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The mother of the late Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI employee turned whistleblower, has raised over $140,000 worth of cryptocurrency to fuel an independent investigation after she claims her son didn’t die by suicide.
Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment in November, with authorities determining the manner of death to be suicide. However, his mother Poornima Ramarao disputes this conclusion, immediately launching a campaign for a "comprehensive investigation" into her son’s death.
“We are the parents of happy, smart, and brave young man Suchir,” Ramarao posted on X (formerly known as Twitter). “His time of death is [a] few hours after his last call with family. We don’t understand, within [a] few hours, what happened does not align with his happy mood and return from vacation.”
#JusticeForSuchirhttps://t.co/UJ3RppEH9p
We are the parents of happy, smart and brave young man Suchir, found dead in his aparment on 11/26/2024. We are seeking to know complete truth, we need more answers.
Suchir just went on vacation with his friends between 11/16/2024 and…— Poornima Rao (@RaoPoornima) December 15, 2024
Balaji worked as a researcher at OpenAI from November 2020 to August 2024, before going to the New York Times to make a litany of allegations against the company as a whistleblower, claiming the AI giant was breaking copyright laws.
Two weeks after his death, Ramarao claims to have hired a private investigator to carry out a second autopsy. This investigator did not come to the same cause of death as the police, instead finding signs of struggle.
“It’s a cold-blooded murder,” Ramarao posted on X. “We demand [an] FBI investigation.”
Update on @suchirbalaji
We hired private investigator and did second autopsy to throw light on cause of death. Private autopsy doesn’t confirm cause of death stated by police.
Suchir’s apartment was ransacked , sign of struggle in the bathroom and looks like some one hit him…
— Poornima Rao (@RaoPoornima) December 29, 2024
Independent journalist George Webb later released a video, against the will of the family, showing himself walking around Balaji’s apartment that is still covered in blood. In this video, he points out what he believes to be evidence that the former OpenAI employee did not die by suicide.
Suchir Balaji parents adter a walkthrough of his apartment. pic.twitter.com/DfD4bnsCzo
— George Webb - Investigative Journalist (@RealGeorgeWebb1) December 31, 2024
As the family’s conviction grew, they claimed to have signed a retainer with an attorney. With help from the team behind Solana token Justice For Suchir (SUCHIR), Ramarao set up a Solana wallet and posted it on X, asking for donations to fund $100,000 in legal fees.
Solana wallet address for raising funds for fighting justice for Suchir. We just signed a retainer with an attorney for 100,000$.
This is only beginning. Please support us in this battle.
Address for solana wallet
Q4eXHNPsnQoPvsRAdgH6TjT66eWEk7y6JniTd9ru4N3
Thank you…
— Poornima Rao (@RaoPoornima) January 6, 2025
Now three days later, the wallet holds over $140,000 in Solana (SOL) and a basket of other Suchir-inspired meme coins on the chain. The team behind the aforementioned SUCHIR token, the largest of the tokens dedicated to the whistleblower, claims to be working directly with the family to amplify the message.
“We are doing everything we can to bring awareness and help fundraise,” a spokesperson for Justice for Suchir told Decrypt.
Decrypt also reached out to Ramarao directly, but did not immediately receive a response.
Edited by Andrew Hayward