When Dutch con magicians ripped off Steve Sheraton's 2009 trick, they forgot that the internet has a memory — and that good journalists find pleasure in telling the story.
The Magic Oval investigated the CrowdConnect vs 5Star dispute independently, contacted both sides, reviewed the private messages, and watched the original YouTube videos dating back to 2009 and 2014. Their findings:
Robin Matrix bought Steve's app JOLT, then launched a product combining features from three of Steve's inventions — and charged $1,000 for it. His claim of independent invention in 2019? The journalist watched all the videos. Steve's from 2009 and 2014 look exactly like CrowdConnect does today. Robin's 2019 video doesn't.
The "menacing correspondence" CrowdConnect's statement describes? One professional reply. That's it. What their statement conveniently left out: a message from their developer containing personal insults — the actual reason they were blocked.
Steve's response wasn't a lawsuit. It was a $1 app called 5Star, built in one afternoon from code dating back to 2009, released before CrowdConnect even launched at Blackpool. A refund template for anyone who got pressured into the $1,000 version.
And now, an independent investigation confirming what the timestamps already proved: Matrix stole three apps, manufactured invalid prior art, bullied the inventor, and lied about Sheraton's professional one-time reply.
The full interview, the messages, and the side-by-side photos are all in the
blog post that links to the independent article.
