again directly to DSO to restore operations and prevent further disruption.

BitFuFu terminated its agreement with DSOP on June 4, 2025, and demanded the return of its deposits. The complaint alleges that Bryan acknowledged the termination but refused to return the funds.

BitFuFu also accuses DSO of knowingly participating in the arrangement to secure a customer, alleging the company “allowed this deception to occur in order to acquire a large new customer” and received a portion of the funds.

DSOP has disputed the allegations and, on March 17, 2026, filed a motion to compel arbitration, arguing the case is a contractual dispute that should be resolved outside of court. The company said BitFuFu is using “artful pleading” to avoid arbitration by recasting contract claims as torts.