Bitcoin Forum

Why Satoshi Nakamoto is not an option? Satoshi Nakamoto is always an option.

I think it's Bruce Willis tho.

seriously ? are you talking about me ? ...

Lmao, gotta give it to the man, "Variety Jones" sounds so smooth, cool nickname, would be a good character in a tarantino movie.

Satoshi Nakamoto shouldn't be included on that list to be honest , he would never be involved in Silk road , He is too smart to get catched or simply to involve him self on such illegal activies .

Guy must be good at a variety of things. I mean even coming up with names hes quite clever: "Dread Pirate Roberts" - "Variety Jones"

Her must have had lots of time to think about those lol.

Guy must be good at a variety of things. I mean even coming up with names hes quite clever: "Dread Pirate Roberts" - "Variety Jones"

AGREE

I bet he's the real brains behind the site. Smart chap.

- The Jester >> No.

- Dread Pirate Roberts (or the "Real DPR" - SR2+reloaded admin) >> No, too stupid, used his real email.

- an FBI agent >> Doubtful, as VJ gave DPR some good tips.

- Satoshi Nakamoto (thx neurotypical) >> Possible, but why get involved after getting out of the game?

- Russ Ulbricht (He could have invented the "Variety Jones" character to use this as a proof of his innocence on a possible future trial) >> He wasn't smart enough for that. He didn't have an operational security mindset.

- Rene Pinnell >> Don't know who this chap is.

- Marc Karpeles >> Nah, he made enough money stealing Gox funds!

Variety Jones hit SR with a huge splash of 17 pages of listings . I had a lot of contact with him almost from day one . He pretended to be in the UK but it became obvious he was American . He placed orders with me via a buyer account but made " mistakes " that identified that account as being his . Before he disappeared he offered me his business , lock stock and barrel , after a lot of thought I said thanks but no . I believe he was an FBI befriender .

So what did he sell? Is there some archived copy of the old SR online somewhere?

Variety Jones hit SR with a huge splash of 17 pages of listings . I had a lot of contact with him almost from day one . He pretended to be in the UK but it became obvious he was American . He placed orders with me via a buyer account but made " mistakes " that identified that account as being his . Before he disappeared he offered me his business , lock stock and barrel , after a lot of thought I said thanks but no . I believe he was an FBI befriender .

Interesting post.
What mistakes he made to reveal his nationality?
What made you think he was involved with the FBI?

As I said there was a lot of PM's and they were over a good period of time . There was always something a little odd that I couldn't put my finger on but in my mind he ( I'm assuming ) seemed an OK person . In 1 PM there was a reference to some law that I was unfamiliar with  ( a particular name associated with )  so I looked it up and it was US , it fitted well with his manner of speech and the more I looked the more likely it was that VJ was American . With hindsight I think he was LE , Cannabis seeds widely available and aren't illegal in many Countries , so for an LE officer to get involved with trading them isn't such a huge leap off the cliff ( Unlike Nod , look it up ) . His stock was massive and he offered good prices , good service and a very solid guarantee . Off the top of my head 17 pages x 25 listings ( I think ) =  425 different seeds of which he always had a few units in stock , that represents an investment of approx £20,00 ( don't quote me these are rough figures ) . Again with hindsight , I believe he used this large presence to work his way in with DPR . I came in after the first round of publicity , so not an original but an early adopter . This stuff was all bright shiny and new for 90% of us but after a few scammers it became apparent that anybody trying to carve out a larger than usual niche was someone to be wary of but I didn't put VJ into that catergory till later

He offered me his stock ( +$250,00 his figure ) with a view to either sell off or restock as my choice . He was off to hike the Machu Picchu trails and live as a digital nomad ( his words ) . This contradicted what he'de previously said about using weed to ease his multiple sclerosis . I gave it serious thought but there was no way of getting this stock cleanly so said no . I believe this was his last play to get as much as possible out of this profile/persona before he retired it .

None of this is conclusive but I believe it to be true .

This makes sense. I had FBI added in my list in my OP already, exactly because of what you are describing PLUS some more:

- He was eager to get in touch with Ross
- He sold only seeds (legal in some US states and other countries)
- He is more likely to be an american, than a british citizen

- He had the ability to kinda brainwash Ross (psychological training)
- He had over average computer skills to find security holes. (A very good reason why Ross would be interested to stay in contact with VJ. LE would have a lot of control over the sites source code and all sellers/buyers, in case VJ was hired to close the sec holes.

You remember the time VJ offered you to buy his stock? Was it before or after the first arrests of some SR vendors?

Well, VJ didn't get catched by now as it seems and we don't know much about SN, but that he knows a lot about computers, crypto and security. He is not my favourite candidate, but he still fits on the list.

My first theory is, that VJ heard about Silkroad and planned to overtake the site. He could get in contact with Russ through the sites security holes and his ideas about making SR bigger and better organized. He practically controlled Russ U. and stole a big amount of Bitcoins (SR Hacks) that was later used to buy the SR site from Russ. He also took over his own invented DPR moniker (which he even used on the SR2 site). Later when one guy from the SR staff was arrested, he planned to re contact Russ and - with an excuse - trick him back to admin SR for him for a while and to let him be the fall guy.

Edit: Every proof found (this dumb journal etc) on Russ Ulbrichts pc could be created, edited and placed on his computer by VJ using 0-days.

Here are some of the chat logs between DPR and VJ/Cimon: https://de.scribd.com/collections/13080591/Silk-Road-trial-exhibits

First mention of Variety Jones was by PoM in the Overgrow stories.  There are people in the UK weed scene who know who he is. 

http://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/03/03/latest-from-antilop-cc-on-ross-ulbrichts-mentor-variety-jones/

A new chapter in “The Silk Road Tales and Archives” was posted by @lamoustache On Reddit, this time its about Ross Ulbricht’s “mentor” Variety Jones”:

    This is our take on Variety Jones and a complex story going way back to the legendary cannabis grow site overgrow.com to some more recent events involving a “megabyte megalomaniac” mongoose, an iconic forum administrator and an ex-actor converted in the cannabis seed trade.

    Variety Jones or the old guard back in harness (http://antilop.cc/sr/#jones)

Yeah! Check
http://antilop.cc/sr/#assassination_plot

How they come to the conclusion, that Curtis Green is Flush/Chronicpain is amazing

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/08/silk_road_admin_curtis_green_speaks/

Variety is a Girls name.

seriously ? are you talking about me ? ...

Didn't realize that, I've never met anyone boy or girl named Variety.

Great, now I'm stuck in a deep ass rabbit hole and I can't stop reading

JESUS ! He gave away a lot of info . The " I cashed out at 2 world poker series " being the worst inho . Beware profiling . Oh , and I got it wrong in a previous post , I said Nod and meant nob

The “nob” account, as noted above, was an undercover account controlled by SA Force.  
SA Force had been using the account to communicate with “Dread Pirate Roberts,”
posing as a large - scale drug dealer seeking to do business on Silk Road.  

I thought vj's identity was already known? He was the owner of some big cannabis seed company, there was a video posted apparently featuring him. He was getting shouted at by some other guy about something.

I know that's not very helpful. I wasn't really paying much attention at the time and I watched the video on mute!

im sure it was on reddit...

Could you look for that video? that would be awesome..

I just cant believe what an idiot Ross was to record EVERY FUCKING thing....That takes the cake.... I have absolutely no doubt he would have been fount not guilty or they would have reached some sort of deal with very very little jail time if it werent for the logs and his computer, but my money is on that they couldnt really have charged him.

With these recent events with the corrupt feds and the reasonable doubt of some other mastermind, is there any hope for Ross to get the conviction overturned or commuted or a shorter sentence? I'm torn on the wrongful conviction aspect. I don't think he ever should've been arrested or convicted but to be fair, I don't know all the whole story and there's the deal with hired assassinations...

New link added to OP:

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/there-are-two-illustrious-characters-still-missing-in-the-silk-road-drama

Added to OP:

Silk Road Boss' First Murder-For-Hire Was His Mentor's Idea:
http://www.wired.com/2015/04/silk-road-boss-first-murder-attempt-mentors-idea/

Reading that it's clear that Ross Ulbricht was no criminal mastermind and was in way over his head. I like at the end it's revealed it wasn't even him that came up with the DPR username and was actually Variety Jones. Looks like he was the actual brains behind most of the stuff but was also obviously a bad influence on DPR and was probably ultimately responsible for pushing him into the darkside.

What if Goat is Variety Jones!

Edward Joseph "Ed" Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American computer professional who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) to the mainstream media, starting in June 2013.

In 2013, the FBI shut down the website

OK, don't bash me if you think this is stupid but.....

Did any of yous considered the fact that Edward Snowden is VJ?

What if Goat is Variety Jones!

I won't bash you and welcome all theories but I think it's stupid...

What Snowden revealed has a much bigger impact. Everyone is affected. His revelations influenced world politics and economics.
Silkroad, even though it made millions, was a small niche in the global drug trade. Only a very small percentage of the population have even heard of it. Even smaller the amount of people who used it.
Honestly, I don't think the NSA cares very much about SR. Maybe only if they want to give a new employee a training project.

Ross is a dreamer who thought he can change the world through his idea of a free market. And make lots of money, have fun. He has this careless and free attitude.
Snowden is a pure idealist. He wants to improve democracy. He is convinced something on a large scale goes terribly wrong. He knew he has to give up his freedom and economic benefits for his believes.

Who is this "Goat" guy?

Yeah good question....

Who is he?

Sorry wasn't really into SR, but this story with VJ seems interesting.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=44233

A lot of his post have been edited & removed.  

Worth reading back though.

I like Goat honestly and he doesn't strike me as the type of dude who would have shit to do with this.

I'm sure VJ and Goat have nothing to do with each other besides the average Bitcoin shit. (Goat maybe mined some of VJ's coins maybe)

WOW - somehow off topic....

The link you sent me of his profile...

Check the trust rating and you will find this guy: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=8198 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=8198)

F*ck me I have NEVER seen a trust rating THAT BAD!

hehe Butterfly labs

Fair enough.

However, what makes you think that SR was not a 3 letter agency project to begin with?
It has been said by Ross before that he is NOT the original creator of SR and apart from that we all know how the 3 letter agencies "work" right?

Thanks for your input though.

EDIT: You do know that most hackers smoke pot or do some kind of drugs right?
What makes you think Edward didn't?

Sure, anything is possible. I just think it's so very likely that some character like Ross creates SR. Everything fits: young guy, open-minded to drugs but not too extreme, living in San Francisco, interested in teachings of Austrian school of economics, internet savvy, free and careless spirit.

Further, DPR was anti-government and he created things like the Book Club. The government would neither have these ideas nor like to promote them. This also is a big difference towards Snowden. Snowden is not anti-government. He just doesn't like that an agency is capable of acting without the control of senate,congress,etc.

I've watched many interviews with Snowden and in my opinion he seems pretty focused and analytical. I don't see a creative and hedonistic person but rather someone who acts very rational and organized.
I wouldn't be surprised if he prefers to endure a headache instead of taking an aspirin. Just my impression, though.

Nice!

Can I ask what your profession/activity is?

Fair enough.

However, what makes you think that SR was not a 3 letter agency project to begin with?
It has been said by Ross before that he is NOT the original creator of SR and apart from that we all know how the 3 letter agencies "work" right?

Thanks for your input though.

EDIT: You do know that most hackers smoke pot or do some kind of drugs right?
What makes you think Edward didn't?

Ross IS the original creator of Silkroad. He admitted that he has created the site. VJ helped him to make it more secure and changed the appearance and philosophy of the site. (Source: Ross' journal)

Looks like Silk Road got VJ's and Shabang's attention about that time, when the Gawker article came out. They both registered at SR June 27 2011.
On August 16, DPR was looking for unix admins. I am pretty sure VJ was one of the first to get that job. He closed security holes and he also started to influence DPR. (Journal: "chatted with VJ again today. Him coming onto the scene has re inspired me and given me direction on the SR project.")

He was controlling practically everything inside SR a few weeks after registering his account.

One question, that comes to my mind now, is that about the vulnerability in bitcoind, that VJ presented to Ross. I never heard of a vulnerability in bitcoind in 2011! Does anyone know more about that vuln? Does it have a CVE?

Could it be, that this bitcoind story was made up by VJ to gain control over the monetary system of SR?

AG: What inspired you to start the Silk Road? Not just philosophically, (that’s covered in lots of your posts on the Silk Road forums) but where did the idea come from?

DPR: I didn’t start the Silk Road, my predecessor did. From what I understand, it was an original idea to combine Bitcoin and Tor to create an anonymous market. Everything was in place, he just put the pieces together.

Can you tell me anything about the original creator of the Silk Road? How did you meet? And did you acquire the Silk Road from him in a financial deal of some kind, or simply take over the project?

He was well compensated and happy with our arrangement. It was his idea to pass the torch in fact. We met through the site. I had discovered a big vulnerability in the way he had configured the main Bitcoin wallet that was being used to process all of the deposits and withdrawals on the site. At first he ignored me, but I persisted and gained his trust by helping him secure the wallet. From there we became close friends working on Silk Road together.

After all these assassination plots and arrests, Ross was highly alerted and he had a good reason to start hiding his identity as much as possible. I think he discussed this with VJ and it is possible that VJ made that interview for Ross. Possible that it was VJ who started SR2 with the nick DPR2 or TheRealDreadPirateRoberts.

It is also possible, that VJ planted the journal on Ross computer.

An undercover Homeland Security agent was paid $32,189 worth of bitcoin for work the agent did for the site.

Then it is also posible that VJ was an agent, hence never "found".

Also, the same shit happened in SR2: http://www.wired.com/2014/11/feds-seize-silk-road-2/ (http://www.wired.com/2014/11/feds-seize-silk-road-2/)

You can connect some, if not most of the payments with the timeline at http://antilop.cc/sr/#timeline

For example this "op greenville" is dated while the "murder" of Curtis Green took place:

21/02/2013 - Undercover Agent tells DPR that The employee (Curtis Green) "died of asphyxiation/heart rupture" while being tortured and sends DPR a fake pic.

That day he spent 162000$ for "op greenville" (op like operation, like if he moved his ass somehow to make part of the op. lol . He sat on a couch at his home or at a library and tipped some stuff on his keyboard. Thats all)


-snip-

.......

Yes some of it is very easy to connect, but others not so much.

Like what was DPR investing in at that time period when he was receiving profits from investments?

what was the $10,000 to "slush" who is slush? is that french slush?

why so many payments to cimon?

why did SR have $2,000,000 held in MTGOX? profits upto that point don't even meet 1/4 of that, so they were holding escrow funds in MTGOX?


what is the "cimon debacle development" that cost $98,000, was that a payment for a hit?

where and whom did they buy FPGA's from?

why was cimon paid for FPGA's?

expense sheet - http://antilop.cc/sr/exhibits/253456480-Silk-Road-exhibits-GX-250.pdf
why so many payments to the hacker?

so many questions.....

@elasticband, very interesting finds.

Where can I get those files?
The SR accounts I mean.

BTW did you guys notice the last entry on the last image?
It says payroll (sr2.0) ....

Apart from that, this goes to show that VJ aka cimon was getting paid by Ross.

Also, who is the hacker he kept paying?
And what for?



^^^ that makes sense

SR2 is refering to a big site update and not to the SR2 where Defcon got arrested.
Most of the files you'll find on http://antilop.cc/sr/ (scroll down)

Still trying to wrap my head around this.....

Observations:
1) DPR was stupid, actually a complete moron.
2) DPR fell under a thing called entrapment, as from what I have noticed most of his crew was agents.
Even the "kill" calls was enforced to him by the agents.
Seriously, if someone (actually more than one) told you that your life is in danger an not just yours, all your co-workers too by a "thug",
and all you have to do is give ME the green light to make it "disappear" what would you do?

Now, enough with that, I have much more reading to do but....

WHO IS DA?
http://antilop.cc/sr/exhibits/253456466-Silk-Road-exhibits-GX-222.pdf (http://antilop.cc/sr/exhibits/253456466-Silk-Road-exhibits-GX-222.pdf)

OK, reading DPRs and VJs logs I can most certainly say that VJ was an agent....

Still reading so this claim might change....

EDIT: Who the f*ck is  PatHenry?

This thing is giving me a headache to the point of where I do not wanna bother anymore...

Q: Can you tell me anything about the original creator of the Silk Road? How did you meet? And did you acquire the Silk Road from him in a financial deal of some kind, or simply take over the project?

A: He was well compensated and happy with our arrangement. It was his idea to pass the torch in fact. We met through the site. I had discovered a big vulnerability in the way he had configured the main Bitcoin wallet that was being used to process all of the deposits and withdrawals on the site. At first he ignored me, but I persisted and gained his trust by helping him secure the wallet. From there we became close friends working on Silk Road together.

"Around this time, Variety Jones showed up. This was the biggest and strongest willed character I had met through the site thus far. He quickly proved to me that he had value by pointing out a major security hole in the site I was unaware of. It was an attack on bitcoind."

I found something, that didn't really surprise me, but it's still very interesting:

The interview, that was made with "DPR" by Alan Greenberg was not made with Ross Ulbricht, but with Variety Jones:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/an-interview-with-a-digital-drug-lord-the-silk-roads-dread-pirate-roberts-qa/


In Ross' journal it says exactly that, how Ross met VJ:

The journal: http://www.wired.com/2015/01/heres-secret-silk-road-journal-laptop-ross-ulbricht/

Now it looks like Ross really sold the site to VJ who took over his invented DPR moniker and made the interview. At this time the DEA was already close to Ross Ulbricht: They had his name one month later.
I am pretty sure we could find proof for this in the 1400 chat log pages.
The story could lead to Variety Jones taking over SR from Ross until it was closed by the feds and Ross arrested and later he organised the restart as SilkRoad2 as DPR again. He sucked out as much of BTC as he could get and then sold the site to Defcon who has been arrested short time later. Pure coincidence some would say....

That would actually make sense if VJ was an agent....
Sorry but after reading some (not all) of DPRs/cimons logs that is the impression I get.

Apart from that I cannot still understand WHY would anyone keep a "journal" of their illegal activities.

Too much confidence?
If he was hi-tech then he would know that NOTHING is safe.
So I doubt confidence was the reason.

It's just too convienient....

EDIT: Where's my manners?... Thanks for the link  :D Will check out his journal when I get some time.

Bolded for emphasis.

Exsmactly, sounds like it was an attempted frame-up or just plain stupid. But if Ross was such a bad-ass drug dealer, again, it doesn't make a lick of sense to keep a journal UNLESS he was afraid of a bigger badder wolf, in this case Carl Mark Force and Shaun Bridges. If he didn't keep the journal, who knows, maybe they would have gotten away with it. Maybe it was a last ditch effort to take them down with him. He gets somekind of justice after all.

January 1st 2012
Well, I'm choosing to write a journal for 2012.  I imagine that some day I may have a story
written about my life, and it would be good to have a detailed account of it

Could be an error in the timeline, or do you have an idea?

(2012-01-15 21:11) vj: You need to change your name from Admin, to Dread Pirate Roberts

(2012-01-15 21:11) vj: <-- isn't kidding - start the legend now

Nice finding. Could lead to the manipulation of the chatlogs then. Only Ross knows if these chats have been taking place or not.
Does anybody know, if the defense can order a forensic image from Ross' computer (incl memory from the arrest time) or even can get an independent institute to open an investigation on the hardisks?

Thanks  ;)

If ANYTHING has been tampered with then ALL evidence coming from Ross's laptop should be disgarded as they are not genuine data anymore.
Nobody knows if they are real or not (tampered with to frame Ross) therefor should be disgarded.

If what I found is real evidence/exhibits shown in the trial then it has been tampered with...

That means - IF ROSS'S ATTORNEY IS WATCHING THIS [1] - he should demand a re-trial in light of new evidence that Ross is innocent and was framed by the FBI, and also demand disgarding all and any data coming from his laptop as evidence as they have been tampered with by the Feds in order to assure his sentence (if that is the right way to put it). - I would call it framing to be honest.

[1] and if Ross's attorney is watching this I demand 90% of your payment coz you failed*  ;)
And I didn't even start reading all the info yet.

*that is of course if my findings are actual trial evidence/exhibits.

I am pretty sure that Dratel will read this topic. Not so sure if he will share his fee with you, though :D

When Dratel said in court, that the real DPR would never save his chatlogs or write a detailed journal and "on the internet nothing is as it seems", he already implicated a "manipulated files theory", but Dratel wasn't allowed to use most of the evidence, because of the running San Francisco case against Force and Bridges. Also some of the evidence was only presented short before trial. That all made it hard to build a solid defense I guess.

Who is Force and Bridges?

Sorry I am new to this and still going through the SR timeline and evidence.

Force = DEA agent

Bridges = US Secret Service agent

Check the timeline for <SF>

yep

EDIT: Why were they in a running San Francisco case against them?
Links?

After Ross' arrest they found the file LEcounterintel.doc on his pc, where he wrote about getting insider information from a cop.

Link:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Carl+Mark+Force&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/30/criminal_complaint_force.pdf
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/dea-agent-charged-acting-paid-mole-silk-road/

Edit: Along with the criminal complaint there were released some more chat files with VJ. Dunno the links atm.

After Ross' arrest they found the file LEcounterintel.doc on his pc, where he wrote about getting insider information from a cop.

Link:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Carl+Mark+Force&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/30/criminal_complaint_force.pdf
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/dea-agent-charged-acting-paid-mole-silk-road/

Edit: Along with the criminal complaint there were released some more chat files with VJ. Dunno the links atm.

I have trouble buying this theory for two reasons:
a) Bitcoin is often touted as being "anonymous", but the reality is that all transactions are recorded in a public ledger for everyone to see; permanently accessible. If you were Variety Jones, how would you go about laundering your bitcoin lucre? The FBI has access to Ross's wallets, his chatlogs with VJ and an image of the Silk Road website. It seems plausible that the US government would attempt to use this information to trace any payments made to VJ for his help in managing the Silk Road.

I suppose you could use a mixer, but this would require the launderer to trust a centralized mixing service. How many of these services are actual law enforcement honeypots? How many keep logs? Would a supposedly tech-savvy individual of Variety Jones' caliber really place his personal safety on the hands of the operator of an anonymous mixing service?

b) I saw a couple of posts by VJ on the Silk Road forums (http://antilop.cc/sr/users/variety%20jones/messages/20111101-1711-Re_I_m_Having_A_MidLife_Security_Crisis.txt) in which he advised Tails users to run apt-get update $$ apt-get upgrade every time on startup. This is notoriously bad advice, as packages in Tails are tested extensively for security and any changes could heavily compromise the user's anonymity. Moreover, he made it apparent in another thread (http://antilop.cc/sr/users/variety%20jones/messages/20111028-2310-Re_Tor_update_but_what_about_Tails.txt) that he used a standard build of the Tor Browser Bundle to navigate the internet. This particular kind of setup would be acceptable for a casual user, but completely unacceptable for someone possibly involved in a multi-million dollar criminal enterprise, as TBB is prone to leaks at the protocol level.  One would expect VJ to have known better, but apparently he didn't and neither did Ross, who used a similar setup himself.

I am really amused by the Ulbricht apologists. To me, the "kid" seems like someone who watched a movie where bad guys do bad things and he idolized them, carried out the exact actions, he became a copy cat. Then he got busted. End of story. No one "needed" to frame poor old Ross. He did it to himself. Yeah, those crooked Feds are crooked, but it doesn't change anything.

Oh, Ross will be lucky to get just 30 years, hes facing 20 year mandatory minimum. But the judge could make all  the charges run concurrently. if that the case, he could do only 20 years, but with computer crimes, the charges get enhanced, so, I honestly think hell be lucky to get 30 years. The prosecution is going for life, I doubt he will get life, but he very easily get 30-40 years, which is really life for a 30 year old..

From what I was told. they offered him a deal of 25 years and he declined it. hes probably regretting that one.. he douls be out in his mid fifties, which he could still have somewhat of a life outside of prison. In the fed system you have to serve roughly 90 percent of the time, its not like state, where if you sentenced for 20 years you could get paroled in 7. there is no such thing as parole in the fed system.

On a side note, a guy that was convicted of trafficking 80 kilos of maryjane  with his plane, he was moving it from sate to state. was put on federal probation for 5 years, what a lucky bastard, he had to pay a 50k dollar fine and he lost his interest in the plane to the govt. he was facing 20 years behind bars. so, you can get lucky once in a while...This just happened a couple of months ago..

Source?

I dont have the source, youll just have to take it with a grain of salt, i guess... but his mother did say that they turned down 2 offers, that was in one of her videos.. but all I can say is "trust me" lol....

Jester no, he would've jacked the site and stolen the coins, failing that would've bragged endlessly how "military experienced" he was in private chats. As for Ross Ulbricht I'm pretty sure no plea offers were tabled, sometimes the government if they have a slam dunk case wants to make an example and will proceed to trial especially if it is a high profile political case like SR, they want their show trial.

Fed prosecutors claiming SR product was involved in 6 overdose deaths they are really piling it on, they plan on parading these grieving parents in front of the judge during sentencing  http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/25/feds-6-died-as-a-result-of-overdosing-from-silk-road-purchased-drugs/

Ulbricht always said he was 'prepared' to face life in prison but unfortunately with that continuing corruption charge he is looking at life at a supermax prison as all previous convictions for that charge have ended up there. That's a lot of solitary confinement and is designed so media can never have access to you.

Just did some research. I wish i would have copied the link, but basically since he was convicted of the kingpin charge, he has to be sentenced to life. Granted, judges can do whatever they want they rarely stray from the guidelines., but that looks like thats going to be his punishment.. plus, it will be most likely in a super max.. I honestly dont think id want to live. ive heard those supermaxes are terrible.. 23 hours locked in a tiny cell, by yourself. you get out 1 hour a day in a dog pen basically.. 2 showers a week and they purposely keep you away from the press.

Honestly, while I think Ross is guilty, but that punishment is too harsh. give him 20 years in a medium security prison, but life in a super max? no way..

No, i dont know his mom. I did see the video where she stated they turned down 2 offers. Its all speculation, but ive also read that hes looking at 30 years minimum. which sounds about right. the 20 years isnt with all the enhancements.....

That's exactly why he should prove, that he sold the site a few month after creating. It was getting too big for him, so he sold the site. Chatlogs were manipilutated on his pc to make him the fall guy. Later he was tricked back in with some administrative tasks just to have him arrested "red handed".

Now, if he lied about the file manipulation, then things are quite different. All allegations about him beeing DPR the whole time will be true and therefore he should face the kingpin charge. He was not only in the kingpin position at Silkroad, but he also acted like one in the murder for hire story. Even when no one got killed, he still was acting like the typical drug lord. If LE had let him doing or if he contacted a real hitman instead of FORCE, there would have been real dead people.

edit: If he can prove, he sold the site, there still will be the question "Who bought SR from Ross and ordered the hitmen?"

I really think the evidence has been manipulated as I have stated and explained here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1038833.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1038833.0)
That just doesn't make sense.
It really doesn't

I don't think the chat statements alone are enough proof. I think it will be called something like "hearsay". It can be one piece of the puzzle, though.
The whole defense should be based on Ross knowledge about the origin of these files. If he is sure about not saving the logs and writing the journal, there will be a way to prove that with forensic, but when he created the files himself, there will be no way to prove the opposite.
If he was framed by FORCE/BRIDGES in a way, beyond the already known, it is possible, that one of the two will declare that in court.

Why would they do that?
They are in deep shit already.
That would be suicide.

Do you really think VR was an agent? I highly doubt that an agent would advise to kill someone, but, he could have been working with NOB, so i guess its possible. I think the whole key to find out if Ross is telling the truth and to find out a lot of things, is to find out who VR is. I think moustache is spot on his thinking... i believe he stated that a lot of people think that VR and mongoose are the same person, it possible that what they want us to think.. but im pretty sure mongoose is waiting extradition to the USA.. We may never find out who VR is..

I do remember reading in one of their chat sessions between dpr and VR is VR stated something like " I cant believe you havent figured out who i am already" so there has to be  obvious clues in their chats...

Isn't that what they did with Curtis Green though?

Wasn't it Curtis Green that they said stole thousands of Bitcoins?

Yeah, but he didn't. It was agent Bridges as far as I understand it.

I know.
That's why I said "they said", not they proved  ;)

Ive read pretty much everything that is public regarding this, it very interesting. when i was thinking if Green could have stolen the money, he stole it at the wrong time, while being debriefed by federal agents, lol, if he was going to steal money, it would make sense that he would steal it in the comfort of his home and then run like the wind, lol.. but I honestly dont think green had anything to do with the theft, there is absolutley no proof of that. plenty of proof that shaun and carl did it..Doesnt make sense that he would help them fake his death,not run, if he stole the money, makes absolutely no sense that he had anything to do with that stolen bitcoin. Btw, it was a tad over 20k bitcoin that was stolen, if they would have sold it at the ATH they would have made over 20milion, but they got under a million for it, 840k, i believe was in the court records.

the one thing that is weird, is why let Shaun out and not Carl? how do they know for sure that Shaun has given up every bitcoin? btw, they havent even been officially charged with any crime, its only a complaint right now. I bet they both get more  charges, the biggie being obstuction of justice and they might get Carl with aiding and abetting drug  distribution, since he helped DPR with SR and with LE intel...So, the charges are going to be stiff i believe...

Do you really believe that?
Because cops have a "way" of getting away with things....

Is it possible, that FORCE presents his UC job as a main reason he commited these crimes? I mean, as a DEA agent it is possibly really hard to resist that temptation, when you have access to big amounts of "drug money" on a regular basis. This could lower the sentence significantly.

Yep, i know how to google.. here is the link that contains pretty much every thing that I've posted about..

http://www.deepdotweb.com/2015/04/03/silk-roads-unsealed-documents-compilation/

 I should have posted the link a long time ago, now if you have a question regarding the silk road case, you can easily find it..

Yeap, grabbing some popcorn.
There's gonna be a thriller on tonight -pun intended  ;D

https://38.media.tumblr.com/2d05a8b3a427e22d4c883b90e45632d6/tumblr_mrfw68gNBF1sbw4j0o1_500.gif

Go get 'em Brun!
 ;D

Nice research, Bruno. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Are you the big bad troll on the block?

Yeah, Bruno has a way of exposing situations.
He has this gift of bringing things to the surface.
I would never want to be on his scope, though I have never done anything wrong  ::)

Did you know that Shidno1988 once...  :o

Amazingly, Darren Green, Curtis' brother, hasn't been online since the Great Exposure. No wonder he was stickin' it up my ass so heavily, with Leroy Fodor joining the choir negating my findings as he, too, is currently in the process of fleecin' others in spite of my best efforts exposing his ass with his myriad lies spannin' several years, all document thanks, again, to my efforts.

Did you know that Shidno1988 once...  :o

Amazingly, Darren Green, Curtis' brother, hasn't been online since the Great Exposure. No wonder he was stickin' it up my ass so heavily, with Leroy Fodor joining the choir negating my findings as he, too, is currently in the process of fleecin' others in spite of my best efforts exposing his ass with his myriad lies spannin' several years, all document thanks, again, to my efforts.

Dunno him. Friend of yours?

Kitguru posted on their facebook about Variety Jones, no clue why large tech sites are picking it up. I haven't been able to read the article yet.

Cops, that shoot innocent kids* can get out, why not cops that steal druglords?

No arrest of Thomas Clark so far. Looks more and more like a mole to me.

On a side note, this is also being discussed in other places on the net as well.
Here's a couple:

http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/21248836 (http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/21248836)
http://www.mrnice.nl/forum/3-daily-news/13289-variety-jones-aka-thomas-clark-aka-plural-mongoose.html (http://www.mrnice.nl/forum/3-daily-news/13289-variety-jones-aka-thomas-clark-aka-plural-mongoose.html)

Aparently searching on google for Thomas Clark Silk Road brings up quite a few results.

For those donning Superman glasses, you already know Curtis Green's middle name. You should already know that Curtis' brother, Darren, was trading heavily on SR prior to CR becoming an admin, albeit DG claimed it was only to purchase ONE diamond, a graphic card(s), and some other non-drug related items, sticking it my ass for not knowing that SR sold other shit. Strangely, while DG was making these purchases, he was espousing how SR was mainly a drug venue, akin to how he knew about CG's crowdfunding campaign because he once dated his daughter, later revealed to be his niece. That, after Darren first claiming to stumble upon his brother funding site ~40 minutes after it went live.

Thanks to my avid reader skills, I uncovered that bigasic's former moniker was avidreader, his account going dark for ~6.5 months after the arrest of his brother, Curtis, returning as bigasic.

Darren and Curtis' Mormon father must be very proud of his boys' success after raising them so well... So well. SO WELL!

http://www.todayifoundout.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Beard-AMISH2.jpg
"Bruno started to scare me, so that's why I gave up being Variety Jones, originally started to only sell Amish furniture made in China on Silk Road."

Just having the middle name "Clark" doesn't make him Thomas Clark. I have the court documents "Thomas Clark vs Gypsy Nirvana" PLUS his forum posts that prove the connection him beeing beeing PoM. Now the theory, that PoM is Variety Jones is still only based on the chat log, where VJ says, that he has given a lot of hints to Ross about his identity and "googling for Plural of Mongoose alone" will reveal his identity. This could be a fake hint, but it is very unlikey due to various facts. Means, it is still possible, that someone else took over the VJ/PoM personality from the good ole OG times, but I doubt it.

Just having the middle name "Clark" doesn't make him Thomas Clark. I have the court documents "Thomas Clark vs Gypsy Nirvana" PLUS his forum posts that prove the connection him beeing beeing PoM. Now the theory, that PoM is Variety Jones is still only based on the chat log, where VJ says, that he has given a lot of hints to Ross about his identity and "googling for Plural of Mongoose alone" will reveal his identity. This could be a fake hint, but it is very unlikey due to various facts. Means, it is still possible, that someone else took over the VJ/PoM personality from the good ole OG times, but I doubt it.

http://www.thc-ministry.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=41101#41101

Posted from Mongoose @ >>>>>>>>>

RC is working with the Authorities. OG and CW IP's were logged.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:
About 48 hours ago I broke my 26 month long self-imposed exile from the internet to post the results of my converstations with RC. Nobody else seemed to the the will or ability to track down and talk to him, and my concerns for the industry and the people I love who participate in it out weighed the enjoyment of my recent relative obscurity. I was sure any calls were going to be monitored, but hey - it's not like my name has never been associated with cannabis seeds, eh. So I called RC. Twice.

The first call was to get his story of what happened to him, and the servers for Overgrow and Cannabis World, and to offer support, financial and otherwise. I had been in contact with a few friends and business acquaintances, and had passed the virtual hat around - to the tune of well over US$50,000 pledged to assist RC, with no strings attached. RC said he would have to talk to his lawyers first for instructions on handling such a large donation. OK, fine. RC has all my contact numbers (always had, btw) and I expected a call the next day with instructions from his lawyers.

After my first call to him, I noted that Marc Emery from Cannabis Culture had a front page story saying RC had split the country, etcetera. Fuck. So, after some introspection, I decided to take the plunge - I was returning to my long lost home, the internet. RC had told me he would be releasing a statement, drawn up with the assistance of his lawyers, within 24 hours. Now, I had taken RC at his word as to what had happened, and I thought his clients, suppliers and members of his sites should have at least an idea of what happened, so I called him back, and said so. He agreed I could post what I put in my first post on the internet in 26 months.

Some things RC said to me didn't sit well with me. I did wake the guy up, but still... my instincts were making my hackles rise. As time passed, I kept thinking - who the fuck doesn't leap on a US$50,000 gift? My instincts said I wouldn't hear from his lawyers about it. I was correct.

Now, I have known RC's real name - and much more information about him, from back in the day when I made a deal with ~Shabang~ to buy out his 1/2 of Overgrow. I started doing the phone call thing to newspapers, the Quebec Provincial Police, RCMP public affairs office, blah, blah, blah. No record of an arrest. No record of bail or release. No records for RC, period. I had a couple of phone calls with ~Shabang~ as well, as he is one of the few people in the world I felt comfortable brain-storming with some of the information I was working with. I trust ~S with my life.

I called everyone I knew - and I know a fuckload of folks - to try and pry out some facts. I got a ton of calls, PM's and emails, and the picture they were painting wasn't jiving with some 'facts' that RC gave me. In fact, the fucker lied to me - to you - to the industry.

Just after midnight last night, I got a call from Marc Emery. Some of you may have heard of him. If you want to Marc bash, stay the fuck outta this thread. I've been in this industry for quite some time, and I don't believe in tearing down anyone who has the guts and determination for a cause that he does. If you don't like doing business with him, then don't. I have managed to negotiate this industry for years without hurting and name calling of people who are, in my eyes, on the same side. (Just ask Dr. Chronic - shortly after his site launched on OG - and when Gypsy was, as usual acting like an asshole and treating the Doc like shit on the boards, his site went down - hardware failure. That day was the first time I talked to the Doc - I called him and offered to host his site until his hardware was repaired. He declined, but that was the basis of a solid business relationship with him, one of my competitors. I have since met the Doc, and he is one of those truly rare finds - an honest to goodness decent and nice man. I would like to think I can call Dr. Chronic my friend, and I won't put up with any Doc bashing here either End of rant)

Emery and I chatted for over 1/2 an hour. At the outset, I was clear that I couldn't give him any information, but we could discuss what we both had knowledge of. I can tell you now that Emery had RC's real name for quite some time, and had been checking high and low, much like I had been, and had found no trace. Emery gave me a who's who list of people who know RC - in some cases for decades - and who RC had shunned any form of contact with since this all started. He quite graciously offered me all they had found out, and didn't pressure me for information in return. His concern for anyone affected by the fallout from this is genuine. The industry is in an uproar, and I hadn't seen anyone else with people working the phones trying to unearth the truth. By approximately 12:53 AM (GMT) Mr. Marc Scott Emery had earned my respect. We ended our chat, but now I still had more questions.

Rumours, speculation and innuendo filled the forums everywhere, and my instincts were screaming by now. Several details RC had given me were blatantly false, but not a smoking gun. Not yet.

And then, this morning at 10:30 AM (GMT) my phone rang. It was an old acquaintance of mine - and he had brought me a smoking gun. He had done business with RC, and RC paid him by check. The check was made out to a business that has nothing to do with cannabis or cannabis seeds. It was the only time that business had ever negotiated a payment from anyone in the industry. And he had just been raided, with the warrant looking for cannabis, cannabis seeds, and financial records. Fortunately, the raid was, well - a bust. Nothing was found, cops were red-faced, and my friend was fine. And pissed off. There is only one person who could have pointed the police to his business. Mr. Richard Baghdadlian, known to you as RC.

I don't doubt that RC was raided, and I don't doubt that his home and business were searched. In fact, I have confirmation they were. He was not arrested. He was at home when I called him, and has since shut off all contact with anyone. I called his lawyers (that little deal a few years ago with ~S, me, RC and OG had left me with all kinda interesting contacts) and they informed me they were not able to contact RC.

So, I'm gonna say it - and lemme tell you, this ain't easy, but now it's time to face some hard facts.

Richard Baghdadlian is co-operating with the authorities to save his own ass, at the expense of breeders, clients, and tens of thousands of members on his sites.

Anyone who had any financial transactions with RC in any way is at risk.

Anyone who posted on OG or CW is at risk. Those forums are gone, and will never be back - the security of every member has been comprimised.

I don't believe IP's were not logged on OG and CW. ~Shabang~ and I discussed this, and how ~S had originally set up the null logs, and db records. Since then, however, RC had instituted many 'anti-troll' features on the boards. Lemme 'splain...

Ask any troll here - if they posted from, say Proxy A one day, and then 3 days later from Proxy B, using the same handle, and admin got tired of them. So, they IP ban Proxy B, while the troll is still signed in. That's how RC would like you to believe it was done. However, if they then tried using a different handle, and Proxy A - well, damned if that one wasn't blocked as well. I can guarantee you that RC had gone back to some default settings to log IP's for everyone, all the time. There is no doubt.

RC is a rat.

OG and CW logged IP's.

The servers weren't seized - they didn't need to seize them - RC has given them complete access to the database records.

People are getting busted based on contact with RC.

I have given oldpink the heads-up a couple of hours ago that I was going to write this up and post it here. Kindly don't tear him up - he is working hard with little information, and is doing the best he can.

As many OG and CW refugees are also hanging at www.hg420.com, I've just got off the phone with Doc Chronic as well, so word of this will get out. (That's important, as that snivelling cunt-rag Gypsy likes to delete any quotes from me over at ICMag. Fuck off Gypsy, and stay outta my thread.)

If I have more information to offer later, I'll post it up in this thread.

If you have some information to give me, email is plural_of_encrypted@hushmail.com, or give me a call - from a safe phone, of course, at 07766 871 905 in the UK, 0044 7766 871 905 in Europe, and from N. America use 01144 7766 871 905.

Take care everyone, I hope you're all safe.

Love,

Plural of Mongoose

PS - if yer gonna quote this post over at other sites, kindly quote the entire post, thank you very much. Mongoose

PPS - Fuck you Richard Baghdadlian - FUCK YOU... Fuck you... fuck you...

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Mongoose


So, the Plural of Mongoose IS NOT mongeese. I guess I'm back to connecting Satoshi Nakamoto to MyBitcoin.  ::)

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.thebird/EIU7xkJtkjI (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.thebird/EIU7xkJtkjI)


The above is what I'm somewhat alluding to in the other thread about Brothers Green, coming to that conclusion upon reading ALL of Darren's 1176 posts, currently reading some of them again extracting nuggets.

For the life of me, I can't remember the site where you can buy and sell other types of digitial coins, like pp coins and the rest...

Thanks

AR

Here's Curtis' info on Mt Gox from the "Dump" that I have a copy of.

Taxin' my memory, they were able to liquidate CR's Mt Gox account quicker than others were able to get moneys outta Karpeles' fist.

Guys, are you sure PoM is Variety Jones?

Here's what I found (warning it's a long read): http://buymarijuanaseeds.com/community/threads/poms-proving-ground.89418/ (http://buymarijuanaseeds.com/community/threads/poms-proving-ground.89418/)
Scroll down to KindRed's post.


That doesn't sound like PoM is Variety Jones to me, or at least that it wasn't at the time.

None the less the entire post is an interesting read.


EDIT: Who is RC?

RC is Richard Baghdadlian aka Richard Calrisian. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Stairway)

Also, it was stated at the beginning of http://buymarijuanaseeds.com/community/threads/poms-proving-ground.89418/#post-813607

-----------------------------

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:54 pm Post subject: crazy shit goin on in real-time

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crazy shit, murder and international intrigue, going on in real-time!



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The above are some PGP signatures.

It is important that later, they be available to show that the items they refer to, are exactly as I received them.

If one or two of you could download them, and keep 'em safe fer a bit, I'd apprecitate it.

They will help to prove that Gypsy Nirvana and Dutchgrown, in a conspiracy with RC, contracted to have me killed.

Now, I'm gonna hafta out myself here in the next 24 hours - post up my own pic, name, and details, to confirm what's going on.

After 20+ years in the shadows, that ain't easy.

Bear with me during the process.

@edge - heh - sorry I told you to sell popcorn futures short last week - I just luv fucking with you.

Now, I'm gonna hafta out myself here in the next 24 hours - post up my own pic, name, and details, to confirm what's going on.

After 20+ years in the shadows, that ain't easy.

Variety Jones in the news.

Postby Jesús Malverde » Tue Feb 10, 2015 4:04 am
VJ seems to be a persona PoM modeled his own public persona on. But like Bloke says, he seems in retrospect to have been a bargain bin simulacrum of the real thing. The fact that VJ has come through this with his anonymity publicly intact strongly suggests to me he was an informant or other asset used to infiltrate Silk Road. PoM may well have been an informant as well, used to collect intel on the international seed trade, but he was too crazy, unstable, incompetent and unreliable to have been an actual part of any team I think. If he was informing, he was probably just a free agent used to gather info then discarded when he lost access to info to sell and had served his purpose. I suspect the person who posted here claiming to be Colin Edwards was correct when he reported Thomas Clark was serving time as Her Majesty's guest for growing. The Thomas Clark identity was pretty much resolved as definitive by the final court case brought by GN against him under that name that finally ended his little charade he was running. Smokes claimed he was a published sci-fi author under a pen name after he met him in London but it's hard for me to imagine he possessed enough discipline to write books that a publisher would pay money for. A pity he has such a common name, it'd probably pretty trivially easy to track him down today and shake out his history if he had a name like Richard Baghdadlian.

Hey Smokes, what was the pen name Tom said he used? That was probably bullshit as well of course.

In an interview with Forbes, he said that he was actually the successor to Silk Road’s creator.

My story included Variety Jones in its longer version, when it was a 30,000 word (!) manuscript. But, it got complicated, for narrative purposes, to explain that relationship as space got tight. I mean, the story is already the longest Wired has ever published, and he just didn't have that much more room.

That said, Variety Jones/cimon clearly played an important role. He wasn't another user of the DPR handle, but he helped Ross conceptualize his role as leader. And he guided Ross toward the moral Rubicon of hiring a hit man. Variety Jones was the Silk Road's Rasputin, whispering into the Czar's ear.

Who do you think it's the richest vendor from all DNMs? by jajamanja in DarkNetMarkets

[–]Vendor_BBMC 4 points 1 day ago*

He hasn't retired. I opt6ed not to name his last vendor identity, or his current one.

There's quite a lot of coincidence involved so our paths kept crossing.

I used to be quite a serious cannabis breeder, selecting only for cannabinoid ratios. Every few months I used to get on a train to Kingston-on-Thames to the Gypsy Nirvana shop, where he ran "Seeds direct". It was a strange shop, half of it was a tattoo parlour run by his ex-wife, who I remember being a goth Witches of Eastwick-type.

Later, he took over an angry, unpleasant weed forum called "Overgrow", but some of the data was lost, including "strainbase" which was a fascinating collection of data and descriptions of hundreds of weed varieties (this was in dailup 56k modem internet days)

Fortunately, I had copied and pasted every weed description into a massive word doc so I could print it on the laser printer at work. I had the only copy in existence, so I emailed them the word document and strainbase was saved.

Our paths crossed again when I started selling on Silk Road. I would sell out in a day or two days, so I recommended MrMerlins meth as the next-best alternative when I was out of stock. all the other vendors were scammers.

Meth was much more expensive in the UK at that time, and I had a figure in my head that was lower, which I shared with Merlin (who was a HUGE vendor of every drug. Meth was just a sideline). I checked that he could still make a profit at that price, and we undercut the market simultaneously.

Around this time, Silk Road was seized by the FBI. MrMerlin just disappeared, but another decent guy emerged with the same products called Hiniguel. He must have bought the wooden table he photographed his drugs on from MrMerlin, because the wood grain was the same. I recommended Hiniguel's meth when BBMC's sold out, my customers said it was as good as Merlin's.

I was surprised to hear that Hiniguel had pulled some kind of a scam after having a massive row with some SR2 admins, and possibly going off the rails a bit on his own supply. The SR2 admin may have known that Hiniguel was the same man who was Ross' mentor. Nobody else seemed to - they thought he was some crazy vendor pretending to be a millionaire.

On Agora, there was no other meth vendor to recommend who wasn't a scammer, so I encouraged "Hank" to sell Chinese Meth online (he was about the only non-Chinese street dealer, and he never loses his sense of humor even if he hasn't slept for a week - which you need to survive as a meth vendor).

Another vendor appeared, who seemed a bit shadowy. I noticed that a customer in the Kingston-ish area was buying a hell of a lot of meth, and doing the same from Hank. Whenever I sld to this customer, the shards I sent would appear on this other vendors listings, photographed on a table with a familiar wood grain.

This "importer" complained that i was recommending hanks meth. "Mine is every bit as good if you analyze it" (which I didn't doubt. It WAS Hank's meth, rebadged).

the vendor kinda gradually went nuts and scammed, after injuring himself at the gym (according to his profile). Hes now another vendor who appeared the day after the big customer west of london started ordering again. the buyer and vendor's names were similar and his profile was all the same karma/zen/ Nirvana talk.

I don't want to name him because he was PROBABLY Variety jones, and is basically a decent guy-ish. He doesn't sell meth in the UK and our paths haven't crossed since. Hank and I know his real name, and researched him separately. He owns a lot of properties, and few companies, and gained his pilots license in new zealand.

Thats pretty much everything I can add to the variety jones story. If I made a mistake in my logic at any point, the whole thing falls apart - its just my 2 cents.

[–]Vendor_BBMC 17 points 1 day ago*

MDMA is very cheap compared to meth.

I sell the highest-purity D-meth on the planet, with current exchange rates its back above 1 btc per gram. But BBMC are quite specialized, and only produce small batches. Cocaine makes much more money.

When Evo went down, the largest coke vendor in the BTVA lost 40btc - less than A DAY of sales. He was quite happy to lose 40BTC but hoover up the trustworthy Evo admins. They were offered jobs on sites he was building in exchange for going public about Evo, because they were essentially making themselves unemployed

The richest vendor will be the former "variety Jones", who became Mr Merlin, then Hiniguel. MrMerlin was a darknet legend, but because he was so closely involved with Silk Road he decided to rename and lose the reputation he'd built-up. Hiniguel had identical product listings a week later, I'm not sure that anyone else spotted that.Everybody was taking the piss out of Hiniguel's comments when SR2 stole the escrow, but they had no idea who he was.

He was one of my best customers. A New Zealander living near Heathrow. He has a pilot's license.

Its a shame, because he's gradually become a worse and worse vendor. Hes fine at first, but tends to scam then check into rehab.

Check out "Gypsy nirvana's fap tape" on youtube, where he films himself sacking an employee at one of his homes (Amsterdam, by the looks of it.

Hiniguel is not BlueGiraffe: I've spoken with BG and done business with him and he's a stand-up guy. Hiniguel is almost certainly Vlad1m1r aka N***** J***** , a Compliance Documentation Officer at B*** P*** (ever wonder how he did that "money laundering?"). I don't know whether or not he is Stealth/Defcon/Hux or the rest of the snicker Silk Road Administration and Development Team. But he knows exactly who they are. What's more, I suspect he's going to sing like Maria Callas once Inspector Morse picks him up for an interview.

(Old-timers may remember Vlad1m1r from his bitcoin "hedge fund" scam that he pulled off with the aid of his partner "Limetless," who disappeared soon thereafter and whose writing style was remarkably similar to Hiniguel's. But what do I know? I'm just the greatest mind the psychedelic world has ever known).

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

[–] jesuisgay 1 points 2 months ago

   I am convinced that Gypsy Nirvana became MrMerlin on silk Road, Hiniguel on Silk Road 2.0, the shadowman and now vendorZ ("vendor zen") on agora. He's always banging on about "karma". Hank and I know his name and address, but being BTVA members, we will never doxx anybody under any circumstances. I CAN tell you that he lives in Surrey (west of London), has a kind of french name, and has a private plane flying license. he used to be an estate agent and has a mobile food services company (selling hotdogs at festivals, i imagine). I have a gut feelingthat he may have moved here from New Zealand a long time ago.

Gypsy Nirvana is imprisoned in the Philippines and has been since his arrest in summer 2013... he was supposed to be extradited back to the UK but missed his plane presumably worried about US trying to nab him en route or extraditing him when he was back in the UK or something.

See more: http://gypsynirvana.blogspot.fr

His real name is Glen Foster he changed his name to Gypsy officially via deed poll after his ex girlfriend's tattoo shop so he could cash checks made out in the company name in his personal bank account. I don't doubt that he has other aliases and if anyone's really interested then there's plenty of info freely available online.

The real person of interest in all this is Thomas Clark/ PoM/ Variety Jones/Cimon.

I'm fairly certain that he's the CW that cirrus used who is mentioned in gwern's latest post in the Silk Road sub which is why he's disappeared and not been mentioned in relation to any SR arrests despite clearly having a lot to do with the site behind the scenes.

just look at my handle... i think strongly that pom is vj  ;D maybe it's just hope lol

Just want to thank everyone in this thread for being so diligent about finding info.  As someone who finds every little twist and turn in the Silk Road Saga interesting, there's nothing better than the work that lamoustache/gwern/AGD/etc do.  Seriously, bravo.

Ulbricht was aware of this practice, as reflected in Exhibit F, which is an excerpt of a chat with a co-conspirator found on Ulbricht’s computer:
(2011-12-19 17:12) vj: so vendors that mention a buyer’s handle to bitch about
fucking feedback should be fed to the sharks
(2011-12-19 17:13) vj:
ones that do that AND keep records of the addresses
should be fed to ants, and then to sharks
(2011-12-19 17:13) vj:
lttm keeps addressess
(2011-12-19 17:13) vj:
Paperchasing keeps addressses
and threatens to spread
names of anyone who dares give him a 4/5
(2011-12-19 17:13) myself:
how do you know all of this?
(2011-12-19 17:14) vj:
I read the forums
(2011-12-19 17:14) myself:
I should probably do that ;)

http://allthingsvice.com/2015/05/27/silk-road-from-the-inside-moderator-ssbd-tells-his-story/

That's a very interesting read. I'm not even sure how they can justify arresting someone for merely being a moderator of a message board, especially one that was as far as I'm aware separate from the actual site. He didn't commit any crimes or was involved in the drug dealing aspect of it. What was he actually arrested for? The article doesn't seem to say.

The mysterious Variety Jones, supposedly Ross' mentor, is brought up in the film, just a little bit. Could you elaborate on his role in the film?  Where does this guy fit in?

There was stuff I could not put in for legal reasons, there were other elements that might cross ethical lines with the ongoing trial. I did not want to insert myself into the trail, nor have an impact on the outcome one way or another. If I had some bombshell truth or something, maybe. But I know a few of the architects of The Silk Road who are at large, but they are sources, and that is who that runs.

Variety Jones in there because he is an example of just how many people are embedded in the the story of The Silk Road. From what we know, Variety Jones had extensive history going back to the late 1980s, in the BBS/UseNet era. These people were using encrypted email back then. Global business people with wives or children with savvy on the political side, the business side and the technology side of things.

He is one of these types of people. Mark Karpelès [ed: The CEO of former Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox] comes up in the trial. Whether Karpelès has any real culpability we do not know. But what we do know is that there are a lot of very sophisticated people in these communities for a long time.

Read more: http://twitchfilm.com/2015/05/interview-alex-winter-ventures-down-the-silk-road-in-deep-web.html#ixzz3bVNiXNAz

He is, just like Ross, only strong behind his computer, but when it comes to "real life" he fails.

Your crystal ball tell you this?  ::)  

I think they have enough time to get people employed where Ross is going to end up if they wanted/have the resources.

And

How did Ross fail in real life?  The only person I saw him rat on was Mark K and Mark fucked everyone six ways from Sunday anyways.

You really think, that VJ will risk his ass, just because he once promised it to an anonymous guy on the darknet?...

Now with Ross facing to spend the rest of his life in prison, VJ should get that helicopter started as he promised.
If he wasn't working with the feds, he is facing about the same sentence as Ross got, so I doubt, that he has the balls to risk his life with his super duper escape plan. He is, just like Ross, only strong behind his computer, but when it comes to "real life" he fails.

I doubt he'd get the same sentence as Ross - he didn't create the site and was only really a helper/adviser, but nobody will hear from Vanity Jones ever again. I think he was probably much smarter than Ross and new how to protect himself better whilst not having as much heat on him. I'm not sure what he could be charged with either.

Yeah, I find it bizarre in general, how some computer related crimes are treated by the US judiciary system. DDos attack=10 years???

I highly doubt that you are talking about this VJ: Vanity Jones (https://www.google.com/search?q=Vanity+Jones&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=R8BpVeWUIsuBU5mEgcAC&ved=0CDAQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=969)

The person in discussion here is Variety Jones, not that smoking hot babe Vanity Jones.
But thanks, I didn't know her and that she is so hot  ;)

Why?

A lot of people seem to have this bizarre idea that computers aren't "real" or that programs aren't "real." Why shouldn't we write laws that deal with the use and misuse of computer systems?

10 years is harsh for a ddos attack but some punishments fit the crime. There's not much difference between robbing a bank in the real world or doing it from behind a computer in my opinion. Both are thefts and involve stealing money. Life in prison for running a 'website' may seem very harsh but its the nature of it. He facilitated the sale of hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars worth of drugs and illegal items thus making him a drug kingpin. He also laundered and evaded taxes. There's then the murder charges as well don't forget though they wernt relevant to this trial though the judge may have taken them into consideration.

PS. Who is Amelia from OkCoin?

Quote: "09/11 – 09/18/2013
could not confirm ST bust.
Got covered in poison oak trying to get a piece of trash out of a tree in a park nearby and have been moping.
went on a first date with amelia from okc."

PS. Who is Amelia from OkCoin?

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/on-okcupid-ross-ulbricht-was-a-scientist-turned-entrepreneur/

For the ladies: http://www.okcupid.com/profile/ross-0

"maintaining an infectious happiness despite my circumstances"

Excerpts from Torchat Log tv32wkhirljvcb4f.log [Variety Jones]
Cited as 785 – 790 in Dratel May 28, 2015 Letter
(2012‐05‐16 14:14) vj: [delayed] I know where I want to put my 2.5, and yours if
you agree, if we make this deal.
[delayed] And considering my background, this is funny as hell
[delayed] Seeds.
(2012‐05‐16 14:14) vj: Over 1/4 million 3rd world farmers went broke last year,
and over 2,000 killed themselves, because they'd bought into Dow's and Monsanto's
promise of better crops, but the crops are sterile and they need to buy more seed
stock the next year, and they only grow if fertilized by patent encumbered agents
and fertilizers.
(2012‐05‐16 14:15) vj: and as a result, over 2 million people died of starvation last
year
(2012‐05‐16 14:15) vj: at a minimum
(2012‐05‐16 14:15) myself: I've heard of this
(2012‐05‐16 14:15) myself: breifly
(2012‐05‐16 14:15) vj: I want to break their backs
(2012‐05‐16 14:16) myself: seeds are magical things
(2012‐05‐16 14:16) myself: so tiny, but so much comes from them
(2012‐05‐16 14:16) myself: well water and seeds
(2012‐05‐16 14:16) vj: Read up on it. GMO *could* be the worlds salvation...
(2012‐05‐16 14:17) vj: Borlaug won a noble peace prize for seeds
(2012‐05‐16 14:17) vj: Dwarf wheat
(2012‐05‐16 14:17) vj: Africa couldn't feed itself, Russia was close, as too dense of
wheat fell over from the weight of the tops
(2012‐05‐16 14:18) vj: and borlaug came up with Dwarf Wheat, literally saved a
billion lives
(2012‐05‐16 14:18) myself: what a badass
(2012‐05‐16 14:18) vj: it was a special strain that was short, so the stalk could hold
the weight, and improve yields
(2012‐05‐16 14:19) vj: and then Dow and Monsanto came out with GMO versions,
designed to be sterile, and priced high, so new seed stock had to be bought every
year, and their chmeicals are needed to grow it
(2012‐05‐16 14:19) vj: and patented them
(2012‐05‐16 14:19) vj: and are reversing his work, starving folks for profit
(2012‐05‐16 14:19) vj: them, oh them, I could run over with a train, or put out of
business
(2012‐05‐16 14:20) vj: fuck drugs, I want to smuggle non ‐sterile seeds to the breadbaskets
of the world, and give it away.
(2012‐05‐16 14:20) vj: and trust me, the DEA are pansies compared to the armies
these guys have hired to hold their exclusive rights.
(2012‐05‐16 14:21) vj: I was almost asleep, thinking of who had done the most in
history for mankind, and there are two folks.
(2012‐05‐16 14:21) vj: Borlaug, he kept the world from starving
Case 1:14-cr-00068-KBF Document 266-2 Filed 05/29/15 Page 1 of 10
(2012‐05‐16 14:21) vj: and several thousand years ago, the guy that invented the
solid yoke
(2012‐05‐16 14:22) vj: you see, with a leather strap, a slave, a horse or an oxen
could all pull about the same weight of a plow
(2012‐05‐16 14:26) vj: but the solid yoke, well
(2012‐05‐16 14:27) vj: then an oxen could pull from it's shoulders, as could a horse
(2012‐05‐16 14:27) vj: one horsepower was originally deigned as: the work that
could be done by 22 1/2 men
(2012‐05‐16 14:27) vj: so one horse replaced 22.5 men
(2012‐05‐16 14:27) vj: oxen, 55 men
(2012‐05‐16 14:27) vj: the solid yoke ended slaverly
(2012‐05‐16 14:28) vj: GMO seeds has re‐started it, economic slaverly, and over a
billion farmers in the third world are Monsanto's slaves
(2012‐05‐16 14:28) vj: Tired, I am.
(2012‐05‐16 14:28) myself: hows that work? monsanto is in bed with the dictators
in africa so they don't let other seed in?
(2012‐05‐16 14:29) vj: they give them seeds to plant, and discount the fertilizers
(2012‐05‐16 14:29) vj: Normally, farmers hold back seeds for next year
(2012‐05‐16 14:29) vj: these are sterile, they can't
(2012‐05‐16 14:30) vj: next year, it's $45 an acre for seeds, for a farmer that makes
$500 a year on 200 acres
(2012‐05‐16 14:30) vj: plus the chemicals the plants don't need, but are genetically
engineered to require to mature
(2012‐05‐16 14:30) vj: and now it's full price
(2012‐05‐16 14:30) myself: why can't the better seeds get in?
(2012‐05‐16 14:31) vj: cause Dow and Monsanto control the mechanisms of
delivery
(2012‐05‐16 14:31) vj: GMO can be good, better yields, more pest resisitance
(2012‐05‐16 14:31) vj: but they took it too far, and built in sterile seeds, so they'd
have to re‐buy every year
(2012‐05‐16 14:31) vj: and a false requirement for rare chemicals they produce, in
order to mature properly
(2012‐05‐16 14:32) myself: so what's the plan, make our own strains that aren't
sterile and don't need bs chems?
(2012‐05‐16 14:32) myself: or do they exists but can't get in
(2012‐05‐16 14:32) vj: I know a lot about this ‐ my first 'angel' investor in a
software company called ARS inc at the time, owned CIC Canola, a seed cleaning and
coating biz that sold several patents, and eventually the whole company, to
Monsanto
(2012‐05‐16 14:33) vj: Simple, buy non GMO regulated seeds anywhere, Alberta,
Russia, don't matter ‐ and smuggle them where they're needed.
(2012‐05‐16 14:34) vj: It's illegal in dozens of countries to import non approved
seeds, and guess who sells the sterile 'approved' seeds...
(2012‐05‐16 14:34) myself: ok, i get it now
(2012‐05‐16 14:35) vj: Monsanto seed stock cost 150X what plain seed stock costs
(2012‐05‐16 14:35) vj: and use it once, yer locked in.
Case 1:14-cr-00068-KBF Document 266-2 Filed 05/29/15 Page 2 of 10
(2012‐05‐16 14:35) vj: plus the chems the plants are designed to require not for
growth, but for survival solely to protect Monsanto's IP in the product
(2012‐05‐16 14:36) myself: if these locals start using good seed, won't their govts
figure it out and shut em down?
(2012‐05‐16 14:36) vj: they can't get good seed
(2012‐05‐16 14:36) myself: if we get it to them
(2012‐05‐16 14:36) vj: they can't afford to buy it#
(2012‐05‐16 14:36) vj: see ‐ lemme back up
(2012‐05‐16 14:36) myself: once you have one good crop, you can make your own
seed, no?
(2012‐05‐16 14:36) vj: for centuries, farmers grow wheat, sell most, save some to
plant next year
(2012‐05‐16 14:37) myself: ok
(2012‐05‐16 14:37) vj: then these guys came in ‐ our shit yields way more ‐ here,
take some
(2012‐05‐16 14:37) vj: and take this fertilizer, it makes it grow better
(2012‐05‐16 14:37) vj: and they have their best crops ever!
(2012‐05‐16 14:37) vj: But, the offspring are sterile, you can't save it for next year
(2012‐05‐16 14:37) vj: and next year, the seeds aren't free
(2012‐05‐16 14:37) vj: nor are the fertilizers required
(2012‐05‐16 14:37) vj: and they have no money, at all
(2012‐05‐16 14:38) vj: and so they go bankrupt, and kill themselves in shame, and
Monsanot racks up billions
(2012‐05‐16 14:38) vj: and millions starve, even today ‐ fuck, especially today.
(2012‐05‐16 14:38) vj: There is no excuse, and who else can take 'em on. sure, I can
drill wells, but any asshole can drill a well.
(2012‐05‐16 14:39) vj: But not anyone can take on Monsanto and Dow, and the US
hegemony that fosters it.
(2012‐05‐16 14:39) myself: so the issue is not so much that the govts outlaw fertile
seed, it's that these farms have no money to buy it since monsanto tricked them into
buying a bunch of sterile seed
(2012‐05‐16 14:40) vj: no, they also get the governments to outlaw importing
unapproved 'foreign' seeds
(2012‐05‐16 14:40) vj: so even if you wanted to sell it at 10% of Dow and Monsanto
on the open market, it's not allowed
(2012‐05‐16 14:40) myself: and what about using unapproved seed once it's in
(2012‐05‐16 14:41) myself: I just wonder if suggling it in and giving it away will be
enough, or if there needs to be structural changes in the politics
(2012‐05‐16 14:41) vj: Google 'farmer sued by monsanto seeds'
(2012‐05‐16 14:41) vj: I'll wait
(2012‐05‐16 14:41) myself: locals might not even accept the seed for fear of reprisal
(2012‐05‐16 14:43) vj: Dude, they are actually killing themselves because they can't
feed their families. Reprisal ain't on their list of worries
(2012‐05‐16 14:43) myself: ok
(2012‐05‐16 14:43) myself: schmeiser
Case 1:14-cr-00068-KBF Document 266-2 Filed 05/29/15 Page 3 of 10
(2012‐05‐16 14:43) vj: OK. not all of my funds, but i'm gonna put it on my to do list
for the next 2 years. At least I'll make a dent, and save some lives.
(2012‐05‐16 14:44) vj: Also, this idea is (scrolls back) all of 31 minutes old, came to
me in a flash, hell, I hadn't thought about Dwarf Wheat in decades, so it may need
some polish ;)
(2012‐05‐16 14:45) vj: But it's the type of thing I need to do ‐ it's the type of thing
we need to do if we're gonna work together
(2012‐05‐16 14:45) vj: Cause if it's just about the money, well, money I have.
(2012‐05‐16 14:46) myself: you know why I am in this
(2012‐05‐16 14:46) vj: And this type of shit, is like inventing the solid yoke ‐ it can
remove literally billions of people from economic slavery
(2012‐05‐16 14:46) myself: it's the structural changes that have the biggest impact.
there is no uninventing dwarf wheat
(2012‐05‐16 14:46) myself: exactly
(2012‐05‐16 14:47) myself: we need to be really careful with how we invest
(2012‐05‐16 14:47) myself: too easy to throw money at problems and do more
damage than good
(2012‐05‐16 14:47) vj: I was talking about kiva before, I withdraw that
(2012‐05‐16 14:48) vj: we won't give money to folks to drill wells, if we think a
place needs a well, we'll buy the rig truck, hire a crew, and send it where it's needed.
We don't need zillions of layers of bureauacracy, we need action at the point of most
impact.
(2012‐05‐16 14:49) vj: And less investigation too ‐ we need to invest in
infrastructure and agraian ;methods of production
(2012‐05‐16 14:49) vj: not charities and feel‐good programs
(2012‐05‐16 14:49) vj: and you're right, charity can make things worse
(2012‐05‐16 14:50) vj: but non ‐ sterile high yield seeds... can't put that cat back in
the bag, or seize or encumbrance it
(2012‐05‐16 14:50) myself: trouble is, the places that need us the most are in need
for a reason. investors won't touch them because the governments there will just
confiscate any wealth that's created
(2012‐05‐16 14:51) vj: Not from me, they won't.
(2012‐05‐16 14:51) vj: I have teeth.
(2012‐05‐16 14:51) myself: maybe a place like somalia, where we wouldn't be up
against a well organized state. could be good pirates there
(2012‐05‐16 14:51) vj: See, we're not gonna invest expecting a return, and hence
have a track to follow back
(2012‐05‐16 14:52) vj: we'll just drop the shit off
(2012‐05‐16 14:52) myself: i have a podcast you need to listen to
(2012‐05‐16 14:52) myself: might've already recommneded it
(2012‐05‐16 14:52) myself: the one with bruce bueno de mesquita?
(2012‐05‐16 14:52) vj: and we can buy a million tons of seed grain
(2012‐05‐16 14:53) vj: nope, not familiar
(2012‐05‐16 14:53) vj: could you PM me on SR with the details, my travel computer
only has torchat on tor, I save nada to it. I'll check it out in the AM
Case 1:14-cr-00068-KBF Document 266-2 Filed 05/29/15 Page 4 of 10
(2012‐05‐16 14:54) myself: he has this political model based on game theory. great
analysis of foreign aid and how it hurts the common man in these countries by
propping up the dictators that supress them
(2012‐05‐16 14:54) myself: we could be the real foreign aid
(2012‐05‐16 14:54) vj: Here's the good part ‐ stop a ship with 120 thousand metric
tons of wheat on it, ain't illegal anywhere ;)
(2012‐05‐16 14:54) myself: that gives the common man the energy they need to
throw off their oppressors
(2012‐05‐16 14:54) vj: We need to buy a ship.
(2012‐05‐16 14:55) vj: No one will see us coming at all
(2012‐05‐16 14:55) myself: nope
(2012‐05‐16 14:55) myself: fuck im excited
(2012‐05‐16 14:55) vj: See, this here ‐ this is change
(2012‐05‐16 14:55) vj: and why I like staying awake for 60 hours on ocassion. Hard
on the system, but damn, my brain works hard then.
(2012‐05‐16 14:56) myself: if we can figure out how to get these govts off people's
backs. empowering the population is a huge part of that
(2012‐05‐16 14:56) vj: And in the back of my mind, it's why I went 180 on nob. Let's
take his money.
(2012‐05‐16 14:56) myself: that starts with enough to eat
(2012‐05‐16 14:56) vj: Food, water, shelter. That's our holy trinity.
(2012‐05‐16 14:56) myself: security
(2012‐05‐16 14:57) vj: No one should do without 'em
(2012‐05‐16 14:57) myself: that's the beginning of property, and then wealth
(2012‐05‐16 14:57) vj: So, take a step back, and tell me what you think
(2012‐05‐16 14:58) myself: about?
(2012‐05‐16 14:58) vj: Everything I've said in the last 40 minutes
(2012‐05‐16 15:00) vj: Borlaug's new semi‐dwarf, disease‐resistant varieties, called
Pitic 62 and Penjamo 62, changed the potential yield of spring wheat dramatically.
By 1963, 95% of Mexico's wheat crops used the semi‐dwarf varieties developed by
Borlaug. That year, the harvest was six times larger than in 1944
(2012‐05‐16 15:00) vj: SIX fucking times!
(2012‐05‐16 15:00) vj: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug#Dwarfing
(2012‐05‐16 15:00) myself: yea, africa is growth waiting to happen
(2012‐05‐16 15:01) vj: The world doesn't have starving people today because it's
not capable of growing enough food, it's starving because they're patent
encumbering it for profit.
(2012‐05‐16 15:01) myself: I think we need to find the perfect experiment
(2012‐05‐16 15:01) vj: Dude, my petri dish is called 'Earth'
(2012‐05‐16 15:01) myself: a cheap experiment that gives us information on how to
take it to the next level
(2012‐05‐16 15:01) vj: yeah, we need smarter folks than us in this field.
(2012‐05‐16 15:02) vj: As a rule of thumb, I never hire anyone that isn't at least
50% smarter than me. Dumb folks like me, I can get lots of for free.
(2012‐05‐16 15:02) myself: like a particular farm or farming area in a particular
country where we think we'll have the most impact. spend the money we need to do
Case 1:14-cr-00068-KBF Document 266-2 Filed 05/29/15 Page 5 of 10
it right on that small scale and see if it works. how does the govt react, how does
monsanto react. does anyone even notice
(2012‐05‐16 15:03) vj: Ghana
(2012‐05‐16 15:03) myself: plant the seed, no pun
(2012‐05‐16 15:03) vj: 'Cause that's where I'm buying a gold mine I'm gonna use to
launder money, so i'll be there once in a while anyways
(2012‐05‐16 15:04) myself: yea, a place that needs the seed, but has reasonably
solid property rights for the farmers
(2012‐05‐16 15:04) vj: Or iffy property rights, and where we can effect change
(2012‐05‐16 15:04) vj: synergy
(2012‐05‐16 15:04) vj: do two things at once
(2012‐05‐16 15:05) myself: we need to do alot of research, like will these farmers
need to educated on what they are being given, or are they so desperate for seeds
they'll plant anything.
(2012‐05‐16 15:05) myself: and we need to be sure of the quality of our seed source
(2012‐05‐16 15:05) vj: Solid property rights means a tired farmer can retire. Iffy
property rights means if he can't make his lease payment, his family starves to death
(2012‐05‐16 15:06) vj: Dude, CIC Canola, CCF Wheat co‐operative... I know these
guys
(2012‐05‐16 15:06) myself: let's come back to this. there are alot of steps between
here and there. I wanna get this new skin knocked out
(2012‐05‐16 15:07) vj: sure, I just hadda share while it was hot, and get yer mind
thinking
(2012‐05‐16 15:07) vj: But I like it for one of our prongs ‐ and we're gonna have lots
of prongs
(2012‐05‐16 15:07) myself: let's feed africa
(2012‐05‐16 15:07) vj: Let's feed everywhere but Washington
(2012‐05‐16 15:07) myself: ok
(2012‐05‐16 15:08) vj: Well, that's decided. We'll feed the world. What do you want
to do for an encore tomorrow?
(2012‐05‐16 15:08) vj: Also, we need nice office chairs. Put that at #2 on the list.
(2012‐05‐16 15:08) myself: the same thing we do every night pinky
(2012‐05‐16 15:08) vj: heh
(2012‐05‐16 15:08) vj: damn right!
(2012‐05‐16 15:09) vj: K‐ this has been damn near an hour, get the fuck back to
work on that layout, you layabout.
(2012‐05‐16 15:09) vj: Else yer fired.
(2012‐05‐16 15:09) myself: yes sir!
(2012‐05‐16 15:09) vj: GAtor
(2012‐05‐16 15:10) vj: ...Dwarf fucking wheat, who'da thunk it would grab our
attention...
Kiva Material
2012‐03‐14 14:42) myself: had another idea, completely unrelated.
(2012‐03‐14 14:42) vj: shoot
Case 1:14-cr-00068-KBF Document 266-2 Filed 05/29/15 Page 6 of 10
(2012‐03‐14 14:43) myself: have a donate link. shows a page of users who've
donated and how much. The fund is used to help out people who get scammed on
the site, or if there is a surplus, it can go to torservers or a freedom/drug legalization
cause.
(2012‐03‐14 14:44) myself: anon donations are ok of course
(2012‐03‐14 14:44) vj: good idea, but I don't think acknowledging scammers is a
good idea.
(2012‐03‐14 14:44) vj: hmm...
(2012‐03‐14 14:44) vj: gimme a sec to google something...
(2012‐03‐14 14:44) myself: ok
(2012‐03‐14 14:45) vj: how about http://www.kiva.org/
make micro‐loans with the funds, when they're paid back, re‐invest them in more
loans. Track on the site how many people we've helped. Warm fuzzies all over.
(2012‐03‐14 14:46) vj: match funds too! Donate $20, throw in another $10
(2012‐03‐14 14:46) vj: and guaranteed to get press!
(2012‐03‐14 14:47) myself: who would the recipients be do you think?
(2012‐03‐14 14:47) vj: hire a lawyer to hire a lawyer to hire a lawyer to admin it
from a safe jurisdiction,
(2012‐03‐14 14:47) vj: with kiva, you PICK who you want to give the money to. (not
quite, they had some hassles over that, but that's the idea.)
(2012‐03‐14 14:47) vj: You read a story, say I want to help them, and give them $25.
(2012‐03‐14 14:47) myself: oh, I thought you meant it would be like kiva, not
through them
(2012‐03‐14 14:48) vj: X lots of people to help.
(2012‐03‐14 14:48) vj: it would be a great cause to get behind.
(2012‐03‐14 14:48) myself: I'll check it out
(2012‐03‐14 14:48) vj: and folks could get 'kiva badges' for every $25 they donate!
Collect all 1200!
. . .
(2012‐03‐14 14:54) vj: Kiva. I really like that idea.
(2012‐03‐14 14:59) vj: http://www.kiva.org/lend/402229
Fuck, can't be a tough guy and read some of these...
(2012‐03‐14 15:00) vj: her previous loan for $125, 1/2 paid off now
http://www.kiva.org/lend/354220
. . .
We could give away an ultimate home theatre package, a shitload of electronics from
computers to ipads and roombas stereos and satellites and hd tv's, etc. All easier to
order and pay for discretely, discreetly. <‐‐ loves that, will use again.
[delayed] There is a brewing mutiny by a few vendors that our sale will head off. Ask
DA or me for details, whoever you chat with first. Don't panic, it's a few weeks away,
and their currently stymied as Pharmville is on vacation and they want him on
Case 1:14-cr-00068-KBF Document 266-2 Filed 05/29/15 Page 7 of 10
board. Huge trip prize for winner, 5/6 numbers wins big prizes, 4/6 wins great
ones, and we'll give 1000 3/6 folks something unique, a conversation piece, or
something. Announce that SR was never about making money, and we've had some
huge infrastructure costs, but we are blessed to be currently running a surplus. So
we're having this contest, as well as announcing that we're going to be supporting
kiva, matching donations in $5 increments, giving badges in 1/5th increments for
donations they make, and we'll match them. We're kicking it off with $7, 385 from
our current surplus, and will strive to continue matching donations as long as we
can.
. . .
(2012‐03‐23 22:11) myself: I'm thinking I'll find someone with an austrian econ
background to dig up stories loosely related to our kiva people and use some
praxeological logic to connect them.
. . .
(2012‐03‐23 22:13) vj: I'm also hunting about for someone to manage kiva stuff,
including picking loan recipients, doing summaries and follow‐ups, etc.
. . .
(2012‐03‐23 22:29) vj: Tying the kiva stuff to the blog also is a constant source of
feel‐good posting, and I'm working on a format for that now. I think I'll get someone
to write us a scraper/API for kiva, so we can massage the data they offer into an
easy format for us, especially when it comes to followups, which we'd otherwise
have to search out manually.
. . .
2012‐03‐24 08:37) vj: [delayed] Heh, check out this kiva page
http://www.kiva.org/lend/395901
[delayed] "About IMON International
Tajikistan, a country with a captivating Silk Road history and a rich cultural
heritage..."
. . .
(2012‐04‐07 09:09) vj: and while we were talking about doing philanthropical
works, supporting kiva, or something similar, etc.,
. . .
2012‐04‐07 09:11) vj: yeah, I don't want to support something with donations. I
want to buy the trucks that tow the rigs that drill the wells.
Case 1:14-cr-00068-KBF Document 266-2 Filed 05/29/15 Page 8 of 10
(2012‐04‐07 09:11) vj: not send $25 to someone to help them get a well.
(2012‐04‐07 09:12) vj: I don't want to support organizations, I want to create them.
(2012‐04‐07 09:12) myself: well, kiva works with "boots on the ground" orgs
(2012‐04‐07 09:12) myself: you could get involved more closely with one of them
and then look for opportunities from there
(2012‐04‐07 09:13) vj: yeah, no lack of opportunities, no doubt. Just hard to find an
area to focus on.
(2012‐04‐07 09:14) myself: what about r&d
(2012‐04‐07 09:14) vj: The realization that I never again in my life have to do
anything for money has made me question how I'm going to responsibly deal with
the money I do get.
(2012‐04‐07 09:14) myself: space exploration and such
(2012‐04‐07 09:15) vj: ahh ‐ r&d ‐ please let me wait until tomorrow to tell you the
current fucked up state of the frigid boot s/w. Much joy and pain there.
Space, fuck. Sold, let's go!
. . .
(2012‐05‐01 13:17) myself: we def should get into that kiva stuff
(2012‐05‐01 13:17) vj: It does. It's been waaaaaaay more fucking work setting it up
than I expected, I tell ya though. I'd think doing another trip long and hard.
(2012‐05‐01 13:18) myself: yea, kudos for taking it on though.
(2012‐05‐01 13:19) vj: I learned a bit about moving money around the world this
weekend, bitcoins didn't come up, just as well, but I did find out how to get in touch
with people that move $ from country to country for a small (3%) fee.
(2012‐05‐01 13:19) vj: There's a whole 'nother world of banking out there
(2012‐05‐01 13:20) vj: I wonder if we could convince Kiva to take BTC
(2012‐05‐01 13:20) vj: would make it a whole bunch easier.
(2012‐05‐01 13:20) myself: putting it on the to do list!
(2012‐05‐01 13:20) vj: Perhaps donate the funds to make the changes that will
allow them to take BTC.
. . .
eprisal
(2012‐05‐16 14:43) vj: Dude, they are actually killing themselves because they can't
feed their families. Reprisal ain't on their list of worries
(2012‐05‐16 14:43) myself: ok
(2012‐05‐16 14:43) myself: schmeiser
(2012‐05‐16 14:43) vj: OK. not all of my funds, but i'm gonna put it on my to do list
for the next 2 years. At least I'll make a dent, and save some lives.
(2012‐05‐16 14:44) vj: Also, this idea is (scrolls back) all of 31 minutes old, came to
me in a flash, hell, I hadn't thought about Dwarf Wheat in decades, so it may need
some polish ;)
Case 1:14-cr-00068-KBF Document 266-2 Filed 05/29/15 Page 9 of 10
(2012‐05‐16 14:45) vj: But it's the type of thing I need to do ‐ it's the type of thing
we need to do if we're gonna work together
(2012‐05‐16 14:45) vj: Cause if it's just about the money, well, money I have.
(2012‐05‐16 14:46) myself: you know why I am in this
(2012‐05‐16 14:46) vj: And this type of shit, is like inventing the solid yoke ‐ it can
remove literally billions of people from economic slavery
(2012‐05‐16 14:46) myself: it's the structural changes that have the biggest impact.
there is no uninventing dwarf wheat
(2012‐05‐16 14:46) myself: exactly
(2012‐05‐16 14:47) myself: we need to be really careful with how we invest
(2012‐05‐16 14:47) myself: too easy to throw money at problems and do more
damage than good
(2012‐05‐16 14:47) vj: I was talking about kiva before, I withdraw that
(2012‐05‐16 14:48) vj: we won't give money to folks to drill wells, if we think a
place needs a well, we'll buy the rig truck, hire a crew, and send it where it's needed.
We don't need zillions of layers of bureauacracy, we need action at the point of most
impact.
(2012‐05‐16 14:49) vj: And less investigation too ‐ we need to invest in
infrastructure and agraian ;methods of production
(2012‐05‐16 14:49) vj: not charities and feel‐good programs
(2012‐05‐16 14:49) vj: and you're right, charity can make things worse
(2012‐05‐16 14:50) vj: but non ‐ sterile high yield seeds... can't put that cat back in
the bag, or seize or encumbrance it
(2012‐05‐16 14:50) myself: trouble is, the places that need us the most are in need
for a reason. investors won't touch them because the governments there will just
confiscate any wealth that's created
(2012‐05‐16 14:51) vj: Not from me, they won't.
(2012‐05‐16 14:51) vj: I have teeth.
(2012‐05‐16 14:51) myself: maybe a place like somalia, where we wouldn't be up
against a well organized state. could be good pirates there
(2012‐05‐16 14:51) vj: See, we're not gonna invest expecting a return, and hence

What the hell is that conversation about? The fact that he even kept logs of this stuff shows you how niave he was. Ross is deluded and to me it looks like VJ was just trying to set up him up to con him out of massive amounts of money no doubt. Ross probably would have sent it to him as well. It wouldn't surprise me if VJ wasn't actually just another undercover cop (corrupt or otherwise) either.

You know what, I fucking love Variety Jones. I hope we never find out who he is and we just keep hearing about him for years to come. The mystery just keeps going... Gold mines in Ghana? Saving the millions of lives and bringing down Dow and Monsanto?!

If he is LE then he sure doesn't sound like one.

You go vj/cimon/POM/Thomas Clarke...?

If he is LE then he sure doesn't sound like one.

He doesn't sound like LE to me though it wouldn't surprise me if he was or was turned at some point. He does sound like a delusional megalomaniac though and it seems Ross was easily strung along. I mean buying gold mines and taking on Monsanto with smuggled seeds? What in the actual? He sounds like he lived in fantasy land or just enjoyed chatting shit with the gullible DPR.

http://www.wired.com/2015/06/dark-web-drug-lords-got-away/

VJ, according to Ulbricht’s journal entries, turned out to be something of a mentor — or the devil on Ulbricht’s shoulder, depending on how you look at it. Ulbricht said in his journal that he was extremely inexperienced in web hosting when he first launched Silk Road. He knew basic coding and html but often failed to recognise some of the site’s early flaws, he wrote.

As the first to point out a major security hole in Silk Road, VJ gained Ulbricht’s trust early on. One journal entry reveals just how much VJ influenced Ulbricht’s perception of Silk Road: “VJ has helped me to see a larger vision,” Ulbricht wrote on December 29, 2011. “A brand that people come to trust and rally behind.” He even envisioned the creation of a Silk Road Credit Union one day.

Judge: Coach, we're lockin' your ass up for life for fuckin' them boys on your team.
Judge: Mr. Speaker, you are fined... (assuming the outcome).

Judge: You, sire, are going to jail for stealing.
Judge: Bankers, you are fined and don't do it again.

CIA: What the fuck you mean that the poppy yields are down? Are you sure nobody's stealing from us?

Judge: Rich white dude, you're free to go with X Charges dropped.
Judge: Poor black dude, you're fucked because of these X Charges!

NEWS: So-and-so, who once turned states evidence for ________, was killed today in a one-vehicle accident on a county road. His water-soaked body was eventually freed from atop a cactus 30 miles from the nearest water source. No foul play is expected.

All Posts from Variety Jones on SilkRoad: http://199.127.225.120:9999/show.html?user=Variety+Jones

I know that video. It is showing Gypsy Nirvana firing an employee and making a secret video of his asshole behaviour. I don't think it was VJ, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiCEh8FNNuE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-EEf0pebEM

I can't really decipher the vid. Why is Gypsy mad?

I can't really decipher the vid. Why is Gypsy mad?

[–]throaway4goodmeasure 881 points 3 hours ago

Okay this is probably either one of the stupidest decisions of my life or it may just be the only redeeming thing I have ever done. So you all know about "Silk Road" (the defunct online drug market that was shut down in oct13). The man sentenced to life for running it (Ross Ulbricht), is not the only guy who ran it. I dont think he was too involved at all. I have since moved and the person I am about to talk about has gone ghost as well so here it goes:

I spent a few months dating this guy (considerably older) who was probably running the website for 80% of the time. He was always online logged in and many times in-front of me not only used the Dread Pirate Roberts account, but also chatted with who I now believe was the Ulbricht boy. My former SO often joked that this "kid" was essentially his robot and worshipped him. I know he had probably over 2,500 bitcoins at one point. I saw other things that he is stupid for flaunting, such as his conversations that he would decrypt and save to USB drives as "insurance" (his words) of him discussing things with police. Either he was an informant or he had them working for him. I think both. I know for a period of about 8 or 9 months that Ulbricht had not logged into the site portal because my ex-SO became paranoid that the guy might have been arrested or killed or turned informant. he pops back up and they start chatting like old buddies, supposedly he was hanging out with family and having personal problems.

I dont know the specifics and have never told a soul. When they arrested this boy, my ex took off. Said he was going to visit his parents and lay low for a bit, and then abruptly vanished. I did see him as "last online X hours ago" on Whatsapp here and there, so thankfully he's not dead or in jail.. I think.

For those who might think I could be getting him in trouble and Im being a bitch/vengeful/rat. No I aint. He's not a US citizen and is most likely not in the US.

TLDR/ELI5: Ross Ulbricht was definetly not "The Dread Pirate Roberts" as much as he was accused of. That would impossible. He sure is paying the price for it though. May God make this guys situation better one day, he's pain a price for shit he wasnt too vested in.

A thought occurred to me quite recently.....what if the author of this post is in fact VJ himself and all of this is just his way of finding out who knows what about him & his connections to whoever.  :D  

You wanna hear my theory?

A thought occurred to me quite recently.....what if the author of this post is in fact VJ himself and all of this is just his way of finding out who knows what about him & his connections to whoever.  :D   

The charges against him, however, tell a starkly different story. Ward has been charged with nine crimes: two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, and another for Class B, as well as six other charges relating to the supply and importation of Class A, B and C drugs.

Ward said that he suspected that the main reason for his arrest was to do with the police’s belief that he was “Variety Jones”, one of the original Silk Road advisors, the one who supposedly came up with the name Dread Pirate Roberts for Ross Ulbricht. Variety Jones is also suspected to have mentored Ulbricht in his early days.

“Years ago, when I messaged the Silk Road, I had a conversation with the Dread Pirate Roberts – a very personal conversation where he was [talking] about how one day he hopes to be on the outside struggling for freedom together. You know, not having to hide his identity. One year [or] two years later when I messaged the guy — I’m pretty certain it was not the same guy. The tone was completely different. He had no recollection of the events that happened before, and his attitude to me was in stark contrast to the exuberant and wordy Dread Pirate Roberts of the early days. So, free Ross Ulbricht.”

http://varietyjones.com

Not sure what's going on, but anyone familiar with Atlantis market? It shutdown a few weeks before Silk Road was seized. Anyways, interesting connection between Variety Jones and Atlantis.

That particular pgp key is basically radioactive. Had Ross' trial gone differently (with those corrupt agents a part of it), maybe, someone would sign. Life in prison without the possibility of parole? This whole case is messed up...

That phone number is part of pop culture. Mike Jones... a rapper who used to include his number in songs and whatnot. That address is fake as well. 330 1st Avenue ... 330 1... 3301. Probably poking fun at Cicada 3301?

That phone number is part of pop culture. Mike Jones... a rapper who used to include his number in songs and whatnot. That address is fake as well. 330 1st Avenue ... 330 1... 3301. Probably poking fun at Cicada 3301?

Through a source, Motherboard has gained access to emails sent and received by one of those characters, who is perhaps best known by the pseudonym Variety Jones. This reporter has seen first hand the contents of this email account, and verified that it is legitimate.
...
The information in these emails led to two names: Mike Wattier and Thomas Clark.

Variety Jones

Variety Jones joined Silk Road in 2011, according to site archives maintained by the security researcher Runa Sandvik. He was known as a vendor of marijuana seeds, and his aversion to the failed War on Drugs was clear from his postings on the site forums.

“I'm here to break the back of prohibition, to make the jack-booted thugs from the DEA roll up their tents and sneak off into the night, and to do what I can to ensure a future where 65 year old MS patients aren't shot by SWAT teams during drug raids because they suspect there was a fucking plant growing in the back room,” he wrote.

But in private conversations with Ulbricht, he acted as a penetration tester, financial advisor, and, in the site creator's own words, a “mentor.” Variety Jones even suggested the now infamous moniker Dread Pirate Roberts, often shortened to DPR, which Ulbricht adopted.

Variety Jones was also the one who suggested Ulbricht’s first attempted murder-for-hire, which targeted an employee (although, it's important to note, didn't actually result in anybody being killed).

“[He] was the biggest and strongest willed character I had met through the site thus far,” Ulbricht wrote in a 2011 journal entry.

Documents released during Ross Ulbricht's trial highlighted how the Silk Road mastermind (pictured) relied heavily on the assistance of Variety Jones. Photo: AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams

Earlier this year, an independent researcher known as “La Moustache” published an extensive investigation into the history of Variety Jones, tracing digital footprints of the character back to pre-Silk Road cannabis forums.

Based on that research, Motherboard contacted several people who may have known Variety Jones in real life.

One of those contacted provided an email address for the individual suspected of being behind the Variety Jones alias, which, through a search of public online records, led to a website owned by the same person. Linked to this website was another email address, which included the name “varietyjones....”

Marcus McNeill ‏@MarcusMcNeill73 5. Mai 2012

Ima forever be a #Charger beeeliiieeve that!!
14 Retweets 6 Favoriten

Smed worked closely with DPR, and communicated with the site leader more than anyone else, under what evidence suggests is one of his pseudonyms, “Charger”, according to TorChat logs released during Ulbricht’s trial.

That's pretty good journalism, but they're just journalists and really shouldn't be hacking into someone's emails? But if I'm honest I'm glad all that info has been published publicly so VJ has a chance to gtfo of Koh Chang before the feds turn up! I mean the evidence is pretty damning. Unless of course he is an informant ;)

I've been to Koh Chang 3 times, I love the fact I could have been chilling with the legend that is Variety Jones... Good luck Mr. Clarke!

Well, they said "Through a source ...". So, they didn't hack.

Elephant Jungle Trekking in Thailand ... ROSITA'S ELEPHANT RIDE @ KOH CHANG THAILAND - Duration: ... by Thomas Clark 4,962 views.

see:https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22Joel+Oleson%22%2B%22Thomas+Clark%22&t=ffsb

If you look at the yahoo cache of Joel's vid page a Thomas Clark video is listed in the sidebar( https://www.youtube.com/user/JungleMasterUSA/videos (Thomas Clark)).

That's probably why duck duck go was hitting your search. Youtube was linking "Jungle Trekking" (Elephant Jungle Trekking in Thailand) with Thomas Clark... this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwM9Ygs9QeA. If you search for "Jungle trekking"+"Thomas Clark" you get more non-related links from youtube linking to thejunglemaster.

Just look at the page views for the respective videos. Family man has upper 5322 views, and junglemaster has 4993 (*had*  4,962). See the ... in Duration: ... by Thomas Clark 4,962? It means Thomas Clark(junglemaster (another innocent bystander)) had a video in the side bar cached with those results. You idiot.
http://junglemaster.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TheJungleMaster

Looks like a missionary based out of the Amazon. Pretty sure it's a miss.

Don't you think this slack-jawed lynch mob hair-trigger finger pointing mentality is kind of unseemly, and *slightly* unfair on said guys above? I mean, the guy you're fingering has kids and all and doesn't at all fit the profile and the other dude, who threw your result, is a frikken missionary!!!

http://www.myplanetganja.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=11022

He's back

So I've got this trip planned, to the Big Apple. Golly gee and shucks, I shure am looking forward to seeing the big city 'n stuff. I'm not sure exactly where I'm gonna be staying when I get there, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be one of them 'state of the art' facilities, if you know what I mean.

I really never thought it possible that I would be in a position to have to say that no, I didn't architect anything, I was too busy being in Wandsworth fucking prison. Life, she deals you some strange curves sometimes, don't she.

This one time, I accidentally built a large, high-tech, totally bitchin' modified atmosphere, high lumens cannabis grow operation above Choy's Chinese Food restaurant in Surbiton, Surrey, Merry Olde England.

Now, while I was building it, I also needed to decide what to grow in it. Having access to literally millions of seeds representing over 3,000 strains of ganja in my seed fridges, it was indeed a dilemma.

Speaking of misconceptions, a few folks seem to think I have something to do with varietyjones.com. Nope, now that's just someone fucking about for the sheer joy of fucking about, I'm thinking. I looked at it once about a week ago when I found out about it, and yeah, it made me giggle. Someones got panache, eh.

He will never be back.I hope he writes an autobiography to enlighten what has happened.

What I know is, he is a Swiss guy.

Joined 6 years, 3 months, 4 weeks, 1 day, and 8 hours ago.

Postby Jesús Malverde » Tue Sep 22, 2015 4:07 am
I think your ire is perhaps a little misplaced PoM, I'm not the one calling out Thomas Clark as definitively being VJ at Silk Road. Vice/Motherboard, a pretty high profile journalism site you may have heard of *is*, based on apparently hacked email and airline accounts they believe to be authentic. Here's the link to the article as it appears you may have missed it: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/these- ... -silk-road If you've been wrongly identified by the journalists, I sincerely apologize for believing in this presumably wrong identification and being rash enough to say aloud what everyone watching the drama unfold was/is probably thinking. I'm not the one you should worry about trying to make this about you and Silk Road--that's happening in the mainstream press right now. I'd think your real beef would be with the journos who hacked those accounts, misread what they contained and wrongly put you in UK seed seller and computer security whiz VJ's shoes at Silk Road and--even far, far more so--with the VJ account holder himself who very deliberately and pretty convincingly impersonated, implicated, and dragged you into the whole Silk Road drama and splashed his mud all over your good name. That VJ account holder at SR is at the bottom the only reason your name was ever associated with Silk Road in the first place. Minus that, nobody would connect you with SR. Whomever ran that VJ account at Silk Road should probably be the focus of your undivided attention. Although I would be careful as he may also be Satan part-time. Besides as server logs would undoubtedly prove, nobody reads MPG here; a whole lot of people read Vice.

I still believe whomever was behind the Silk Road VJ account is LE, whether DEA or another alphabet soup agency. I'm again deeply sorry if his frame job fooled me (and about everyone else), I rashly reacted like an asshole, and you had nothing to do with it. If you and your story has nothing to do with Silk Road, I think you'll find the world will be pretty much uninterested in that story. That's really the whole hook that piqued people's interest as obviously it was front page news

As a matter of fact I do not believe VJ will turn and post at any forum at any time with VJ nick and/or any nich to be ralated with VJ.He has gone, retired with a huge amount of money.

There are many people around to have skills and willing to claim to VJ.VJ is a legend.Although I believe he has been over rated and exagerated he is one of the most well known charachters in BTC community.

If I had a chance to overtake his accounts, would I do?No.To overtake his accounts means to over take all the charges and sentences.If someone needns to attract the attention on himself he may claim to be VJ.

VJ has a style, the way he uses his English, sentence formation etc must be studied.The timing of his posts may show you the location/city he had lived.

Well, I am not going to detect his real identity, still I would like to know the details of his story.

The way I read it is that the LEOs have control of the account, posting in such manner to hopefully nail somebodies.

https://momsieblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/staysafeoutthere.jpg

Plural of Mongoose wrote:

Oh hey, I'm having a grand old time, and could live like this, well, forever. Unfortunately, there are other people involved; innocent people who could get hurt or worse if somebody doesn't stop it. I can't in good conscience stand by and see that happen, and the only way I can see to stop it is to walk up to the front doors and speak truth to power. Unfortunately, they'll slap me in irons for my efforts. :frown:

I am, however, the master of my own destiny. I'm only at this point because of decisions I've made, and I'll have to live with the consequences of those decisions. Eventually, we all do.

Just glad I've got a little forum here to share my plans with some friends, before I make the leap.

http://www.myplanetganja.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=11022&start=120#p144158

also

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/variety-jones-a-corrupt-fbi-agent-is-hunting-me-so-im-turning-myself-in

TLDR: A corrupt FBI agent wants the keys to a stolen encrypted bitcoin wallet from SR and is threatening to kidnap/torture/kill people who could help him get it.

Well, I hope, that this story will have some kind of happy ending...

Jesus fucking Christ PoM......

Well... someone needs to make the mother and sister aware for their safety ASAP.

Nothing worse than fucking dealing with a Federally trained agent with a nasty agenda... not fun.

I would strongly advise people not to fuck with or contact "Diamond".


I don't think there is any way of a happy ending at this point.

When nobodys gets hurt it may already is. When PoM's story is true, there is also a lower sentence for Ross possible, which I would call a real happy ending.

Not to be contrary, but I always imagined VJ as a LEO. He seemed way too pushy about murdering people. IDK

I am not intimately familiar with all of the details regarding Variety Jones, so those who have been looking into him for longer may feel these may be stupid questions.

Is the PGP key that "Plural of Mongoose" from myPlanetGanga is signing from in some way associated with VJ?

Is "Plural of Mongoose" somehow associated with VJ? (I assume that it is somewhat known/assumed they are one in the same)

---

This one is more for speculation: Where exactly did this 300,000BTC come from? It is my understanding that there was a spreadsheet found on Ross's computer with a rough accounting of SR1's profit/losses that roughly matched the amount of BTC seized from the SR1 servers and Ross's laptop.

This 300,000BTC claimed amount is roughly 10x larger then the sum of the amounts seized from SR1, and it is not easy to hide that much BTC that is associated with a DNM, so if these coins are somehow associated with SR1 then I would have thought that someone would have said something about them by now.

Sure it is possible that these would be Ross's personal BTC, however this would open up an even larger can of worms. The low price going back to July 2010 was $0.06, and 300,000BTC would be worth roughly $18,000 at that price, however it was reported that Ross invested ~$25,000 to start Silk Road, and I really can't see him investing that much in bitcoin compared to how much he invested in starting Silk Road.

Also the post bubble 2013 low price was roughly $76, which would value the 300kBTC at roughly $22.8 million. I understand that Ross was running SR1 because of his libertarian political views, but he was also running it as a for profit enterprise, which would make little sense to me if he had a separate stash of 300kBTC somewhere - although given sufficient amounts of time, SR1 would likely have been profitable in the long run, however IIRC it was roughly $2,000,000 in the red as of when Ross was arrested because of losses and extortion payments.

I am not saying what was written is untrue, however the 300,000BTC claimed encrypted wallet creates more questions then that guy's post answers.....

Hmmm, it is possible that the 300,000 BTC is from the sale of SR1 although I am not sure I believe that it was sold. It was also no secret that SR was the target of law enforcement, so I think it would be a very bad idea to be within "a mile" of running SR after selling it, or really even be in any kind of communication with the new owner.

Another inconsistency in POM/VJ's story is that he most likely gave more then enough information for him to get DOX'ed but he had claimed that his identity would not be revealed in the beginning of the story. Also I find it strange that diamond/-cwt was able to so easily DOX VJ despite so little information being available about him, and the lack of any trace of his RL identity.

My speculation is that the story is meant to be something that might be able to generate "reasonable doubt" in Ross's case.

Hmmm, it is possible that the 300,000 BTC is from the sale of SR1 although I am not sure I believe that it was sold. It was also no secret that SR was the target of law enforcement, so I think it would be a very bad idea to be within "a mile" of running SR after selling it, or really even be in any kind of communication with the new owner.

Another inconsistency in POM/VJ's story is that he most likely gave more then enough information for him to get DOX'ed but he had claimed that his identity would not be revealed in the beginning of the story. Also I find it strange that diamond/-cwt was able to so easily DOX VJ despite so little information being available about him, and the lack of any trace of his RL identity.

My speculation is that the story is meant to be something that might be able to generate "reasonable doubt" in Ross's case.

Or, it could be that VJ is Diamond who has somehow managed to steal the wallet before the SR shutdown, and is now trying to get the password from Ross.

The fact, that VJ is PoM is Thomas Clark, was known, even long before LaMoustache's research or Motherboards super duper doxxing. His affinity for Thailand was also no secret and if somebody really wanted to find him, it was possible with some deeper investigation.

Or, it could be that VJ is Diamond who has somehow managed to steal the wallet before the SR shutdown, and is now trying to get the password from Ross.

Hmmm, it is possible that the 300,000 BTC is from the sale of SR1 although I am not sure I believe that it was sold. It was also no secret that SR was the target of law enforcement, so I think it would be a very bad idea to be within "a mile" of running SR after selling it, or really even be in any kind of communication with the new owner.

Another inconsistency in POM/VJ's story is that he most likely gave more then enough information for him to get DOX'ed but he had claimed that his identity would not be revealed in the beginning of the story. Also I find it strange that diamond/-cwt was able to so easily DOX VJ despite so little information being available about him, and the lack of any trace of his RL identity.

My speculation is that the story is meant to be something that might be able to generate "reasonable doubt" in Ross's case.

SherlockHolmes
   
Re: Who is "Variety Jones"?
March 02, 2015, 05:46:13 PM
   
First mention of Variety Jones was by PoM in the Overgrow stories.  There are people in the UK weed scene who know who he is.

... his mother already stated in different interviews .. that there is no hidden wallet , and no hidden BTC out there , at least not something she is aware of .

"Also I find it strange that diamond/-cwt was able to so easily DOX VJ despite so little information being available about him, and the lack of any trace of his RL identity. "

Your words. Not anyone else's. It's interesting though. Assuming Charger and PoM shared accounts (they did), it follows they shared passwords. There are whisperings around the camp-fire that charger/shebang (Wattier) is in prison. It would then make sense that anyone with federal ballbag inclinations might have easy access to said shared password. It would then follow and fit that if said fantasy is true, then Motherboard has been gypped by a fed. It may also be true that VJ himself is a rogue asset and his story is actually just a carrier for some kind of threat/subtext/whatnot (put on another layer of tinfoil).

Otherwise this entire motherboard thing was a big coincidence, and possibly a catalyst for VJ's catalytic revelations. Hmmf.

But the fact still stands. Why is R T Clark still home and free... OR IS HE? (Aaand I've run out of tinfoil).

Another mystery is varietyjones.com et.al. Someone is clearly trying to frame Atlantis on PoM. In those incriminating photos the power-plugs are American. Shortly after noticing this (it was the big pic of the desk+window) I went to re-check and found that picture had been cropped -- or I've just forgotten the directory the original picture is in (apparently weed affects your short term memory). Either way (I believe) those pictures are not PoM's truly. So it is possible varietyjones.com is being run by Diamond as a honeypot (say cheese!). PoM mentioned Atlantis folks being blackmailed by Diamond. So it is possible these photos are part of that blackmail package and are being used as mud/disinformation.

I find it very fucking fishy that VJ has very little to say about the website (and I want to believe (Fuck the FBI)). He holds that it is the work of some kind of merry prankster. I guess it sounds stupid, but it also seems too big to ignore. Either the person who made the site knew motherboard was going to open the can, and thought it would help the mud campaign, or, for some fucking dumb reason VJ shat on his own front doorstep, and when discovered, slowly backed away and pointed at Diamond. I don't know what to believe *sobs, and crawls up into a ball* *wails*

How was he able to board a flight two days before SR went down, and 'three' times after that? Why are the authorities stumped into silence? I get the feeling this all came out in the open, not through a threat to Rosses old folks, but from a threat to VJ. I hope I am wrong, and that this Diamond character gets ousted, and that VJ gets a deal.... Just getting the vague, sick feeling.

One thing is certain. In all of these very half-baked scenarios the FBI consistently comes across as a conga-line of unprincipled, backstabbing, politically warped, slightly evolved chimpanzee's from hell. Also: stop extorting people (*whispers* it gives them a genuine reason to fucking exist). There. Everything is fixed and you can all go home now.

First mentioning of the connection VJ-PoM was made in this thread on March 2 2015:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=935434.msg10632762#msg10632762


A lot of people knew about his court appearance against Gypsy Nirvana which lead to the dox of PoM beeing Thomas Clark, back when it happened, so it was pretty easy for an official to find him simply by searching for his real name in passengers lists etc.
As we know, the FBI had access to the NSA bulk database, so if this Mr. Diamond really exists, he would have an easy job to find out whatever he wants about almost everybody in this panopticum called planet earth.

This complete story is as shady as 5 guys smoking pot in a closed car. I can't wait for somebody open that doors ....

Do you think PoM *really* was incarcerated as he claims to have been, and do you believe that Thomas Clark is his *real* identity?

I personally find it hard to believe that VJ would be able to advise Ross while inside prison, although I really have zero expertise in the being in jail/prison field so I really cannot say this with a lot of authority. 

I am 99% sure, that PoM is Thomas Clark.
Now, it is still unclear, if his door/jail story is true or if this Diamond really exists. We also don't know if PoM really was VJ over the whole time. It is possible, that somebody else took over the VJ moniker. It is possible, that the chatlogs, that were found on Ross' computer, were tampered in a way to prepare his life sentence.

The first thing, that brought up the connection between VJ and PoM was in the chatlogs, where VJ made that PoM statement. This could have been an error of VJ (because he assumed, that Ross will not save his chatlogs), or the intention to put a false trail (maybe someone who knew PoM from back in the days"). After Motherboard was able to read VJ's emails it seems to be clear, that PoM was Variety Jones, at least at one point in time. Dunno if this could be part of that fake trail or how reliable these emails are. I didn't read them.

Fact is. that PoM is (at least) letting everybody think, that he was Variety Jones at one point, but at the same time he states, that he was not the "SR architect" that Motherboard called him. Wouldn't it be pretty idiotic to admit beeing the No. 2 of SR if you had nothing to do with it?

Another fact is, that Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life for crimes, that doesn't justify this punishment.

If I put this Diamond character into the story, then there are a lot of things, that start making sense to me. This means, if PoM has made up the story, he made it well researched, entertaining and credible (up to a certain point). I would still not understand the reason, why he would be putting himself in the spotlight of the authorities, esp. when facing a life sentence - just for a good story? GTFOH...

Secondly - You make it sound like these 300k Bitcoin are on a single wallet, protected by a single passphrase. When I go to the Bitcoin Top 100 Rich List, the largest wallets are in the 150k BTC range, and both of which have sent transactions out after Ross was arrested in Oct of last year, so even if these 2 top wallets were his, someone still has access and hasn't wiped them, which seem's unlikely. I suppose it could be 4.3 wallets worth 70k BTC each that are directly underneath the top 2 lists, as these address haven't transacted for a long while, but that just didn't match up with what was said. Now, I don't know if the Bitcoin Top 100 List includes all bitcoin addresses, but I'd imagine it does, as that would be the whole point. Can you shed some light on this?

Has anyone posted "The Claw" video yet...?

The claw video is the gypsy nirvana video.

----

I feel I should explain about cicada. The thing that first twigged it for me (that this could be a bait trail) was the CE5 reference. The varietyjones images *seem* like they could be a secret cache, but this CE5 thing...

Unbeknownst to us, there is a horde of semi-autistic code crackers following an online crypto game called cicada 3301. What does 3301 mean? That's part of the puzzle. (hex)CE5=3301(dec). I only stumbled on this when the yahoo search engine helpfully suggested 3301 when I was searching for CE5 (google didn't give me squat, although I was probably typing it in backwards like a prat. ). I then found the CE5 reddit account which blatantly was giving 3301 style clues (cicada mixes crypto with high art).

When cicada began, people were confused as to who was running it. Due to the high art references it seemed odd for the run-of-mill DOD sponsored hacking challenges (see:defcon,hackaday,zebulun et. al.).

Turns out cicada was run by a bunch of lefties, and I think this is what contributed to it's loss of popularity. That and ironically enough, players laying false trails to gain an advantage.

These challenges attract high functioning types that are ideologically/ethically pretty clueless -- not dumb -- just more into the fantasy than the consequences side of things (and we all fall victim to that... oh dear). Funnily enough the winners of the first cicada were pretty miffed when they found no job offers from the NSA. I'm guessing Julian Assange, or whoever set it up didn't take that into account -- although he of all people should known; having grown up in mathematics/engineering academia. Most engineers have a mechanical view of the world more suited to fundamentalism and making things fit into systems. The CIA wrote a paper actually pointing this fact out regarding the mystery as to why so many terrorists were also engineers.

Aaanyway, tl;dr: if you want someone who is in to following trails, to find your imigur account, you name it CE5. This trail was set over a year ago.

from CE5 reddit:
"[–]rolleicord 0 points 1 year ago

What's up with all the Cicada 3301 references ? I see no immediate reasons why the two should be linked together ?

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[–][deleted] 1 year ago

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[–]rolleicord 1 point 1 year ago

need more to bite...
"

I saw no bites on the CE5 imigur account, but I've not read all the comments. I wouldn't be surprised.

There is an entire section in the 3301 wiki I posted about false trails. I didn't find this one listed. Also didn't find it in the legit trails, so I'm guessing a new entry needs to be made.

interesting article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/25/most_of_dprs_treasure_still_buried_say_researchers/

only registered to post, as i haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else yet.
https://i.imgur.com/2L2649M.png
taken from comment section of "Gypsy Nirvana Fap Tape - part 2"
likely 5 year old meaningless speculation, but a nice reminder that this could literally all be one old dude talking to himself.

meta name="generator" content="Sogma.com"

By this point, you’ve likely heard of a smart little site called Society6–it has practically exploded in popularity. The company was founded in 2009 by three artists, Justin Cooper, Lucas Tirigall-Caste and Justin Wills to provide an affordable avenue for artists to sell their art (on everything from duvet covers, tees, coffee mugs and rugs) without giving up control of their rights. The result is a community of artists right at your fingertips; Society6 does all the printing, shipping and customer service on the artists’ behalf which means a lower cost for you. It is an inexpensive way to decorate yourself and home (‘Join’ the site for regular deals) and it has made its way into my own home on a couple of occasions. Check out my walls (dog not included).

http://rimbit.com/blogs/bitcoin-and-altcoin/394-silk-road-the-drama-continues-as-roger-clark-is-arrested-in-koh-chang#.VmG5MdG5vKA.reddit

WOW

When was he arrested?

Steps are now being taken to make this issue very public and also to begin funding campaigns to assist Mr Clark in the massive legal costs that are to follow.

For more information, please contact perk@rimbit.com and state who you are and we will make available the other 4 pages of the extradition request.

Why Satoshi Nakamoto is not an option? Satoshi Nakamoto is always an option.

I think it's Bruce Willis tho.

This is a warrant for extradition. I'm not sure he has been arrested yet.

But he sure expects to be:

US v. Roger Thomas Clark Complaint (http://www.scribd.com/doc/292196413/US-v-Roger-Thomas-Clark-Complaint)

I was surprised to see that VJ gave DPR his ID/Dox considering how security minded he is. 

I really am not, considering that he essentially doxed himself to DPR for the purpose of obtaining trust ("A google search of plural of mongoose yadadadada"-Cimon), I wouldn't even be surprised if VJ was the one who suggested the policy anyways.

VJ left an identity trail all over the Internet because if it is one thing he has, it is a huge ego he has to constantly feed. And he isn't exactly as bright as he believes he is.

VJ posts long stories on various forums that are full of complete shit. It is obvious there is no 300,000 bitcoins and there was no FBI agent who wanted to kill him or kidnap anyone else. Many random people seem to half-believe whatever he posts because they "want to believe".

Well it was pretty clear that he knew how illegal what he was doing was, and it was clear that he knew how big of a target that SR was to law enforcement and politicians (who would put pressure on law enforcement). As a result of both of these, he should have known to keep his identity secret.

I also don't see how giving his real dox would get Ross to trust him (just look at how many newbie scammers there are in the lending section and offering ID as collateral will get exactly nothing). Plus I imagine it would not be difficult to create a dox of a fake person, even with ID.

I would imagine that VJ probably did come up with the policy to get the moderators' doxes, however I think he would have said that it should "apply to everyone but me".

Cimon: You know - I post up, and give you shitloads of info that could if you tried just a bit (fuck, Plural of Mongoose alone should do it!) that you could determine exactly who I am. I did that to make you feel comfortable.

And finally, if there's anyone at the DOJ who's not corrupt, isn't secretly involved in a DNM, or isn't too politically timid to deal with a hot potato, drop me a note. My email is zybose@safe-mail.net. I'd like to surrender. Again.

Joined 6 years, 3 months, 4 weeks, 1 day, and 8 hours ago.

Postby Plural of Mongoose » Sun Sep 27, 2015 1:42 pm

    "I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the truth about them."

    -- Adlai Stevenson



OK then.

I've had some fun re-telling some adventures from years ago, but I'm afraid that part of this has come to a close. Maybe I'll come back later and finish them, if I have time before I'm incarcerated.

Now it's time to explain what's been going on for the last two years, which hopefully will answer some of the questions that you may have.

Unlike the previous posts here, I'm not going to go out of my way to be witty, funny or entertaining. There will be no poetic license, no facts shaded by presentation because it reads better. OK, mebbe I'll be just a little bit witty, sometimes I can't help myself.

Just the facts, Jack.


    TLDR; Right up front here, so you know if you want to keep reading, or not.

    This is the story of what I've been doing the last two years. The story of $75,000,000 of pirates treasure in bitcoins. The story of a rogue, highly placed member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who has been making better than an average of a $1,000,000 a month, committing felonies with wild abandon, just because he can. The story of a bent Federale who has leaked me secret grand jury information in an effort to keep me *out* of the hands of his colleagues. The story of an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York who, in spite of being made aware of much of this, has chosen to do nothing, likely so as to not embarrass his office and politically minded boss. That hasn't even got me started on the kidnapping and torture plot. Don't worry, I'll get to it, but it's nasty.

    *Spoiler alert: There are no innocent people named in this tale, myself included. Maybe a life lesson or two, maybe not.



So, let's wind our calenders back a couple of years to the beginning of October, 2013. I was on a long haul flight on Air China, on my way to, of all places, China. After a brief stop there rushing through the hellhole that is Taipei Airport, I then flew, also on Air China, to Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, arriving tired as shit in the early in the morning of October 4, local time, after way too many hours in airports and flying. There is no wifi/Internet on Air China, even in business class, so I had no idea what was going on in the outside world, so to speak, for the last couple of days.

Upon arrival, I took a cab to my hotel, and was relaxing in my suite watching the television, when the news of the fall of the Silk Road website came on. Well, golly. You could have knocked me down with a feather. I unpacked my things, took a shower to wash the airline off, and took a well deserved nap. Waking in the late afternoon, I went out to hop bars along the soi at Pat Pong II and get stinking drunk. Not because of the news, mind you; that's what I always did when I got to BKK—got stinking drunk. You'll find that a common theme over the next year. I'm nothing, if not a creature of habit.

Now this is the part where everyone wants to know how I went on the run, etcetera. How did I manage to evade what everyone assumes was the closing grasp and wrath of the United States Department of Justice.

Well, I went back to the hotel, got some sleep, and went out and did the same thing again the next day. And the next. Yes, this is how I apparently 'go on the run'. Pitiful, I know.

I had long since had a flight booked to take me to Phuket for a visit, and then Samui for a month or so. Eventually I flew back through BKK to Trat, and after the usual harrowing songthaew ride to the ferry, ended up on the island that had been my home for close to a year and a half.

I continued to live on the same place on the beach as I had since I had arrived in Thailand. Over the next six months (Just rippin' through my passport real quick like here and checking visas and stamps and dates.) I left the country three or four times, by both air and land border crossings; each time returning to my same little place on the beach. Ah, this is life on the run. If anyone truly wanted to find me, it would have taken about 90 minutes.

In April, Songkran, the Thai New Year was coming up. I'd also recalled from the previous year, that also meant five months of waves up to my front door, no beach, and having everything I owned being wet for five months. My love affair with beachfront living was over. I moved inland, to a nice place in the jungle. No waves. Goddammit, those cicada's are loud, though.

If you dropped onto the island and hit any of, oh, say, all the bars, it would have taken about two bars to find someone that knew me, who I was and where I lived. I mention this because at some point in time I'm going to be accused of being a fugitive, on the run, furtively trying to hide my location and identity.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

And then a funny thing happened, way up in the jungle with shitty cellular reception, and as a result even shittier Internet access.

A new contact popped up on my chat.

It was a person whom I would eventually refer to as 'A highly placed FBI *tergiversator' in an email to Mr. Serrin Turner, Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. For now, showing a complete lack of imagination, I labeled the contact 'Bob'.

*I often get shit for using a big word, when a more diminutive one would suffice. However in this case, to badly paraphrase Humpty Dumpty; when I use a word, it means exactly what it is defined to mean, neither more nor less. A tergiversator is someone who turns renegade; who uses evasions, subterfuge and the trust of those around him to betray the cause to which he was sworn. Yep, cannot think of a word that better describes the individual known to me as 'Bob'.

Now I didn't have a name for this contact, but as we had various conversations the subject of vanity names for hidden services came up. He liked the name 'Chrysippus', as in Chrysippus of Soli, a Greek Stoic philosopher. Hey, I'm named after a Viverridae, who am I to throw stones. He must have either hired someone or put some hardware to work, because eventually he dropped his old random 16 alphanumeric torchat id, and started to use ZenChrysippus47e. The name was *very* important to him, and he'd get pissed when I wouldn't use it, and continued to just call him Bob, until he finally got so pissed of I relented and started to refer to him as Chrysippus. Dude had issues, and the name was *real* important to him.

Over time, it came out that he was a highly placed member of the FBI.

Yeah, I know, he said it on the Internet, so it must be true, right? It wasn't like that at all. Without going through the whole process, let's just say he more than convinced me. As we go along here, you'll be convinced too, so suspend your disbelief for a while, and read on.

It started out with things like Atlantis. He had, for a princely sum, kept the management of Atlantis updated with documents that eventually led to them shutting the site down, fearing the feds nipping at their heels. Now, there's been rumors about that for a long time, and anyone could claim that after the fact, sure. But this was just the beginning of him laying out his bonafides, and eventually he'd get around to telling me about things before they happened.

But the thing is, he had a btc wallet. A btc wallet with well over 300,000 btc in it, worth about $75,000,000 at current pricing. This wallet was unfortunately encrypted, which is why he was spending all this time wooing me. How it exactly came into his possession was never made clear, just that it came from 'Silk Road'. Whether it was from a laptop or memory stick, the server that was imaged originally, or any of the dozens of tertiary servers that the site made use of, was never clear. What was made clear that nobody else knew that it existed, 'cept of course for me now. And DPR, of course, whose treasure it was he had looted. Wasn't there a record of where he had taken it from? Nope, he was a pro, and covered his tracks.

Let me say here, Chrysippus is wicked fucking smart. A fucking computer genius, a razor sharp mind, and an unbelievable eye for detail and minutiae. I hadn't heard anything about an encrypted wallet with 300k in it, and it was starting to seem plausible that he had in fact managed to gain possession of it without leaving any trace of its existence.

And Chrysippus had a plan; a long-term, well thought out plan, to get access to what was in his mind now his $75,000,000. Did I mention he was patient as all get out too?

The odds were, he and others involved in the investigation and prosecution of Ross Ulbricht figured, that he was going to be sentenced to between forty years and life. Nobody thought it would possibly be any less than that. And as I said, Chrysippus is nothing if not patient. His plan, while long term, was also pretty darned simple.

He was going to patiently wait for Ross to be convicted, and after he was convicted, he would eventually be transferred to a permanent home in a federal prison. Once there, it takes a while to go through intake, move to a temporary wing while being assessed, and it could take six months or more at the prison before he would be placed in what would become his 'permanent' home.

Once Ross was permanently housed, Chrysippus was going to work on getting people inside the facility, convicts and employees alike, to arrange it so he could communicate with Ross. (This isn't near as hard as it sounds. When I was in Max Security Wandsworth Prison at the pleasure of the Queen, one of my celly's had a brand new iPhone 4, and 'cause I was teaching him to grow, I got to make use of it on a regular basis.)

Now, this is where I come in. He figured, for whatever far-flung reason, that I could convince Ross to cough up the pass-phrase he needed. He also had a second theory, and that was that Ross only had 1/2 the pass-phrase, and I had the other 1/2. Either way, I am critical to his plan.

Timeline-wise, we're at about this time last year, mid-September 2014. He wants me to move to Singapore, where he can set up a safe house and know that I'm clear of the clutches of the DOJ.

I tell him he's on fucking crack, I'm not going anywhere under his control.

The guy is getting pissed at me for not toeing the line he's laying out. It's mostly entertainment for me. I have no interest in the millions he's offering me to assist in his plan, and it's also pretty obvious to me that if I did help, he wouldn't need me around after it's completion.

He continues to build up his bonafides for me.

He claims that his machinations have kept anyone from finding me so far. Now, he doesn't know where I am, but that's not because I'm hard to find. It's like him saying he's got a rock that protects me from lions—-I don't see any lions around, do you-—and taking credit for my lion-free existence. Plus, I like lions.

So he feeds me other tidbits, some minor that pan out right away, others major that don't come out for months and months.

In late October, this was before Halloween (I know this because I racked my motorbike into a tree on Halloween, so that date sticks in my mind.), he drops a couple of bombshells on me. First one, nob is a fed. That's no fucking surprise, what's the point. Chrysippus then details for me the antics of United States Drug Enforcement Agency agent Carl Mark Force IV and United States Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges, and the current state of the grand jury investigation into them. OK, I was a little bit gob-smacked. He gave me lots of details, and I gotta say I was impressed. This was one of those things, that when it became public, would pretty much seal Chrysippus as a source of accurate information not available to many, and his claims of being highly placed in the FBI would deserve serious merit.

He also stresses how stupid they were to do anything but just fucking hold onto their ill gotten gains. He proudly informed me that he had earnings of over 4 million dollars from his extra-curricular activities in the last few months alone. *His* long term plans consisted of hoarding his ill-gotten gains. When he had a few hundred million--that was his goal--he'd quietly retire to a tax friendly jurisdiction, and live the life he deserved. Meanwhile, there were so many opportunities for him.

You see, our friend Chrysippus fancied himself something of an Omar Little character, stealing and extorting from those that couldn't turn to the authorities. He was working on either worming or hacking his way into all the major markets. He was running his own little private operations on major DNM dealers, and in general cleaning up, in this, his new wild west.

His credibility lagged for quite a while, as the news of Force and Bridges failed to break. (I don't know for sure, but from what I gather Dratel wasn't even made aware of the grand jury investigation until November, well after I had got the news.) When the Ulbircht court case came along and still nothing, I teased him unmercifully. He was fucking livid, and it showed through in his messages to me.

Now, understand that we weren't chatting in real time, for the most part. I run a modified program that is compatible with torchat. (It doesn't however, log. It's also not Ricochet, I said compatible with torchat, eh.) We'd both leave our chat clients running pretty much 24/7, allowing for bad cellular service, thunder storms, coups, drunks hitting the main power lines for the island, etcetera. So often I'd log on to my computer to receive a [delayed] message or three from him. And sometimes they were rants, assuring me that fucking Force and fucking Bridges were going to be arrested any fucking day, I'd see. Other times, they were bits of information that I could follow up on over the next few weeks, to see he in fact *did* have information that only someone in his position could have.

And one day, he did something weird. I mean weird, even for him. He signed off one one of his rants with:
--cwt

Just like that. Normally, it was Chrysippus, or nothing.

So I waited until we were chatting one time in real time, and sprung that one him. What was with the --cwt? Now, you can tell when someone is flustered, even in text. The cadence of the responses changes, they pontificate on off-topic themes while they think, or try to move the conversation to another topic. I kept bringing it back around.

Finally, he says that it stands for Carat, as in the unit for measuring the weight of diamonds. His code name, is in fact, he tells me, Diamond. From that day on, he used Diamond, dropping the Chrysippus he was so proud of, completely. (He retained the ZenChrysippus47e torchat addy, even to this day.) So there we have it, case solved. I don't think so, hmm.

Chrysippus
--cwt
Diamond

When he is finally uncovered, and dammit I was close for a while there, I'm sure that at least two, and possibly all three, of those tag lines are going to become crystal clear. We'll see.

Many months later, when the Force and Bridges fiasco finally broke, he was fucking ecstatic. See, did I see now, did I? He was insufferably smug. He kept wanting me to follow this link, or that link, or read this article. Now, it may surprise you to know that I had zero interest in following all the DNM crap that's been going on the last two years. Finally I relented and allowed him to send me a few snippets of articles and court filings and whatnot, that confirmed the details of what he had been telling me. Later I did a bit of digging around on my own, and discovered that for all his hubris, Diamond had managed to leave out one of Forces major fuck-ups.

One day, using a fucking work computer, I believe, Force sent a message to Dread Pirate Roberts, and signed off on it...

Carl

Little bells went off in my head. I could see Diamond, as Chrysippus, doing the exact same thing when he was all excited and pissed off I wasn't taking him seriously. No doubt in my mind now. Chrysippus was going to figure in who Diamond was, and so will --cwt. Diamond, I think, was just a quick response the situation, and he insisted on using it exclusively now. Food for thought, for sure.

Now, over the next six months, past the trial and into March 2015, Diamond kept insisting that it was him keeping me safe. He also started to get nastier and nastier, because I refused to cooperate in his planning to obtain the keys to the encrypted wallet. I became inured to his regular threats, but I know he was serious. If I ever fucked up and fell into the hands of the Feds, he had the reach and knew the people, and most importantly had the funds, to have me killed. If I fucked up in SE Asia, whatever country, he'd reach out and have me killed. Basically, if I didn't do exactly what he wanted, or ended up in custody of any authority, he'd have me killed.

During that time, I was in and out of Thailand a few times, with no difficulties whatsoever. In December I obtained a retirement visa, which meant I didn't have to roll over sixty day tourist visa's, which required leaving the country, going to an embassy, and taking a couple of days to get another sixty day visa. (The 'visa runs' in the news they are cracking down on in Thailand are walk over/walk back, get a 15 or 30 day stamp, kinda things, and are kinda dodgy. I obeyed the spirit and letter of the law.) In March 2015 I checked in with immigration and confirmed my address, something you have to do every 90 days on a retirement visa. No problems with the authorities, at all. Hmmm...

In March, Diamond stepped it up a notch. At the beginning of the month, he gave me 30 days to go to a location of his choosing, and stay there until his plan was complete. At that time, that meant a long time. His plan was, and still is I believe (I'll ask him as soon as I post this, and send him a link, eh.) to make his move to contact Ross between Christmas and New Years. He feels that is when Ross would be most vulnerable. He's probably right.

On March 7, Diamond was once again fucking ecstatic. He was working on ripping off all the DNMs, and was often bragging about his skills and abilities. He was in the process of making an over $6,000,000 score in btc! He'd managed to get into one of the DNMs, root the server, and sat in the bush waiting to get an IP for an admin. He'd been successful in that a few weeks earlier, and had bribed/hired some folks to find the location of said admin. He demanded six million+ dollars (lots of jabs about him being the six million dollar man. Dude has a weird ego, man.), which they didn't have sitting around, unless they raped the market for it. But he had them by the fucking short hairs, man. This was a done deal, and I'd heard it from him first. Suck that, eh.

10 days later, Evolution market was no more.

Yeah, his bonafides were racking up, and I was for the first time really worried that this fucker was going to try and force me to do his bidding, or kill me. Or, more accurately, force me to do his bidding and then kill me. Either way, not good.

I made plans to relocate to another country for the usual reasons. You know, so I didn't end up dead.

Meanwhile in March, I started hearing about four men moving about the island, asking about me. These weren't locals, they were farang; rude white men. Two Russians, and two Americans. I doubt they worked for the DOJ. Diamond was getting serious, and I was keeping my head low.

In early April Diamond informed me that there was an Interpol red notice for me, and that officials in SE Asia had been requested to detain me. He insisted I was going to be rounded up any day now, and the only safe place was with him. Coincidentally, he had a team in Thailand right now, who could help me. Oh, joy.

Now, I had a pretty darned good relationship with the figures of authority on the island, to put it mildly. It was time to dust off those relationships, and see what's going on.

I jumped on a borrowed motorcycle (Don't ask about mine, the story still pains me.), and cruised down to a bar, just down from one of the police boxes on the island. Little local stations, consisting of usually about a 200 sq. ft. building, with tables and chairs outside. Casual little places, where the locals go to interact with the local police. I wander over to the police box, and nod at a uniform I know. He wanders over, and I ask him, are you guys looking for me?

No, *we're* not, but immigration is, I think. Yeah, here's the paper. He shows it to me, and sure enough, there's a really shitty copy of one of my visa pictures on there. Well, fuck.

In the interests of community support, I invite the fine gentleman back to the bar for a drink, and maybe he could find out what the immigration police wanted? Sure, he'd love to, so off to the bar we went.

He made a phone call, and about 15 minutes later a pickup truck with a couple of immigration police showed up, they sat down and we ordered a bottle of Sangsom Thai whiskey, and a bucket of ice. This was serious conversation we were having, and called for serious drink.

Yes, they were looking for me, they even had little flyer's in Thai with my picture, and offering a reward. Did I want them to go back to the office to get one? Erm, no thanks, I've already seen one, thank you very much anyways.

We ordered another bottle of Sangsom, that first one went fast.

How much was the reward, I asked.

Twenty thousand Thai baht, I was told. If the long arm of the US DOJ was really behind this, they were going all out. $700 or so. Wow. I left a bundle of 50,000 THB on the table to cover the tab, said good-bye to the smiling officials divvying up the loot, and headed home. Yep, it was definitely time to move on. You know, before the police or immigration folks found me.

I soon informed Diamond that I'm afraid his Russian/American tag-teams had missed me, I was gone gone gone outta the country, and how was his week going?

Well, you'd think I kicked his puppy! He went fucking mental, and started going on about his backup plan. He would kidnap Ross Ulbrichts sister, or mother, or ideally both. Get a video capable phone in front of Ross Ulbricht, and he'd give up that fucking pass phrase, and Diamond would have them tortured until he did. I had his bonafides by now, and knew him well enough to know he was serious about this. Come Christmas, if I wasn't well in position exactly where he wanted me to be, I'd be responsible for the results.

So, I still had some time, but really, what the fuck could I do?

Oh, he was bragging about how he did this, and how he did that, and left me a bit to work with. I've amassed thousand of hours on, and messages from technical irc channels that may be discussing issues he'd be working on/needing to know, and well over 10,000 emails of technical lists relating to the problem at hand. Did I think I could find him and stop him? Eventually, yes, but now he was getting serious about this kidnapping thing, and it was time to bite the bullet.

In this case, biting the bullet was turning myself in, because writing an anonymous postcard wasn't going to cut it. If I was to keep him from kidnapping those two women, which he'd do if I didn't turn myself over to him, I was going to have to turn myself over to the DOJ folks, so they could take the appropriate action to protect those people, and maybe even figure out just who this sick fuck was, and stop him.

Easiest thing in the world, turning yourself in, you'd think.

You'd also be wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.


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    Received: from pc ([209.126.110.112]) by Safe-mail.net with https
    Subject: Indictment and extradition
    Date: Mon, 11 May 2015 16:20:11 -0400
    From: "Scott Hoffman" <zybose@Safe-mail.net>
    To: serrin.turner@usdoj.gov
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    Subject: Indictment and extradition
    Date: 11 May 2015 16:20
    From: "Scott Hoffman" <zybose@Safe-mail.net>
    To: serrin.turner@usdoj.gov
    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
    Hash: SHA256

    09 May 2015

    Serrin Turner
    Assistant United States Attorney
    U.S. Attorney's Office
    Southern District of New York
    1 St. Andrew's Plaza
    New York, New York 10007
    U.S.A.

    by email: serrin.turner@usdoj.gov


    Sir,

    My name is Thomas Clark.

    A highly placed FBI tergiversator who goes by the alias 'Diamond' informed me
    {redacted}

    {redacted}
    As Diamond appears to have access to FBI intelligence at a high level, please govern dissemination of this and future communications accordingly.

    {redacted}

    Sincerly,

    Mr. Clark
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Now, I know that's not exactly the most informative snippet from an email, but bear with me.

And yeah, I used the word 'tergiversator'. I'm sure Mr. Turner got one of the older children, or an adult, to help him use the dictionary to determine its meaning, so it's all good.

The contents of the email informed Mr. Turner that secret grand jury information, and the existence of a sealed indictment had been passed on to me by Diamond. I also touched on the fact that I was aware the authorities in SE Asia had been requested to detain me for extradition (That's the immigration police job in Thailand, btw.) I offered to cooperate with the service of the indictment on me, to wit, turn myself in. Releasing secret grand jury information, or even the existence of a sealed indictment is, I understand, a felony. Now revealing the existence of my *own* sealed indictment likely wouldn't be prosecutable. However, the information from that grand jury likely would be. So that's why that shit is redacted up there. Oh, and also, instructions on how to contact me, and a private PGP key so, you know, we can keep it all private and secure.

OK, then. Let's see how that goes.

<crickets>

I know it was opened and read.

<crickets>

I redoubled my efforts to track down Diamond. He was going to be going after the big markets, hell, the small markets too, as well as the major dealers. I don't have near his assets, or available personnel, so I cross the dealers, and the small markets, off my list, and concentrate on the large markets. He's going to try in get inside them. I'm going to try and get inside them first, and catch him. Oh, this is gonna be fun, eh. Now, I'm no über-hacker, or even a poor coder. I do have a good mind for how things work, and I can follow a flow chart. However, I have problems figuring out how to do a drop shadow in .css, and to me the ultimate html tag is the <blink> tag. I have a good eye for spotting weaknesses, and I'm not too shabby at social engineering. Jack of all trades, master of none.

Meanwhile, I furiously mended fences with Diamond. I wasn't taking him serious in the beginning, and even once I realized he was who he said, and he was amassing millions of dollars in ill gotten gains, it wasn't until he started obsessing on the kidnappings, that I realized I had a fucking lunatic on my hands. A lunatic highly placed in the FBI, with a massive off the books private budget, who thought that kidnapping and torture were the solution to his problems, and he starting to get a few other screws loose, as well. I do know how to pick my enemies, eh.

So towards the end of May, I convinced Diamond that I would in fact go along with his plan. I concentrated on the 'I convince Ross to give me the pass-phrase' version, but he was still going to plan the kidnappings. He wants me where I'll be 'safe', and we finally work out a compromise. I convince him that me sitting a room for six months waiting for this to go down is ridiculous. I said that in six months, at the end of November, I'd go where he wanted and we'd finish planning the operation. I also negotiated my cut from 10%, to a flat $15,000,000. The tiny fact that he agreed without much argument made it obvious that I was never going to collect, or perhaps wasn't even going to remain breathing.

I gave myself four months to see if I could uncover him. If not, I'd have to come up with something else. I spend the next four months, sixteen hours a day, trying to track that fucker down.

I also decided to take another shot at Mr. Serrin Turner, Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Shit, that whole DNM thing was their bailiwick, and I'll give it one more try.


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    Received: from pc ([84.200.12.61]) by Safe-mail.net with https
    Subject: Re: Indictment and extradition
    Date: Wed, 27 May 2015 16:21:39 -0400
    From: "Scott Hoffman" <zybose@Safe-mail.net>
    To: serrin.turner@usdoj.gov
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    Subject: Re: Indictment and extradition
    Date: 27 May 2015 16:21
    From: "Scott Hoff
    To: serrin.turner@usdoj.gov
    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
    Hash: SHA256

    27 May 2015

    Serrin Turner
    Assistant United States Attorney
    U.S. Attorney's Office
    Southern District of New York
    1 St. Andrew's Plaza
    New York, New York 10007
    U.S.A.

    by email: serrin.turner@usdoj.gov


    Sir,

    Mr. Turner, I am disappoint.

    It has been over two weeks, and I have yet to receive a response to my previous email to you.

    I am loath to communicate details concerning the rogue FBI character Diamond over insecure unencrypted email, as it has been made clear to me that my life would be in danger if I had any dealings with the U.S. justice system in any form.

    Diamond has previously shown to have inside knowledge that would have only been available to someone with insider knowledge. On or about 30 October 2014 I was informed that nob/Force along with another player had abused their positions to steal over US$1.5 million. That later proved to be accurate.

    On or about 7 March 2015 I was informed that a major 'Dark Net Market' would be closing within the next two weeks, as a result of the successful extortion of over US$6 million from the operators of the site by Diamond. Less than two weeks later Evolution market was gone. Diamond claims that total earnings from extorting similar sites is in excess of US$10 million.

    Naturally I have been unable to determine whether or not Diamonds claim that there is a sealed indictement for me is accurate. I have been able to confirm that Cambodian and Thai border agents / Immigration Police have my picture and information, along with orders to detain me if I attempt a crossing or exit. There is also a cash incentive reward for information leading to my location and aprehension.

    The scheme which Diamond is attempting to involve me in will yield over an order of magnitude more return than the Evolution extortion, some US$70 million+ in total.

    Under the circumstances, I'm very concerned about falling into the clutches of Diamond, or subjecting myself to custody of the U.S. justice system, where considering the money involved, I would be in fear for my life.

    I contacted you as it is obvious that Diamond has information that is closely related to investigations that your office is involved in. It occurs to me that your office may in fact believe that you are au fait with the situation vis-Ã -vis Diamond, inasmuch as this may all be the result of a sanctioned investigative process. If that is the case, may I suggest that it has run off the rails quite some time ago.

    I intend to uncover the identity of Diamond; I have a pretty good idea how to go about that, and if you and/or your office are unable or unwilling to assist, perhaps you could pass my information on to someone who can.

    Sincerely,

    Mr. Clark
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        Oh, and the public key I supplied to Mr. Turner, and signed the emails with.



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<crickets>

Once again, I know the email was read.

<crickets>

I had four months until my self imposed deadline. If I couldn't find him and stop him by the 26 September, I was going to have to come up with a Plan B.

This right here, what you're reading, is pretty much my Plan B.

I know, weak sauce, eh. I'm kinda disappointed in it myself.

However, I'm thinking this is going to be a *wee* bit harder to ignore than an email.

Now, I wasn't idle over the last four months.

Diamond was honing in on his next target, and it was going to be Agora. I stared at Agora until my eyes bled, until finally I saw a chink, a teensy tiny little opportunity, and one that I could use to my advantage. With the right timing, I could use that advantage to snare Diamond, and I spent a long time honing my fucking plan with him as target.

Annnnnnnd, Agora announces they're shutting down, thank you very much, and thanks for playing. Please tip your waitress on the way out.

I was, and still am, crushed. It was a damn good plan, and its usefulness disappeared with Agora.

I spent the next few weeks cadging Diamond for clues as to what he's up to next, but he's all curled up into himself pissed at missing taking down Agora, and all the btc that would have brought him. He's back talking about nothing but kidnapping again. Well, fuck.

Oh, I've started down a few roads with a few ideas, but honestly, there's now no way I can possibly do anything in time to stop the corrupt fucker.

Someone has to make sure he doesn't succeed in kidnapping Ross's sister and/or mother, and it would be kind of swell of them to make sure Ross doesn't come to any harm at the hands of one of Diamond's agents as well.

Diamond, suck it, you're not getting the $75,000,000.

Also, I'm not done with you yet.

If you want to talk to Diamond, I see him online, right this very fucking minute. The instructions to fire up a workable version of torchat that will talk to his old one are in one of the previous posts. Drop in and say 'hey' to him. Don't be surprised if he's in a bit of a bad mood. He's just going to be discovering he's been brought out into the sunlight.

And back several pages of this thread, the question was how have I managed to stay out of jail.

The answer is simple: the folks who should have been trying to put me in jail, didn't want me in jail. Likely still don't, but let's see where this goes from here, mmmkay? (Plus, the locals aren't to concerned with the affairs of a country thousands of miles away.)

And finally, if there's anyone at the DOJ who's not corrupt, isn't secretly involved in a DNM, or isn't too politically timid to deal with a hot potato, drop me a note. My email is zybose@safe-mail.net. I'd like to surrender. Again.

I don't see myself turning myself into any second tier nations authorities, it wouldn't likely take much cash spread around to end my life in a hurry. But I'm hoping we can work out a method for me to come in and defend myself against any indictment that may be hanging over my head. Let's see if the DOJ can manage to accept my surrender and not get me killed by one of their rogues in the process.


The last fucking thing you want is my undivided attention...