@HiddenCash, the heretofore-faceless rich guy who roiled San Francisco with a bizarre philanthropy experiment, in which he hid $100 bills throughout San Francisco and tweeted hints for money-hungry sleuths, has reportedly been identified.
According to the television news show Inside Edition, this tech-savvy mensch is actually Jason Buzi, a controversial real estate mogul who's been accused of flipping houses and fleecing buyers, via a clause in his contracts with sellers.
Buzi has denied all charges of wrongdoing, and a man claiming to be @HiddenCash, in a phone interview with Inside Edition, claimed he wasn't Buzi. (He did, however, admit to being a real estate developer.)
But an Inside Edition voice analyst insists that the voice on the phone matches the one on Buzi's investment podcast. SFist also pieced together an intricate -- if less-than-convincing -- Internet trail to link the two men together, citing mysterious Facebook status updates, and a statement on Buzi's LinkedIn profile.
Moreover, Buzi apparently helped run the now-dormant social media site CashTomato.com, whose founders launched bizarre, promotional stunts like hiding cash-bedecked tomatoes around San Francisco and other cities. That might have been the genesis of the much more prolific @HiddenCash avatar.
If Jason Buzi is, in fact, the guy we're looking for, then @HiddenCash's motivations might be a lot more cynical than most people suspected. Conventional wisdom pinned him as an eccentric but well-intentioned magnate -- detractors say he's actually a calculating scam artist.
Evidently, we'll find out more on the next episode of Inside Edition.
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