A French AI Darling Built on a Veterinarian's Animal Hospital
On June 18, 2026, Grizzly Research published a short report on 2CRSi (Euronext Paris), a French technology group that designs and manufactures high-performance, energy-efficient computer servers and data center infrastructure, headquartered in Strasbourg. The stock had increased sevenfold in the past year, propelled by exploding US revenues and a wave of blockbuster contract announcements — making 2CRSi a perceived prime play on the AI and data-center boom, with French retail investors eagerly discussing every new announcement.
Grizzly's conclusion is stark: after a months-long investigation including satellite imagery, site visits, communications with local officials, and interviews with the counterparty's own employees and CEO, the firm believes the majority of 2CRSi's revenue and contract announcements are a severe misrepresentation orchestrated through undisclosed related parties, and that management has likely committed multiple counts of fraud with the intent of misleading investors.
Epistemic note. Grizzly Research's analysis draws on 2CRSi's public filings, press releases, franchise disclosure documents, satellite imagery, site visits, and interviews with the counterparty's CEO and employees. Its characterization of 2CRSi's announcements as fabricated and its conclusion that the company is 'almost a complete fraud' is the opinion of a short seller with a disclosed financial interest in the stock's decline. None of this has been verified by The Forensic Ledger, adjudicated by a regulator or court, or admitted by 2CRSi.
The turnaround that arrived just in time
The story begins in 2023, when 2CRSi sold its subsidiary 'Boston Limited' — which had generated more than 83% of its revenue. The divestiture left the company in dire need of a turnaround narrative. Right at that moment, Grizzly notes, its US subsidiary revenue suddenly boomed, despite the region having historically generated only about 3% of total revenue. Grizzly's research indicates that almost the entire revenue of 2CRSi is likely fabricated through an undisclosed related-party scheme — and that the $610 million contract 2CRSi announced with an unnamed client, along with other meaningful contract announcements, amount to a severe misrepresentation bordering on outright fraud.
Joseph Church and the network of fake companies
Grizzly identified the person behind an ecosystem of fake companies that appears to have served as the basis for 2CRSi's US announcements: Joseph Church, a veterinarian with no data-center or related-industry experience and limited financial resources. In 2023 and 2024, Church created multiple companies and fake credentials, all headquartered in the small animal hospital he co-owns in Plattsburgh, New York. Church has been working closely with 2CRSi since at least 2022, and Grizzly found multiple instances in which 2CRSi and Church's companies mention each other's assets or use marketing material interchangeably — leading the firm to conclude Church has been a related party for years.
NewYork GreenCloud: created on the day of the announcement
Grizzly identified the unnamed client behind the $610 million contract — and a more recent $290 million purchase order — as Church's company NewYork GreenCloud ('NYGC'). The findings are damning:
- NYGC was created on the day of the contract announcement by 2CRSi.
- 2CRSi's CEO appears as 'Co-founder' on NYGC's fundraising presentation.
- NYGC's website was entirely created and is hosted by 2CRSi's own IT department.
Despite 2CRSi qualifying NYGC as a 'leading data center operator,' Grizzly's due diligence found that Church and his companies have never built or operated a single data center. Church has been buying old power plants at scrap value and using them — alongside 2CRSi — to lure investors with stories about 'green data centers.' In reality, Grizzly writes, all projects rest on wobbly projections, unknown future factors, and hundreds of millions in funding the company does not possess.
Irreconcilable timelines and impossible specs
In an interview with regional media, Church explicitly stated that California data-center-related operations — including permitting — might start in late 2027 at the earliest, and that over $1 billion of Capex is required to build it. NYGC will not enter talks with clients until 2028 and does not even know what kind of servers it will use at that time; its sole current operations relate to biomass power facilities, and its future funding pathway depends entirely on future clients signing. This directly invalidates 2CRSi's announcement and statements around its major US contract and recent purchase order, which are scheduled for delivery in the coming months — equipment NYGC does not need for the moment.
NYGC's technical specifications, Grizzly argues, are a marketing fantasy that appears simply impossible to achieve: an announced PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) lower than the most efficient facilities in the world, a biomass facility forecasted uptime higher than any peer, and pyrolysis technology upgrades at unprecedented scale.
Ghost sites and vanishing announcements
Grizzly's due diligence — satellite images, site visits, communications with local officials, and records of interviews with NYGC's employees and Church himself — revealed that there is currently close to nothing taking place across the sites related to 2CRSi's US operations and its recently created subsidiary '2CRSi Cloud Solutions.' This includes projects and announcements dating from 2022 to today, some of which have disappeared from the company's communications without explanation. The firm flags 2CRSi's participation in an EU AI Megafactory project and its recent contracts in Munich, Canada, and New York as highly questionable.
What would falsify this thesis
Falsification would look like: 2CRSi disclosing that NYGC and the Church network are in fact related parties and reconciling its revenue to arms-length, third-party customers; independent verification — through audited financials, site visits, or client confirmations — that the $610M contract and $290M purchase order represent genuine, deliverable commercial transactions with a funded, operational counterparty; and the California and New York data-center projects breaking ground on the timeline 2CRSi has communicated, with credible financing in place. Conversely, continued silence on the related-party relationship, further delayed or vanishing project announcements, and auditor or regulatory scrutiny of the US revenue would corroborate the thesis.
Grizzly Research's disclosed position
Grizzly Research disclosed holding a short position in 2CRSi and stated it stands to profit if the share price declines.
Source
- Grizzly Research — 2CRSi: Fabricated US Revenue & Phantom Contracts (report page)
- Grizzly Research — 2CRSi Report PDF (English)
⚖️ Editorial Disclaimer
This article summarizes with citation a research report already published by Grizzly Research. The Forensic Ledger is an independent newsroom and archive; it is not the author of the underlying allegations and does not adopt them as established fact. All figures, characterizations, and conclusions attributed to the report — including the fabricated-revenue allegations, the undisclosed related-party scheme, the Joseph Church company network, the NewYork GreenCloud findings, the impossible technical specifications, and the ghost-site observations — are the opinions of a third party (Grizzly Research) that discloses a financial interest in the decline of the covered security. They have not been independently verified, have not been adjudicated by any court or regulator, and may be denied or disputed by 2CRSi. This article is published for informational and journalistic purposes only, is not investment advice, and is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security.
Original reporting by Grizzly Research. This article is desk analysis prepared by The Forensic Ledger from publicly available sources, summarized with citation to the original.
Not investment advice. This is original reporting and analysis prepared by The Forensic Ledger from publicly available data. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Always consult the original source and a licensed professional. See our full disclaimer and source-citation policy.
