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Title: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on September 16, 2015, 12:42:10 PM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security:
https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on September 16, 2015, 01:24:33 PM so burt wot happend exactly did they steal you bitcoins didnt u give some on reserve for yourself in cold storage tell me more You can read all about it here:www.burtw.com www.jmwagner.com and, of course, here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=934268.0 Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Mickeyb on September 16, 2015, 01:55:12 PM This is disgusting, what else can I say. I am sorry BurtW that this has happened to you and thanks God I don't live anymore in the US, the land of free, the land of opportunity(this I say with the highest degree of irony, of course).
I hope you will get back in your feet somehow. I surely hop you are not done with Bitcoin. I also wish that you fight those a**holes with the best attorneys possible, unfortunately I don't see how this will be possible when you are essentially going against the government. Good luck! Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Come-from-Beyond on September 16, 2015, 02:01:35 PM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security: https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. You are a lucky guy, Uncle Sam took from you only money, not your life nor beloved ones as he did to millions of innocent people around the globe. Say fuck you to your passed ancestors whose deeds led to the current state of things, say sorry to native americans who were slayed to free the space for newcomers with guns. And better run off the land of the free... Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: zesty_dragon on September 16, 2015, 02:58:32 PM I can flood the wallet with spam transactions if you want? hahaha nice idea. +1Maybe try to Crack that wallets private key, if it is found then you can have your money back. But possibly it's never gonna happen. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: GermanGiant on September 16, 2015, 03:07:33 PM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security: https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. Did they take 186 BTC or more ? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on September 16, 2015, 03:38:13 PM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security: https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. Did they take 186 BTC or more ? Since they dropped all charges I got everything else (including my remaining BTC) back. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on September 16, 2015, 03:39:19 PM I sent them a message with the blockchain. It's included in this OP_RETURN: OP_RETURN 53504b6d2e7668cb50a8928442fbf6260098004f32515afd8dd22e1207d857e5ed572fb4a1ed963 9 When decoded in sparkbit it reads https://i.gyazo.com/23cd8bcf88c3c9ca4d4a1d216ab78334.png Creative, interesting and fun! Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: GermanGiant on September 16, 2015, 03:48:15 PM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security: https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. Did they take 186 BTC or more ? Since they dropped all charges I got everything else (including my remaining BTC) back. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: DannyHamilton on September 16, 2015, 04:48:28 PM What reason are they showing for having 186 BTC plus about $40K in cash ? Tax evasion ? They aren't required to show a reason. Their "reason" is: "We agree to drop the charges, and you agree not to try to recover this $80,000 worth of cash and bitcoins from us. If this agreement is not acceptable to you, then we will take this to court and you can pay a lot more than that in legal fees while risking the chance that you'll lose the case and spend a significant time in jail." Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: valkir on September 16, 2015, 05:25:32 PM This could be usefull! https://www.blockseer.com ;)
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on September 16, 2015, 05:32:51 PM What reason are they showing for having 186 BTC plus about $40K in cash ? Tax evasion ? You can read all about it here: www.burtw.com www.jmwagner.com and, of course, here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=934268.0 tl;dr: I was charged with operating a money transmittal business without a licence for my trading activity on localbitcoins.com. (profile) (https://localbitcoins.com/accounts/profile/BurtW/) Defending myself cost me almost $300,000. We had to mortgage our house and cash in our retirement savings in order to pay the three separate law firms I had to hire (one for the criminal case against me, one for the plethora of civil cases against the seized property and one for the possible IRS case against me). However, since I have paid all the taxes on my gains from Bitcoin trading and mining there is no tax evasion. BTW: none of the expenses involved, physical damage to our home during the search and seizure, damage to our business, attorney's fees, the $80K forfeiture, etc. are tax deductible. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: killerjoegreece on September 17, 2015, 03:32:18 PM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security: https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. wow really? why did they take it? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: RGBKey on September 17, 2015, 03:37:46 PM That's just disgusting that they can do that to you. It's not even close to fair and doesn't feel legal to me.
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: mallard on September 17, 2015, 03:40:43 PM The coins probably aren't going to move anywhere for a long time.
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: GermanGiant on September 17, 2015, 06:13:31 PM tl;dr: I was charged with operating a money transmittal business without a licence for my trading activity on localbitcoins.com. (profile) (https://localbitcoins.com/accounts/profile/BurtW/) Did you received or sent FIAT from or to outside of the USA through bank transaction, cash or any other means ?Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on September 17, 2015, 06:42:29 PM tl;dr: I was charged with operating a money transmittal business without a licence for my trading activity on localbitcoins.com. (profile) (https://localbitcoins.com/accounts/profile/BurtW/) Did you received or sent FIAT from or to outside of the USA through bank transaction, cash or any other means ?All of my localbitcoins.com transactions were cash in person trades at a local coffee shop. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on September 17, 2015, 07:02:13 PM tl;dr: I was charged with operating a money transmittal business without a licence for my trading activity on localbitcoins.com. (profile) (https://localbitcoins.com/accounts/profile/BurtW/) Did you received or sent FIAT from or to outside of the USA through bank transaction, cash or any other means ?All of my localbitcoins.com transactions were cash in person trades at a local coffee shop. The simple act of advertising on localbitcoins means you might be considered to be running a business. If you are running a business then it can/will be considered a money transmittal business and you can be arrested, throw in jail, have your property (computers, Bitcoins, cash, gold, silver, etc.) seized, and face up to a five year prison sentence - that is what happened to me. It is not the act of using localbitcoins to do your trading that they use to seize your property, it is the advertising on the internet and the doing "business" with the general public that allows them to come in and seize your property. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: greenlion on September 17, 2015, 07:10:51 PM I have a Money Service Business license from FINCEN. Fictional license is fictional. FinCEN maintains a registration database. States perform the licensing. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: tommorisonwebdesign on September 17, 2015, 07:17:52 PM It is a sad thing to see people loose that much money to uncle Sam. So much for the land of the free home of the brave. They really want to hold on to the federal reserve.
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on September 17, 2015, 07:18:16 PM I have a Money Service Business license from FINCEN. Then you can use localbitcoin.com with no issues with the Feds, as stated above there is the state. But assuming either:They don't have a license in your state (Texas and others). They say you don't need a licence in your state (Colorado and others). You went ahead and also got the state license (New York, and others). You are theoretically good to go and can conduct as much business as you want to using localbitcoins, your own web site, storefront, whatever. Of course, now that you have the proper licensing you need to play by all the rules written for those who have said licenses. But I suspect you already know all this.... Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Mikestang on September 17, 2015, 07:35:08 PM Civil asset forfeiture is a hot topic right now, it's total bullshit. Unfortunately here in California we just had a promising reform bill shot down by misrepresentation from the law enforcement lobbies. Most of the California forfeit cases deal with cannabis cultivation.
it is the advertising on the internet and the doing "business" with the general public that allows them to come in and seize your property. The scary thing is, when you get to looking at civil asset forfeiture, they really don't need any reason to take your stuff, you do not need to be accused or convicted of a crime, and you have no recourse to get it back.Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: ajareselde on September 17, 2015, 08:08:21 PM The scary thing is, when you get to looking at civil asset forfeiture, they really don't need any reason to take your stuff, you do not need to be accused or convicted of a crime, and you have no recourse to get it back. I would really like to see them take something that only i can unlock, since i don't keep any passwords or similar things written or stored. They would need my consent in order to take bitcoins away from me, which i doubt i would ever do, even faced with larger losses. Thank god i don't live in USA tho Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: MaxSan on September 17, 2015, 08:21:12 PM Makes me feel like I got off "light" compared with you.
Sorry for your loss. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: mallard on September 17, 2015, 08:35:27 PM How did they take the Bitcoins?
Did they just tell you to send all of the Bitcoins to a specific address, or did they take your private keys? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: baby222 on September 17, 2015, 08:36:15 PM I sent them a message with the blockchain. It's included in this OP_RETURN: OP_RETURN 53504b6d2e7668cb50a8928442fbf6260098004f32515afd8dd22e1207d857e5ed572fb4a1ed963 9 When decoded in sparkbit it reads https://i.gyazo.com/23cd8bcf88c3c9ca4d4a1d216ab78334.png Creative, interesting and fun! Hehehehe, this was pretty epic, i wish we could tag all the wallets that are part of the police or any government agency. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: charles11 on September 17, 2015, 08:50:34 PM I have a Money Service Business license from FINCEN. Then you can use localbitcoin.com with no issues with the Feds, as stated above there is the state. But assuming either:You are theoretically good to go and can conduct as much business as you want to using localbitcoins, your own web site, storefront, whatever. Of course, now that you have the proper licensing you need to play by all the rules written for those who have said licenses. Exactly..you just need to keep good records and if someone buys $10 in bitcoin from you, you must get their DL#, Social security # and address, etc. And course most people buying bitcoin on LBC are totally fine with that. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: charles11 on September 17, 2015, 08:59:21 PM FUcking pigs man.. I hope they all die a slow painful death. Mainly the law makers and leaders of the countries... god I hope there is a hell and they rot in the depths of it for their crimes against humanity. Be careful about posting things like that. On Reason.com, someone posted that a federal judge should "burn in hell" and the Feds subpoenaed Reason.com to get the IP of the person who posted that....no kidding. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: mallard on September 17, 2015, 09:26:02 PM FUcking pigs man.. I hope they all die a slow painful death. Mainly the law makers and leaders of the countries... god I hope there is a hell and they rot in the depths of it for their crimes against humanity. Be careful about posting things like that. On Reason.com, someone posted that a federal judge should "burn in hell" and the Feds subpoenaed Reason.com to get the IP of the person who posted that....no kidding. I thought in America, people were supposed to be able to say what they wanted to. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on September 17, 2015, 09:37:06 PM I would really like to see them take something that only i can unlock, since i don't keep any passwords or similar things written or stored. They would need my consent in order to take bitcoins away from me, which i doubt i would ever do, even faced with larger losses. Thank god i don't live in USA tho How did they take the Bitcoins? Did they just tell you to send all of the Bitcoins to a specific address, or did they take your private keys? I know nothing about other countries but here in the US they have this thing called "contempt of court" which is the second most odious part of the law, right behind civil asset forfeiture. All the judge needs to do is say "give me the password to all of your Bitcoins or you will be in contempt of court". If you do not then give them your Bitcoins you will be sent to jail. Note that for the most part it is almost impossible to appeal "contempt of court" Also, they can keep you in jail until you produce the password they want. That means forever - there is no time limit. So your passwords are only as secure as your willingness to go to jail to keep them secret. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on September 17, 2015, 09:46:16 PM The scary thing is, when you get to looking at civil asset forfeiture, they really don't need any reason to take your stuff, you do not need to be accused or convicted of a crime, and you have no recourse to get it back. In fact they often just take your property without charging you with anything at all because charging you is more paperwork and it actually can make it even more difficult for you to get your stuff back since there is no criminal case attached to the forfeiture. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Mikestang on September 17, 2015, 09:52:54 PM The scary thing is, when you get to looking at civil asset forfeiture, they really don't need any reason to take your stuff, you do not need to be accused or convicted of a crime, and you have no recourse to get it back. In fact they often just take your property without charging you with anything at all because charging you is more paperwork and it actually can make it even more difficult for you to get your stuff back since there is no criminal case attached to the forfeiture. This has been happening for years with medical cannabis dispensaries in California. The police bust in to a California law abiding business, take all the cannabis, money, computers, video surveillance gear, etc. etc., and then say have a nice day, we may file charges against you. Charges are never filed and all that stuff now belongs to the police. What a deal, no wonder they don't want to change it. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Hellot on September 17, 2015, 10:50:51 PM tl;dr: I was charged with operating a money transmittal business without a licence for my trading activity on localbitcoins.com. (profile) (https://localbitcoins.com/accounts/profile/BurtW/) Did you received or sent FIAT from or to outside of the USA through bank transaction, cash or any other means ?All of my localbitcoins.com transactions were cash in person trades at a local coffee shop. The simple act of advertising on localbitcoins means you might be considered to be running a business. If you are running a business then it can/will be considered a money transmittal business and you can be arrested, throw in jail, have your property (computers, Bitcoins, cash, gold, silver, etc.) seized, and face up to a five year prison sentence - that is what happened to me. It is not the act of using localbitcoins to do your trading that they use to seize your property, it is the advertising on the internet and the doing "business" with the general public that allows them to come in and seize your property. Looking at your LBC profile feedback, it looks like you were doing more than just advertising on LBC. And comments like the one below could stand out to law enforcement and make them take notice. July 9, 2014, 12:36 a.m. + BurtW was a Pro, and help this noob out with his first Local Bitcoin transaction. I almost giving up on Local Bitcoins, as I never heard back from one person after a day, and another person couldn't remember if I was buying or selling bitcoins right before I was going to meet them. Then the person cancelled on me and offered no help. But BurtW was a diamond in the ruff and was able to buy $4.5k worth of bitcoins from me, which isn't chump change. He responded fast and I never worried about the deal. I will be using BurtW every month to sell tens of thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoins. If he can handle that, then he can handle any order. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BitUsher on September 17, 2015, 11:13:51 PM It would be interesting to see how the fed and courts in the US interpret "Business" if you:
Trade bitcoins for fiat at bitcoin meetups for no profit at spot price. Is this technically a business? I suppose they could prosecute these individuals for tax fraud when they don't exactly pay the capital gains from bitcoins volatility... but what if you purchase the bitcoins instantly through an exchange and had the buyer pay spot+exchange fee thus no change in value? What if an exchange created btc coupons that could be sold to redeem bitcoin and those in turn were sold for profit locally? (Like BTChina was doing) . Do the laws qualify coupons as needing a money transmitters license? Perhaps we need to take a page from all the fortune 500 companies which use a well known loophole to bypass gambling laws. Sell a product(sticker) that enters user in a contest with a chance to win bitcoin (from foreign exchange and with extremely high odds of winning) and no requirement of purchase necessary if users fill out a form to be mailed one opportunity to win btc(limit 1 per address) Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: akaman on September 17, 2015, 11:20:15 PM Makes me feel like I got off "light" compared with you. Mind telling us your story? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: dooglus on September 17, 2015, 11:21:23 PM I advertise there but that's the extent of it Looking at your LBC profile feedback, it looks like you were doing more than just advertising on LBC. turtlehurricane said he was only advertising. Your quote from LBC is about BurtW. They are different people. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: GermanGiant on September 17, 2015, 11:27:56 PM tl;dr: I was charged with operating a money transmittal business without a licence for my trading activity on localbitcoins.com. (profile) (https://localbitcoins.com/accounts/profile/BurtW/) Did you received or sent FIAT from or to outside of the USA through bank transaction, cash or any other means ?All of my localbitcoins.com transactions were cash in person trades at a local coffee shop. You probably sold 1 BTC against 200 USD and paid tax accordingly. But, if you do it in cash, administration has no other way than simply trusting you that you sold 1 BTC only. You may have sold 10 BTC against cash and reported 1 BTC. Authorities do not like this. Whenver you are changing BTC against FIAT, do it online. Keep a trail and show it if you are in trouble. I never heard anyone to be in trouble using LBC for online transactions only within the country. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: akaman on September 17, 2015, 11:28:23 PM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security: https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. I'm horrified by your story. Outright scary! Eventually, I assume Homeland Security will want to cash out, by selling these coins on an exchange or auction them out to an investor (like the Silk Road coins). Just as the community should be encouraged to not trade with stolen coins, obtained through hacking of exchanges etc, I similarly feel no one should purchase or be involved in the trade of 'tainted' coins such as yours that were stolen from you by the State. Hopefully, someone will take their time to ensure these coins are tracked so that any future potential buyer can be made aware of where these coins came from. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Hellot on September 17, 2015, 11:30:39 PM I advertise there but that's the extent of it Looking at your LBC profile feedback, it looks like you were doing more than just advertising on LBC. turtlehurricane said he was only advertising. Your quote from LBC is about BurtW. They are different people. Good catch, it doesn't change his feedback though. That cannot have helped him! Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: btvGainer on September 17, 2015, 11:34:33 PM I can flood the wallet with spam transactions if you want? Will it help him in any way?Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: knowhow on September 17, 2015, 11:59:17 PM Well this US wanna control all,but bitcoin were designed to be decentralized,with these no one could track our trades soo why they had acess to your bitcoins did you had declared them or made some fortune selling and buying the bitcoins?
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: isvicre on September 18, 2015, 12:03:43 AM tl;dr: I was charged with operating a money transmittal business without a licence for my trading activity on localbitcoins.com. (profile) (https://localbitcoins.com/accounts/profile/BurtW/) Did you received or sent FIAT from or to outside of the USA through bank transaction, cash or any other means ?All of my localbitcoins.com transactions were cash in person trades at a local coffee shop. You probably sold 1 BTC against 200 USD and paid tax accordingly. But, if you do it in cash, administration has no other way than simply trusting you that you sold 1 BTC only. You may have sold 10 BTC against cash and reported 1 BTC. Authorities do not like this. Whenver you are changing BTC against FIAT, do it online. Keep a trail and show it if you are in trouble. I never heard anyone to be in trouble using LBC for online transactions only within the country. But if he paid tax for them than what's the problem here? US laws are really weird. I know a lot of people do same things in Europe and don't even pay tax. They don't get in trouble, because there's no law about Bitcoin trading. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: kingscrown on September 18, 2015, 12:04:26 AM so burt wot happend exactly did they steal you bitcoins didnt u give some on reserve for yourself in cold storage tell me more You can read all about it here:www.burtw.com www.jmwagner.com and, of course, here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=934268.0 sick story Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: coinzat on September 18, 2015, 12:25:02 AM What happened to you is so creepy :/
I wonder what will they do with your btc ? Will they store it only in this address or they will exchange it to dollars ?!? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: chopstick on September 18, 2015, 12:51:58 AM Fuck the police state. Civil asset forfeiture is legalized robbery. They can literally use any excuse they want to just come in and steal our shit. These pigs are greedy as fuck. Bitcoin is great, but we need an alternative choice of society and government as well. We're all still vulnerable living in this police state bullshit. And they will fight tooth and nail to keep it that way. We need a new government. Our leaders have failed We the People. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Hellot on September 18, 2015, 12:52:23 AM Something doesn't make sense. If they made a mistake and dropped the charges, why did you have to pay them so much money? ???
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: chopstick on September 18, 2015, 01:18:51 AM Something doesn't make sense. If they made a mistake and dropped the charges, why did you have to pay them so much money? ??? He had to pay them an extortion fee to have the charges dropped. If he hadn't done that they would have dragged it out even longer and he would have had to keep paying more for his lawyer anyway. It's the american dream baby. Be a LEO and steal money from hard working americans. If they resist, bankrupt them and stick em in solitary confinement and have em be in "contempt of court" to boot. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: belcher on September 18, 2015, 01:25:13 AM I would really like to see them take something that only i can unlock, since i don't keep any passwords or similar things written or stored. They would need my consent in order to take bitcoins away from me, which i doubt i would ever do, even faced with larger losses. Thank god i don't live in USA tho How did they take the Bitcoins? Did they just tell you to send all of the Bitcoins to a specific address, or did they take your private keys? I know nothing about other countries but here in the US they have this thing called "contempt of court" which is the second most odious part of the law, right behind civil asset forfeiture. All the judge needs to do is say "give me the password to all of your Bitcoins or you will be in contempt of court". If you do not then give them your Bitcoins you will be sent to jail. Note that for the most part it is almost impossible to appeal "contempt of court" Also, they can keep you in jail until you produce the password they want. That means forever - there is no time limit. So your passwords are only as secure as your willingness to go to jail to keep them secret. What if you didn't give them all your bitcoins? Since it's possible to use bitcoin privately and anonymously, you could own bitcoins they don't know about. When they demand passwords you only give up part of your holdings. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BitUsher on September 18, 2015, 01:29:48 AM What if you didn't give them all your bitcoins. Since it's possible to use bitcoin privately and anonymously, you could own bitcoins they don't know about. When they demand passwords you only give up part of your holdings. They could imprison you forever if they even suspect you are with-holding passwords. This is also the reason why the probably made a lot of transactions shortly before the raid. They purchased a bulk of the coins than raided Burt's home to steal back their Fiat. Atrocious behavior. The worst aspect of this is they only need to ruin a few peoples lives before they ultimately succeed in achieving their primary objective.... forcing everyone to use exchanges that follow KYC where they can monitor and shutdown accounts. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: TeamButtcoin on September 18, 2015, 01:31:15 AM Something doesn't make sense. If they made a mistake and dropped the charges, why did you have to pay them so much money? ??? He had to pay them an extortion fee to have the charges dropped. If he hadn't done that they would have dragged it out even longer and he would have had to keep paying more for his lawyer anyway. It's the american dream baby. Be a LEO and steal money from hard working americans. If they resist, bankrupt them and stick em in solitary confinement and have em be in "contempt of court" to boot. ...or he isn't telling the whole story Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: chopstick on September 18, 2015, 01:40:41 AM Something doesn't make sense. If they made a mistake and dropped the charges, why did you have to pay them so much money? ??? He had to pay them an extortion fee to have the charges dropped. If he hadn't done that they would have dragged it out even longer and he would have had to keep paying more for his lawyer anyway. It's the american dream baby. Be a LEO and steal money from hard working americans. If they resist, bankrupt them and stick em in solitary confinement and have em be in "contempt of court" to boot. ...or he isn't telling the whole story No. The agency that arrested him is 100% funded by civil asset forfeiture. They wanted his money and they weren't going to let go until they got it. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: akaman on September 18, 2015, 03:31:28 AM They could imprison you forever if they even suspect you are with-holding passwords. This is also the reason why the probably made a lot of transactions shortly before the raid. They purchased a bulk of the coins than raided Burt's home to steal back their Fiat. Atrocious behavior. So, was this a classic LBC undercover sting where an agent posed as a buyer and purchased BTC from Burt, allegedly for buying drugs online or something like that? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: akaman on September 18, 2015, 03:32:07 AM No. The agency that arrested him is 100% funded by civil asset forfeiture. Do you have a source for this claim? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BitUsher on September 18, 2015, 04:10:55 AM So, was this a classic LBC undercover sting where an agent posed as a buyer and purchased BTC from Burt, allegedly for buying drugs online or something like that? This was merely for selling BTC without permission. Nothing to do with drugs, or stolen cc , ect... Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: ElectricMucus on September 18, 2015, 08:22:35 AM This was merely for selling BTC without permission. Nothing to do with drugs, or stolen cc , ect... Dude the business model was essentially providing money laundering services to dark net merchants and credit card scammers. You know in regards to financial services you don't have to be proven to be associated with illegal activity to have you assets seized, it's because there are regulations. I know, i know the law shouldn't be the law, but he still broke it. Hell, remember how ripple was fined a cool $1mil because they failed to report a transaction they've participated in? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: ElectricMucus on September 18, 2015, 08:56:46 AM also this
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-17/bitcoin-is-officially-a-commodity-according-to-u-s-regulator Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: RoadStress on September 18, 2015, 11:06:10 AM I can flood the wallet with spam transactions if you want? Feel free to do it. You are not expecting Burt to confirm you that because he can get in trouble. Fire away! Dude the business model was essentially providing money laundering services to dark net merchants and credit card scammers. You know in regards to financial services you don't have to be proven to be associated with illegal activity to have you assets seized, it's because there are regulations. So it was his job to verify the source of the money? I thought it's police job to catch them. What if I steal 1k$ from you and I go to exchange them into another currency? Does this mean that the exchanger is providing me money laundering services and that they should get arrested? Sounds very illogical. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: mookid on September 18, 2015, 01:47:41 PM Such an abuse of power by the government. It's crazy to think that these guys would do everything in their power to chase
normal people. No wonder half the world hates the US. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BitUsher on September 18, 2015, 02:02:04 PM This was merely for selling BTC without permission. Nothing to do with drugs, or stolen cc , ect... Dude the business model was essentially providing money laundering services to dark net merchants and credit card scammers. You know in regards to financial services you don't have to be proven to be associated with illegal activity to have you assets seized, it's because there are regulations. I know, i know the law shouldn't be the law, but he still broke it. Hell, remember how ripple was fined a cool $1mil because they failed to report a transaction they've participated in? I am very familiar with their unethical justifications for stealing Burt's cash. I am just pointing out there is a large difference between this case - http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Man-Pleads-Guilty-in-Miami-Dades-First-Bitcoin-Case-327888241.html and Burt's. I don't have much sympathy for people knowingly selling bitcoins for the express purpose of purchasing stolen credit cards or murdering someone. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: chopstick on September 18, 2015, 02:07:59 PM This was merely for selling BTC without permission. Nothing to do with drugs, or stolen cc , ect... Dude the business model was essentially providing money laundering services to dark net merchants and credit card scammers. You know in regards to financial services you don't have to be proven to be associated with illegal activity to have you assets seized, it's because there are regulations. I know, i know the law shouldn't be the law, but he still broke it. Hell, remember how ripple was fined a cool $1mil because they failed to report a transaction they've participated in? I am very familiar with their unethical justifications for stealing Burt's cash. I am just pointing out there is a large difference between this case - http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Man-Pleads-Guilty-in-Miami-Dades-First-Bitcoin-Case-327888241.html and Burt's. I don't have much sympathy for people knowingly selling bitcoins for the express purpose of purchasing stolen credit cards or murdering someone. In the Florida case the cops set up Michael Espinoza. No one set out with the express intention to sell coins for purchasing stolen credit card numbers. Come on man don't be an idiot and trust every single thing NBC fucking news says. The media has an agenda and it's to sensationalize everything for ratings, not tell the truth. Watch this interview with the man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acnxOEp3Mzk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acnxOEp3Mzk) Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on September 18, 2015, 02:17:56 PM also this That is a very interesting article with far reaching consequences across the board. So now the IRS and the CFTC are in agreement. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-17/bitcoin-is-officially-a-commodity-according-to-u-s-regulator Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BitUsher on September 18, 2015, 02:25:19 PM In the Florida case the cops set up Michael Espinoza. No one set out with the express intention to sell coins for purchasing stolen credit card numbers. Come on man don't be an idiot and trust every single thing NBC fucking news says. The media has an agenda and it's to sensationalize everything for ratings, not tell the truth. Watch this interview with the man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acnxOEp3Mzk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acnxOEp3Mzk) Watch from 16:20 - 17:30. The lawyer admits that the "victim" was informed that the BTC would be used to purchase stolen credit cards. He should only have met in public to sell the BTC for his own security and he should never have sold the BTC once he realized it would be used for stolen credit cards. He should have immediately walked away. If he was scared for his life because he met in a private hotel (dumb) than he should have made some excuse that he needed to run down to his car to get the hardware/paper/yubikey to complete the transaction allowing him to flee the situation. Whether or not he intended originally to help purchase the cards doesn't justify that he still made the poor choice of going through with the transaction afterwards. I don't care if you are a libertarian or anarchist... assisting people acquire stolen property is unethical. This being said I also consider that Homeland Security committed theft against Burt regardless of what laws they hide behind to justify their actions. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Kprawn on September 18, 2015, 02:59:12 PM What control do you have over people who wants to buy ANYTHING from you to commit a crime? So you sell your car and someone use that car to commit a crime, and you
get charged for selling the car? It's ridiculously stupid to charge someone for that. It's a whole other story, if they can prove that you knowingly sold that asset {digital or not} to assist someone to do a crime. I still say, they wanted to make a statement with his arrest, and they succeeded in doing that. >:( Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BitUsher on September 18, 2015, 05:58:16 PM What control do you have over people who wants to buy ANYTHING from you to commit a crime? So you sell your car and someone use that car to commit a crime, and you get charged for selling the car? It's ridiculously stupid to charge someone for that. It's a whole other story, if they can prove that you knowingly sold that asset {digital or not} to assist someone to do a crime. I still say, they wanted to make a statement with his arrest, and they succeeded in doing that. >:( Why are you conflating the two when they are clearly distinct? There is a world of difference between knowingly assisting someone to acquire stolen property and exchanging funds without knowing. The end results may be the same but you are not culpable for that crime. Firstly , if you are selling BTC and the buyer unnecessarily gives up information that could make you liable for participating in a crime they are either undercover or an idiot(in which case they are sloppy and likely to implicate you by accident). Either way you shouldn't deal with these clients as they are extremely dangerous regardless of how you feel about the ethics in assisting people buy stolen credit cards. Personally , I think its good advice to simply be more ethical and avoid people of questionable behavior altogether because: 1) They may implicate you by association in their lies/crimes 2) There low character will make it more probably they will cheat or scam you in the future 3) Many grifts are predicated on involving the victim in a crime 4) We should ostracize scumbags to not incentivize this behavior Stay away from murderers, thieves, liars, and police in general and you will be much safer. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Hugroll on September 18, 2015, 06:05:04 PM lol at the public note spam on their address :o
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: ElectricMucus on September 18, 2015, 07:43:44 PM Dude the business model was essentially providing money laundering services to dark net merchants and credit card scammers. You know in regards to financial services you don't have to be proven to be associated with illegal activity to have you assets seized, it's because there are regulations. So it was his job to verify the source of the money? I thought it's police job to catch them. What if I steal 1k$ from you and I go to exchange them into another currency? Does this mean that the exchanger is providing me money laundering services and that they should get arrested? Sounds very illogical. In a sense it is, not in that exact words and there is some leeway in terms of making the required effort reasonable. For most people that's not complicated to understand even if they can't understand the law text in written form but in common sense. I don't expect that of you, any bitcoiner or any "free market" capitalist for that matter: So YES, you are responsible to verify the source of the money. And since you'll probably get red faced about it: Yes it's not the same thing as due process, and it's still the law and there is nothing you can do about it. Sweet, libertarian tears! Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: TheButterZone on September 18, 2015, 08:10:29 PM Presume guilt until proven innocence, oops that proof of innocence wasn't, guilty no matter what!
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: ElectricMucus on September 18, 2015, 08:38:48 PM Presume guilt until proven innocence, oops that proof of innocence wasn't, guilty no matter what! You don't get that it's against the law not to report certain kind of financial transactions on it's own. The intent of the transaction is irrelevant, and you get due process for that! You ask: So what kind of financial transactions do you have to report? Well you should figure that out before making a business out of it. Some people call that tyranny, some call it compromise. I laugh. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: unamis76 on September 18, 2015, 10:28:18 PM I'm very curious about where these coins are going... Is it possible for them to be auctioned like the ones from the Silk Road case? Do the same principals apply? (both cases are very different).
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: knowhow on September 19, 2015, 02:01:28 AM Im pretty sure only USA has soo fucking killing rules to everything that they wanna you to do ,that you can do ,can i walk? can i dream? For any here makes no sense government takes such ammount just because he sold btc and hasnt a license for it,soo how did they find he trading btc ,the money in and out were too much ... soo you risked too much you should had opened a license and wont would lost those all btc.
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: RoadStress on September 19, 2015, 03:42:00 AM Hahaha, someone got clever with the vanity addresses Will you spam their address so that they can't move the coins? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: akaman on September 19, 2015, 04:29:00 AM also this Every branch is saying they can regulate Bitcoin even if it conflicts with another branch. FINCEN says it's currency so they can regulate it, IRS says they can charge capital gains tax, and now CFTC says its a commodity and subject to them. Bitcoin is not a future in any way shape or form so this latest example is absurd. CFTC is solely for futures and option markets.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-17/bitcoin-is-officially-a-commodity-according-to-u-s-regulator Bitcoiners need to start standing up against this bullshit or we will have a dozen financial branches regulating us at once. Bitcoiners need to realize that transacting on a transparent blockchain is dumb, and migrate to true private and anonymous cryptocurrency. Pick your favorite. I prefer Monero. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Kprawn on September 19, 2015, 07:10:06 AM What control do you have over people who wants to buy ANYTHING from you to commit a crime? So you sell your car and someone use that car to commit a crime, and you get charged for selling the car? It's ridiculously stupid to charge someone for that. It's a whole other story, if they can prove that you knowingly sold that asset {digital or not} to assist someone to do a crime. I still say, they wanted to make a statement with his arrest, and they succeeded in doing that. >:( Why are you conflating the two when they are clearly distinct? There is a world of difference between knowingly assisting someone to acquire stolen property and exchanging funds without knowing. The end results may be the same but you are not culpable for that crime. Firstly , if you are selling BTC and the buyer unnecessarily gives up information that could make you liable for participating in a crime they are either undercover or an idiot(in which case they are sloppy and likely to implicate you by accident). Either way you shouldn't deal with these clients as they are extremely dangerous regardless of how you feel about the ethics in assisting people buy stolen credit cards. Personally , I think its good advice to simply be more ethical and avoid people of questionable behavior altogether because: 1) They may implicate you by association in their lies/crimes 2) There low character will make it more probably they will cheat or scam you in the future 3) Many grifts are predicated on involving the victim in a crime 4) We should ostracize scumbags to not incentivize this behavior Stay away from murderers, thieves, liars, and police in general and you will be much safer. For me the two things are exactly the same. Burt sold Bitcoin to people, with no prior knowledge on what the user wants to use the Bitcoins for. How can anyone prove that he knew that the Bitcoin will be used for criminal intent? I do not see people walking around with T-shirts saying " I am a thief " or " I am a Liar " .... He just dealt with people and he sold a token that could be used for anything. ??? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: tsoPANos on September 19, 2015, 07:50:17 AM For me the two things are exactly the same. Burt sold Bitcoin to people, with no prior knowledge on what the user wants to use the Bitcoins for. How can anyone prove that he knew that the Bitcoin will be used for criminal intent? I do not see people walking around with T-shirts saying " I am a thief " or " I am a Liar " .... He just dealt with people and he sold a token that could be used for anything. ??? You will never be sure about with whom you deal with. It looks like police is just trying to make some extra money by seizing campaigns. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: NorrisK on September 19, 2015, 09:30:17 AM Hahaha, someone got clever with the vanity addresses https://i.gyazo.com/515730adef4afcd8a7566013f1bdf6c3.png The public comments are a bit too much imo... If they manage to trace him he will be In Big big trouble... Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: stingers on September 19, 2015, 09:38:00 AM Hahaha, someone got clever with the vanity addresses Sorry Burt for your loss.https://i.gyazo.com/515730adef4afcd8a7566013f1bdf6c3.png And lmao, from where did preet bharara and his ugly wife come into the scene? Also,what will happen to these coins? Will the also get auctioned like the silkroad one's? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BitUsher on September 19, 2015, 11:32:29 PM For me the two things are exactly the same. Burt sold Bitcoin to people, with no prior knowledge on what the user wants to use the Bitcoins for. How can anyone prove that he knew that the Bitcoin will be used for criminal intent? I do not see people walking around with T-shirts saying " I am a thief " or " I am a Liar " .... He just dealt with people and he sold a token that could be used for anything. ??? It is rather simple. Michael Espinoza knew the bitcoins were going to be used for criminal intent because the seller told him, recorded him hearing and responding to this information, and Michael Espinoza and his lawyer even admit to being told that the btc was going to be used for criminal intent. Now in this case the buyers were lying about what type of criminal activities the btc was being bought for... as they never intended to purchase stolen credit cards but were still buying for the criminal activity of stealing Espinoza's money. Either way you can avoid all this nonsense by not doing business with unethical individuals whether they are police or credit card thieves. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: FloridaBear on September 22, 2015, 08:45:09 PM For me the two things are exactly the same. Burt sold Bitcoin to people, with no prior knowledge on what the user wants to use the Bitcoins for. How can anyone prove that he knew that the Bitcoin will be used for criminal intent? I do not see people walking around with T-shirts saying " I am a thief " or " I am a Liar " .... He just dealt with people and he sold a token that could be used for anything. ??? It is rather simple. Michael Espinoza knew the bitcoins were going to be used for criminal intent because the seller told him, recorded him hearing and responding to this information, and Michael Espinoza and his lawyer even admit to being told that the btc was going to be used for criminal intent. Now in this case the buyers were lying about what type of criminal activities the btc was being bought for... as they never intended to purchase stolen credit cards but were still buying for the criminal activity of stealing Espinoza's money. Either way you can avoid all this nonsense by not doing business with unethical individuals whether they are police or credit card thieves. If the CFTC says that Bitcoin is a commodity (and hence personal property like gold), there should be no discussion of money laundering, as it is not an exchange of money in the first place. The analogy his lawyer gives of selling a car is a good example: If a guy shows up with cash to buy your car and says "I'm planning to rob a bank with this baby," do you have a legal obligation to not sell it? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Triple on September 22, 2015, 08:49:35 PM Hahaha, someone got clever with the vanity addresses https://i.gyazo.com/515730adef4afcd8a7566013f1bdf6c3.png The public comments are a bit too much imo... If they manage to trace him he will be In Big big trouble... All in good fun IMO. They can't charge him just because he says things like that. Unless it can be proven, he can't get in any form of trouble. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: hodedowe on September 23, 2015, 12:02:53 AM You're forgetting that EVERYONE breaks at least 2 laws every day. All they need is a reason to look at you and they've got you.
Regulation nation, my friend. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Sir Alpha_goy on September 23, 2015, 01:46:17 AM .
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on October 08, 2015, 02:38:41 PM If you live in the Denver/Boulder/Longmont/Niwot Colorado area please stop by the Powder Keg Brewing Company on Sunday, October 11, between 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. for great music, good food, good beer and a short talk by yours truly concerning my case between the two bands. Details here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4wjj00pq83nn33d/Oct%2011%20Fundraiser%20and%20Celebration.pdf?dl=0 For more information about my case: www.burtw.com www.jmwagner.com Homeland Security agents and their confidential informants, cooperating witnesses and local law enforcement minions are welcome to join us. For them there will be a very large cover charge - everyone else gets in free. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Kprawn on October 08, 2015, 03:31:50 PM Homeland Security agents and their confidential informants, cooperating witnesses and local law enforcement minions are welcome to join us. For them there will be a very large cover charge - everyone else gets in free. Oh that is seriously funny and probably very true... they would insert some informants in there for the followup round to come. Welcome them with open arms and offer them a free beer, just make sure you add a little urine to the mix. ::) They will most probably drink milk, because they are on duty. ;) Good luck with the talk, wish I could join, but I am very far from Colorado. :( .... I WILL have a glass of wine on you, on that date. ;D Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: AGD on October 08, 2015, 06:36:41 PM Homeland Security agents and their confidential informants, cooperating witnesses and local law enforcement minions are welcome to join us. For them there will be a very large cover charge - everyone else gets in free. Oh that is seriously funny and probably very true... they would insert some informants in there for the followup round to come. Welcome them with open arms and offer them a free beer, just make sure you add a little urine to the mix. ::) They will most probably drink milk, because they are on duty. ;) Good luck with the talk, wish I could join, but I am very far from Colorado. :( .... I WILL have a glass of wine on you, on that date. ;D I bet he can't read your posting ... edit: now he can ;D Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: afoyemlad on October 08, 2015, 10:58:32 PM that a big money.. security on btc... :P ??? ??? ??? ???
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: christycalhoun on October 08, 2015, 11:31:48 PM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security: Relocate out of the country as soon as it is legally possible. And never do any bitcoin related business in the USA.https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: mallard on October 10, 2015, 09:58:38 AM They will probably auction the Bitcoins off like they are currently doing with the Silk Road Bitcoins.
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Betwrong on October 11, 2015, 10:10:21 AM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security: Relocate out of the country as soon as it is legally possible. And never do any bitcoin related business in the USA.https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. That is easier spoken than done. I think USA is a constantly changing country unlike North Korea for example. So let's hope it becomes more Bitcoin friendly in the future, the young generation of Americans will do this positive change for sure. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Triple on October 11, 2015, 11:23:26 PM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security: Relocate out of the country as soon as it is legally possible. And never do any bitcoin related business in the USA.https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. That is easier spoken than done. I think USA is a constantly changing country unlike North Korea for example. So let's hope it becomes more Bitcoin friendly in the future, the young generation of Americans will do this positive change for sure. Hard to say friend. Even though Bitcoin has a lot of positives, there are negatives associated with it as well. To have it become official would be very difficult Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on December 30, 2015, 01:32:45 PM The Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security (plus some dust given to Homeland Security by the Bitcoin community) are still just sitting here:
https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 But there was some really good news today. The justice department ended the practice of "equitable sharing" https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1004863.msg13399046#msg13399046 This is great news for the country in general but bad for me personally. Under the nefarious equitable sharing program my local Sheriff's department was slated to receive up to 80% of the funds taken from me once my Bitcoins were auctioned off. I had hoped to argue that since my family was the only victim in the case the local sheriff should return to me his share of the take in the theft of my property as victim compensation. That might have lead to the return of up to 80% of the funds taken from me. However now that the equitable sharing program has been terminated I would have to argue the victim angle directly with Homeland Security and the Federal Justice Department. More expensive and unlikely to work. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BitUsher on December 30, 2015, 01:57:12 PM Sorry to hear. The removal of equitable sharing isn't such good news as some of the media has portrayed it as it simply means that both the federal and local levels will independently be tasked with asset forfeiture without collaborating. This may appear like progress but can lead to complicated jurisdictional issues where you have 2 gangs of thieves going after your assets instead of one gang.
If it is any consolation I don't think you would have successfully retrieved your stolen property either way as they would argue that you were selling without a proper license and weren't the victim. They really don't like to give up their extra stolen bonus money and would have hated to lose their fancy new police cruiser they picked out. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on May 08, 2016, 12:05:40 AM The Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security (plus some dust given to Homeland Security by the Bitcoin community) are still just sitting here: Bad news, the sheriffs that are all addicted to the "pennies from heaven" shared with them from the Federal asset forfeiture fund whined loud enough and "equitable sharing" was quietly reinstated.https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 But there was some really good news today. The justice department ended the practice of "equitable sharing" https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1004863.msg13399046#msg13399046 This is great news for the country in general but bad for me personally. Under the nefarious equitable sharing program my local Sheriff's department was slated to receive up to 80% of the funds taken from me once my Bitcoins were auctioned off. I had hoped to argue that since my family was the only victim in the case the local sheriff should return to me his share of the take in the theft of my property as victim compensation. That might have lead to the return of up to 80% of the funds taken from me. However now that the equitable sharing program has been terminated I would have to argue the victim angle directly with Homeland Security and the Federal Justice Department. More expensive and unlikely to work. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/28/the-feds-have-resumed-a-controversial-program-that-lets-cops-take-stuff-and-keep-it/ (and others) Good news is I can once again try and corner the sheriff in my county and ask him what he plans to do with the money taken from me. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Monnt on May 08, 2016, 02:30:16 AM Amusing "public notes". Was that the basis of what homeland charged you on? Dirty money, child porn and drug trading? If so, I'll laugh.
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on May 08, 2016, 06:24:56 AM Amusing "public notes". Was that the basis of what homeland charged you on? Dirty money, child porn and drug trading? If so, I'll laugh. All the public notes were added after they took the bitcoins from me. The only charge against me was 18-1960 (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1960).Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: TheButterZone on May 08, 2016, 09:49:49 AM The Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security (plus some dust given to Homeland Security by the Bitcoin community) are still just sitting here: Bad news, the sheriffs that are all addicted to the "pennies from heaven" shared with them from the Federal asset forfeiture fund whined loud enough and "equitable sharing" was quietly reinstated.https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 But there was some really good news today. The justice department ended the practice of "equitable sharing" https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1004863.msg13399046#msg13399046 This is great news for the country in general but bad for me personally. Under the nefarious equitable sharing program my local Sheriff's department was slated to receive up to 80% of the funds taken from me once my Bitcoins were auctioned off. I had hoped to argue that since my family was the only victim in the case the local sheriff should return to me his share of the take in the theft of my property as victim compensation. That might have lead to the return of up to 80% of the funds taken from me. However now that the equitable sharing program has been terminated I would have to argue the victim angle directly with Homeland Security and the Federal Justice Department. More expensive and unlikely to work. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/28/the-feds-have-resumed-a-controversial-program-that-lets-cops-take-stuff-and-keep-it/ (and others) Good news is I can once again try and corner the sheriff in my county and ask him what he plans to do with the money taken from me. Victims of persecution fund, 100% FAFF refunded to respective victims. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: duts_bg on May 15, 2016, 02:15:59 PM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security: If the wallet is kept constantly under surveillance, sooner or later there will be some movement. Somebody clerk will be greedy. Such is their nature. Then it can pick up noise about misuse (manipulation) of evidence materyali. As far as I understand, your coins are taken as such.https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on May 15, 2016, 02:19:05 PM Good news for Homeland Security and the Justice Department! Today the BTC they took from me are now worth $84,845.22 so they have doubled their money! Their investment strategy (take and hold) is working for them.
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: GreenBits on May 15, 2016, 02:46:25 PM Civil asset forfeiture is a hot topic right now, it's total bullshit. Unfortunately here in California we just had a promising reform bill shot down by misrepresentation from the law enforcement lobbies. Most of the California forfeit cases deal with cannabis cultivation. it is the advertising on the internet and the doing "business" with the general public that allows them to come in and seize your property. The scary thing is, when you get to looking at civil asset forfeiture, they really don't need any reason to take your stuff, you do not need to be accused or convicted of a crime, and you have no recourse to get it back.I have researched your story a bit and I'm so sorry you are experiencing this bullshit man. Asset forfeiture is a serious injustice in the states due to the utter lack of due process surrounding it, I've seen this before in marijuana cultivation busts where licensed growers still have vast amounts of property seized "pending investigation", sometimes even going as far to remove the kids from the home. Our household will keep you in our prayers, keep your head up. And our government will waste resources investigating this man instead of the hyper corrupt banking officials that actually have victims for their crimes (the American public). Why don't they send some guys with wires into a board meeting? This is bullshit man, again I'm so sorry you had to deal with this. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on August 08, 2016, 11:13:19 PM https://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2016/080816.htm
It looks like they are going to finally auction off the coins they took from me. My coins were here: https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 Then moved to here: https://blockchain.info/address/1EJgLfRaXARWgj29FRCLSj2Nfkynb2JGGx Now they are here: https://blockchain.info/address/18natxG8EnhmcQQAjirNXoGrZ5geBWcM2R Getting ready for auction. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: RichGang on August 08, 2016, 11:22:57 PM Wtf man. Now am happy am not americ an
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: TheButterZone on August 09, 2016, 09:54:51 AM https://blockchain.info/tags
"Stolen under color of law" Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: unamis76 on August 09, 2016, 02:16:40 PM https://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2016/080816.htm It looks like they are going to finally auction off the coins they took from me. My coins were here: https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 Then moved to here: https://blockchain.info/address/1EJgLfRaXARWgj29FRCLSj2Nfkynb2JGGx Now they are here: https://blockchain.info/address/18natxG8EnhmcQQAjirNXoGrZ5geBWcM2R Getting ready for auction. Too bad all of the coins are going to be sold in a single block... However: Quote Civil Forfeiture Action: As a matter of policy, the USMS extends the purchase restrictions of a criminal case to any person whose conduct gave rise to a civil forfeiture of the property or to anyone acting in concert with or on behalf of, such a person. I don't think you'd be able to buy some back even if your part was sold in one block (if I'm correctly understanding this). Or maybe the rule they apply to you is: Quote Bitcoin Transfer. The USMS will not transfer any bitcoins until it has confirmed receipt of purchase funds from the buyer. The USMS will not transfer bitcoins to an [...] hostile to the United States Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on August 09, 2016, 02:22:35 PM https://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2016/080816.htm It looks like they are going to finally auction off the coins they took from me. My coins were here: https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 Then moved to here: https://blockchain.info/address/1EJgLfRaXARWgj29FRCLSj2Nfkynb2JGGx Now they are here: https://blockchain.info/address/18natxG8EnhmcQQAjirNXoGrZ5geBWcM2R Getting ready for auction. Too bad all of the coins are going to be sold in a single block... However: Quote Civil Forfeiture Action: As a matter of policy, the USMS extends the purchase restrictions of a criminal case to any person whose conduct gave rise to a civil forfeiture of the property or to anyone acting in concert with or on behalf of, such a person. I don't think you'd be able to buy some back even if your part was sold in one block (if I'm correctly understanding this). Or maybe the rule they apply to you is: Quote Bitcoin Transfer. The USMS will not transfer any bitcoins until it has confirmed receipt of purchase funds from the buyer. The USMS will not transfer bitcoins to an [...] hostile to the United States All civil charges against the Bitcoins (and all the other seized property) were dropped. They just kept the 186 BTC as part of their agreement to drop all criminal charges against me and all the civil charges against all the property they seized - including the Bitcoins. So, if I had the $1.5M+ to bid on this I could. Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: avikz on August 09, 2016, 03:30:30 PM That is really sad news. But thank god that you have not been thrown in to jail at least. You are free to stay with your family. Only your hard earned fortune is gone.
I hope you will soon recover the mental trauma of loosing so much money. Wish you best of luck brother! Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: rhino34567 on August 10, 2016, 01:13:07 AM This is disgusting, what else can I say. I am sorry BurtW that this has happened to you and thanks God I don't live anymore in the US, the land of free, the land of opportunity(this I say with the highest degree of irony, of course). Yeah, I feel for him too, that just really sucks. Some people who use bitcoins use them legally so, I do not see the problem with using bitcoins.I hope you will get back in your feet somehow. I surely hop you are not done with Bitcoin. I also wish that you fight those a**holes with the best attorneys possible, unfortunately I don't see how this will be possible when you are essentially going against the government. Good luck! Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: jbreher on August 10, 2016, 08:35:31 AM But thank god that you have not been thrown in to jail at least. Thank you sir ... can I please have another!! Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Windpower on August 10, 2016, 08:44:05 AM This is so sad. I mean for starers I believe you acquired the money through hard work from posting and it is unfair that department of homeland security can take money away from a person for no reason.
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: Script3d on August 10, 2016, 09:17:56 AM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security: https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. wow really? why did they take it? to your account op? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: BurtW on August 10, 2016, 12:49:17 PM Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security: https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3 I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information. wow really? why did they take it? to your account op? From my infamous thread "BurtW arrested" i doubt the government will return assets they seized .. they are probably holding the bitcoins 'in rem' Were his Bitcoins taken? Was he somehow forced to reveal passwords? Did they prohibit you from discussing the methods of confiscation? That same day they searched our house and did not have to tell us what they were looking for - sealed search warrant. After being arrested in front of my client, which was a nice touch as they immediately terminated our contract, they took me to our house. I was taken aback by the number of cars so I made a point of counting them, 22. The neighbors who watched the whole thing but failed to take any video (darn) counted up to 35 agents involved in the search. They were very thorough even searching the entire attic and crawl space, every book, etc. It took my wife weeks to get the house put back together. Imagine up to 35 people searching you house for hours, they had the manpower and time to search just about everywhere. During the search they got into my safe containing all of my physical Bitcoins and other Bitcoin related stuff. Since I was not doing anything wrong I never expected to be shaken down in this way. My security threat profile was common burglary and my main concern was making sure my wife would be able to sell the Bitcoins in the event of my death. So, the the vast majority of my Bitcoins were kept in a Trezor Bitcoin safe with the seed words kept off-site. After searching my house for many hours and not finding what they were looking for, but taking every computer and electronic memory device they could get their hands on, they phoned in a search warrant for my office, which was granted. Upon searching my office they found my off-site paper backup of the seed words for the Trezor which were there with retrieval instruction in the case of my death. They took all of our corporate computers and left. The rest is, as they say, history. Food for thought: my attorney informed me that they can and sometime do put people in jail until they turn over a password. So in reality your passwords are only as safe as your willingness to spend time in jail over them. After spending 3 days and 2 nights in solitary confinement (in the SHU at the federal detention center) I can tell you that most people will crack in pretty short order. It is boring beyond comprehension. Part of the total cost shown on my wife's web site ($284,373.00) was the cost of replacing all of the computers and cell phones we needed in order for our business to keep operating. Of course once we get all the computers back we will then have more computers and phones than we know what to do with. Anyone want to buy a used computer that was under government control for nine months? Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: johnnyyash on August 10, 2016, 01:02:41 PM wow this is a saddened story, i really felt for the lost..but really extra carefulness should be taken,keeping money save and secure...which could be strong security level...
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: isvicre on August 13, 2016, 12:00:23 PM What a travesty, I'm really sorry for your loss. I have to echo many posts here and say i'm so glad i'm not in America and these rediculous cases are few and far between in Europe.
Title: Re: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security Post by: streazight on August 14, 2016, 05:58:56 AM This is confusingly agitating since this has been a ridiculous case (or I may be just confused). I do not have much knowledge on laws and stuff, especially in America, but from what I read, bitcoin has already been considered a 'money transfer business' instead of a virtual proprietary or something.
I'm sorry to hear your loss. It broke my heart that you still have a young daughter to take care of and they would just seize a majority of your asset. |
