A Summary of Phinnaeus Gage's Investigation into Brock Pierce Thus Far

[buffalodoge]

***

Consider this the Third Installment (but hardly the last) in what has already been an exhilarating detective series:

Part I:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=590970.0 (More Proof That Savegox.com Is A Sham)
by Phinnaeus Gage

Part II:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=610521.0 (All Things Considered, Brock Pierce et al)

Part II compiled these reports which were NOT penned by PG:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/25cwzi/the_full_shady_history_of_brock_pierce/
by /u/howmanyproxies

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/25j38c/exposing_the_buffalo_club_shocking_evidence_links/
"Exposing the Buffalo Club: Shocking Evidence Links Brock Pierce, Other Bitcoin Investors to Marc Collins-Rector"
by /u/lolbuffaloJA

lolbuffaloJA has kindly provided us with an Imgur account containing all relevant screenshots of the Buffalo Club's disturbing activity on FB, thus allowing any curious soul to play a fun game of True Detective: http://lolbuffaloja.imgur.com/all/

***

In the week or two since these original posts, PG and others have uncovered mountains of circumstantial evidence linking various actors within the nascent Bitcoin economy. As this information was spread across multiple threads, I wanted to take a moment to compile all of it before it got too confusing for the uninitiated.

The following summary will try to bring together evidence uncovered in these threads by PG and others:

"Finally! One of the top porn stars accepts and promotes Bitcoin." by PG, 5/17
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=613130.0

NOTABLE INFO: The man pictured with BTC-loving porn star Kayden Kross is Ken Feldman, acolyte of Brock Pierce's Bitropolis in Santa Monica, and former Burning Man bestie of Autumn Radtke (RIP)
ALSO NOTABLE (just found this):
http://www.clubxxxnews.com/18/kayden-kross-faces-felony-charges-in-mortgage-scam/
https://web.archive.org/web/20081023164018/http://scottfayner.com/?p=517
Verified here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayden_Kross

Looks like Kayden Kross (aka kimberly nicole rathkamp) had a brush with the law over some felony real estate scams in the late 2000s. I wonder who her accomplices were? (and who's her baby daddy? the handsome man in the picture?)

"Was Autumn Radtke murdered due to something she knew about Brock Pierce, et al.?" by PG, 5/22
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=620267.0

NOTABLE INFO: just read it. Among other things, we learn that Autumn has been friends with Brock Pierce, Michael Terpin (founder of BitAngels and Michael Jackson enthusiast), and Ken Feldman since at least 2008, when they all went on a trip to Egypt together, proof of which is on Brock's public FB (and embedded in this thread).

By his own admission, Steve Beauregard (Co-founder/co-owner of GoCoin, alongside Brock Pierce) was the last person to see Autumn Radtke alive in Singapore. He had been renting a room in her home/office for several months while trying to establish GoCoin's new home base in Singapore.

Steve was also quick to tell every journalist who interviewed him that "it looks like she chose a short-term solution to a long-term problem", thus coyly verifying early news reports that she had committed suicide. Shortly thereafter, the police in Singapore clarified that they were not classifying her death a suicide, but rather an "unnatural death" with no foul play expected...because highly talented CEOs under 30 have a tendency to leap off of buildings they don't live in. But why split hairs! Two days after Autumn's death, Mt. Gox shocks the world by filing for bankruptcy.

Moving on...

"I just paid the $100K USD via BTC to become a Platinum Member of TBF." by PG, 5/23
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=621770.0

NOTABLE INFO: This one is a gem. PG claims that he has purchased a Platinum Membership for TBF, the only entity besides KnCMiner (co-owned by Brock Pierce) to ever do so. After challenging users to look up his transaction on Blockchain.info for a good 24 hours, it becomes clear that PG is strate trollen us.

Most importantly, this brilliant trollmove forced users to search TBF's official address for the other $100k membership payment. Surprise surprise, KnC's $100,000 payment for Platinum Membership (supposedly paid a day or two before the elections that Brock won) is nowhere to be found. This raises a simple yet fascinating question: did they ever pay it at all, and if so, why didn't they pay to the public donation address as required?

"Breaking News! Thief nabbed while breaking into SilkRoad's vault: Caught on film" by PG, 5/25
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=624279.0

NOTABLE INFO: While this thread starts off with what seems like a bizarre joke about Batman, it's worth reading in its entirety. The Batman Make-A-Wish stunt was conducted in a San Francisco building which happens to house the offices of Silk Road Equity - one of the chief backers behind Sunlot Holdings Ltd. More on that later.

On 5/26, the Willy Report was published, outlining in detail the overwhelming evidence of automated price manipulation on Mt. Gox during the great Bitcoin Rally of late 2013.

"The Willy Report...What do you guys make of it?", 5/26
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=624901.msg6954910#msg6954910
NOTABLE INFO: Nothing direct, but it's interesting context in light of these other revelations.

Finally, we have this: "Remember the subpoenas last year? Why one name was on the list." by PG, 5/27
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=626554.0

Now, let's circle back to Sunlot for a moment. As mentioned in the "Breaking News" thread, a perusal of Sunlot's rehabilitation plan (leaked against their wishes) reveals some interesting names.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/219613733/sunlot-holdings-proposed-rehabilitation-plan-ENGLISH#fullscreen
http://www.goxdox.org/2014/04/mtgox-to-be-acquired-by-silk-road.html
http://www.goxdox.org/

One name in particular piqued my interest: Louis J. Freeh, of Freeh Group International.

For those of you who need a refresher in American politics, that's this guy:

http://www.zpub.com/un/freeh-wp.jpg

Louis J. Freeh, the 5th Director of the FBI. Appointed by Clinton in 1993, stepped down shortly after 9/11 and entered the world of private security contracting thereafter.

In the English version of Sunlot's MtGox proposal, located on page 22, Sunlot promises this:

"A complex forensic investigation of MTGOX company handled by the new, highly experience[sic] management and a consulting partner."

And who, pray tell, will be handling this complex forensic investigation?

Page 17: "Freeh Group: Cooperation with forensic (digital) investigations and
enforcement, and compliance"

So Sunlot's cast of characters includes a former FBI director who I'm SURE doesn't have loads of friends still serving in the Obama Justice Department (given that he was a Clinton appointee, after all). Cute.

But at least we can count on major media outlets reporting on Sunlot impartially, right? It's not like Sunlot has tons of high-value relationships with the people running most of the major news rooms in the U.S., right?

Page 18: "Sitrick and Company executives are broadly experienced professionals from the media and corporate worlds. Senior executives have served as officers and directors of private or publicly-traded companies, as former litigators and as reporters in the news media, editors and producers at such news organizations as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, Detroit Free Press, Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg, Dow Jones, Miami Herald, NBC Television, the China Morning News and various Central and South American media."

Well, shit.

Wonder who else is helping with Sunlot's PR? Try Endeavor Strategic Communications.

AKA the unofficial Agitprop unit of Andrew Breitbart and many other well-paid Tea Party mouthbreathers in the mainstream media. These guys have been a driving force behind the endless Benghazi news cycles. (SEE HOW IT ALL COMES BACK TO BENGHAZI??? lol)

How the hell did an ultraconservative (NOT libertarian), astroturfy Washington PR firm get convinced to jump onboard with Sunlot? Your guess is as good as mine.

I might as well mention a couple other names on the Sunlot list:

Perseus Telecom - "secure hosting"
[Suspicious link removed]j.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303496804579365692234452018
http://perseustelecom.com/

They're one of the biggest High Frequency Trading companies on Wall Street.

Kinda reminds me of this recent bestseller: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/16/michael-lewis-flash-boys-wall-street-insane

http://perseustelecom.com/about-us/management-team/
Note: Karen Bertoli, CMO. I bet if you search Steve Beauregard's FB hard enough, you might find a picture of them together around May 8-10 in London...

Amanda Coolong - specialist PR advisor (total Santa Monica bestie of Brock, Bitropolis, and BitAngels, founding partner at TechZulu)
https://www.facebook.com/acoolong

She's quite a busy journalist these days:
http://techzulu.com/tonight-brock-pierce-gocoin-host-oakland-mayoral-candidate-bryan-parker/

But has time to plug for Brock AND Ken Rutkowski:
http://techzulu.com/ken-rutkowski-launches-business-rockstars-academy/

And let's not forget: Yantis Enterprises (yep, that Jonathan Yantis of the IGE glory days)

You still may be asking "what the fuck does all this mean?"

I will answer that shortly, but know this for now: May 8th and May 13th were potentially very important days in history of Bitcoin.


***TL;DR*** (by popular demand)

As evidenced in the earlier posts linked up top, Brock Pierce has a long and morbid history of associating with some very shady - some would say evil - people, most notably Marc Collins-Rector (more on him subsequently). In addition to the child-rape fiasco that was DEN Entertainment, Pierce was also sued for various frauds surrounding IGE, his digital commodities empire from the mid-2000s. Pierce settled with Debonneville (his former partner) out of court for an undisclosed amount of money, went low-profile for a few years, and then magically re-emerged in June 2013 as the Bitcoin Butterfly (or is it Bitcoin Buffalo? jaja), a savvy Millennial Messiah who was hellbent on taking Bitcoin to the Next Level.

So now Brock Pierce's newest investor group, Sunlot Holdings Ltd, wants to purchase legal ownership of the liabilities (and assets) of Mt. Gox, presumably to "make the customers whole".

It turns out that this generous yet shadowy group of One Percenters (Sunlot) includes a former FBI director, Louis J. Freeh, on its advisory team. Freeh's job will be to spearhead the "digital forensics" aspect of the Mt. Gox Rehabilitation Plan.

Digging deeper, the disclosed list of Sunlot investors reads like a who's who of big-time establishment players from Wall Street and the National Security industry.

It's worth noting that virtually none of this has been publicly disclosed by Sunlot in any way. The settlement proposals were anonymously leaked onto the internet (www.doxgox.org). This means that Sunlot did not necessarily want anyone in the wider bitcoin community to know who they really were.

So with all that said, how do you feel knowing that one of the new Board Members of TBF has teamed up with a former FBI director turned "private" (lol) security contractor in order to "help" Bitcoin users?

Might this have something to do with Marc Rector and "Brock Rector" being low-key FB friends with some fellas who have FBI and DIA pictures plastered all over their profiles?

https://i.imgur.com/zcLZCpN.png
https://i.imgur.com/fSSLGsb.png
https://i.imgur.com/FZc9wDK.png


***

To be continued.......(jajaja)

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[buffalodoge]

And lest any of you think this is "old news" or "not relevant"...

From yesterday, 5/27:
http://www.coindesk.com/us-court-decision-mt-gox-revival-bids/

"A US bankruptcy court has rejected a filing from Seattle-based digital currency service CoinLab Inc. in the latest development in the case of failed Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.

CoinLab sought to stop investor group Sunlot Holdings from purchasing Mt. Gox in documents filed during a 27th May hearing in US Bankruptcy Court in Dallas, Texas."

CoinLab’s filing seemingly aimed to stop or at least delay an effort by SunLot Holdings, a group of investors that includes venture capitalists John Betts and William Quigley and the Bitcoin Foundation’s Industry Director-elect Brock Pierce, from purchasing Mt. Gox and its related liabilities.

In its filing, CoinLab said that Sunlot’s bid to purchase Mt. Gox was not qualified to handle the investigation required to seek the location of the failed exchange’s missing bitcoins, explaining:

“Sunlot has made no showing of its qualifications to manage and conduct such an investigation, let alone answered pressing questions about potential conflicts of interest it has suffered or may suffer.”

Additionally, the company objected to the investor group’s plan to retain a portion of any funds recovered from Mt. Gox and its related entities during any forthcoming discovery."

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Another reserve.

[darlidada]

You guys should put a TLDR or a conclusion at the end of your posts. I dont think I am the first one to mention it but a lot of us have trouble understand the meaning of all this. What are you hinting at ?

[bg002h]

You guys should put a TLDR or a conclusion at the end of your posts. I dont think I am the first one to mention it but a lot of us have trouble understand the meaning of all this. What are you hinting at ?

Any real info can be put succinctly. Tuning out for now.

[Stevenrm87]

ELI5 please...

[buffalodoge]

You guys should put a TLDR or a conclusion at the end of your posts. I dont think I am the first one to mention it but a lot of us have trouble understand the meaning of all this. What are you hinting at ?

A tl;dr has been added for clarity.

Keep in mind, however, that you really should read the original threads about Brock & The Gang if you want to understand how wide this scheme potentially goes.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

You guys should put a TLDR or a conclusion at the end of your posts. I dont think I am the first one to mention it but a lot of us have trouble understand the meaning of all this. What are you hinting at ?

What, us hint?

http://lsvp.com/2013/05/14/lightspeed-is-anchoring-a-bitcoin-focused-fund/ (remember this link, for I'm about to refer to it momentarily)

It’s no secret that that I see the opportunity for Bitcoin to disrupt multi-billion-dollar markets and dramatically cut transaction costs for people around the world.  We are in the early stages of innovation in this ecosystem, and Lightspeed wants to encourage that innovation

So today, I am thrilled to announce that Lightspeed Venture Partners will anchor the newly created Boost BitCoin Fund. This fund will provide all of the Bitcoin related startups in the next Boost VC incubator class with guaranteed capital.  Joining us an investors in the fund are Rothenberg Ventures, the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund and Ben Davenport.

Boost is a Bay Area accelerator founded by Adam Draper that is currently focused on Bitcoin. Adam is as passionate about Bitcoin as we are.  We are pleased to be working with him to provide some of the most promising early-stage startups in this market with the support and funding they need.

Lightspeed has made several investments in Bitcoin companies already and plan to continue funding companies in the Bitcoin ecosystem as an area of continued focus.

Follow us on Twitter @lightspeedvp @jeremysliew

[acs267]

How dare you guys use the Spanish 'haha' on such a serious thread?

I find it funny how FBI agents would post pictures of themselves on Facebook.  

[Phinnaeus Gage]

You guys should put a TLDR or a conclusion at the end of your posts. I dont think I am the first one to mention it but a lot of us have trouble understand the meaning of all this. What are you hinting at ?

A tl;dr has been added for clarity.

Keep in mind, however, that you really should read the original threads about Brock & The Gang if you want to understand how wide this scheme potentially goes.

I'm about to go back a few more years in a sec, after I get a fresh cup of coffee, then jack-off.  

[keithers]

It seems like at some point, a lot of this should be passed on to law enforcement?  The deeper people dig, the darker this entire thing gets...

[DobZombie]

This all hurts my brain.

Can someone make an easy to watch YouTube vid for me to watch?

[buffalodoge]

How dare you guys use the Spanish 'haha' on such a serious thread?

I find it funny how FBI agents would post pictures of themselves on Facebook.  

To be fair to Our Nation's Finest, they're a little more discreet than Marc, Brock, Kevin (aka Chad Shackley), and Ken (aka Ken Rutkowski). The NATSEC guys are either using fake names or fake profile pictures.

At the very least, I think it's safe to say there's nobody named "Matthy Ronmney" alive today. Weirder is the fact that Matthy uses the image of a recently deceased Hollywood stuntman (Joshua Wright, d. October 2013) for all his profile pictures.

Same goes for David Weiss and Alan Nietszche (worth noting that the famous nihilist's name is spelled NIETZSCHE - this guy flipped the "s" and the "z").

Then again, we shouldn't judge...I'm pretty sure that Also Sprach Zarathustra isn't required reading at Quantico...

[Phinnaeus Gage]

How dare you guys use the Spanish 'haha' on such a serious thread?

I find it funny how FBI agents would post pictures of themselves on Facebook.  

To be fair to Our Nation's Finest, they're a little more discreet than Marc, Brock, Kevin (aka Chad Shackley), and Ken (aka Ken Rutkowski). The NATSEC guys are either using fake names or fake profile pictures.

At the very least, I think it's safe to say there's nobody named "Matthy Ronmney" alive today. Weirder is the fact that Matthy uses the image of a recently deceased Hollywood stuntman (Joshua Wright, d. October 2013) for all his profile pictures.

Same goes for David Weiss and Alan Nietszche (worth noting that the famous nihilist's name is spelled NIETZSCHE - this guy flipped the "s" and the "z").

Then again, we shouldn't judge...I'm pretty sure that Also Sprach Zarathustra isn't required reading at Quantico...

Hey, Buff. Can I call you Buff? Is there a Pulitzer Prize equivalent for people who post on forums? I'm wondering, for if there is, we can fire up a couple of our sockpuppets and nominate ourselves. 

[Phinnaeus Gage]

A very interesting read, considering that Andrew "Flip" Filipowski is the chief architect of Sunlot (think Sun Times): http://online.barrons.com/news/articles/SB941848191972800947?tesla=y

The encouraging news for entrepreneurs is that this might be changing. Now a Chicago technology tycoon, Andrew "Flip" Filipowski, says it's time for Silicon Valley to share the wealth. "As an Internet economy replaces the traditional economy, you'll have an economic cesspool in those cities" if they aren't included in tech-driven growth, says the former chairman and chief executive of Platinum Technology International, a suburban Chicago software concern he founded in 1987 that was recently acquired by Computer Associates for $3.5 billion. The stake of this butcher's son from Chicago's Near West Side was worth about $290 million.

Filipowski is part of an emerging new segment of venture capitalists and angel investors: entrepreneurs who made it big and now want to invest in early-stage companies. What makes Filipowski's approach somewhat unusual: he wants to take his investment vehicle public a la Internet Capital Group, he plans to take an incubator approach to growing his investments, and he intends to do this in the heart of Chicago's Goose Island industrial zone.

Coming from anyone else, Filipowski's strategy might not garner much respect from the technology establishment, but it's getting behind him. For example, Dell Computer is expected to become a significant investor in Filipowski's venture group, Divine InterVentures.

So far, Divine InterVentures has raised more than $400 million for its first fund, and another $100 million in seed money for very-early-stage investments.

In addition to Dell, Filipowski has been busy raising money from all corners of Chicago's clubby business community, including Motorola and Tellabs . And the master marketer has managed to get both Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Illinois Governor George Ryan to throw their weight behind Filipowski's Internet incubator project. Not wanting to be known as the politicians that missed the Internet, they are backing Filipowski's vision to create an entrepreneurial culture in the center of the industrial heartland, which calls for a publicly held holding company that invests in a group of 30 or so Internet start-ups, of which many will locate under the same roof in Chicago.

While publicly held venture-capital firms aren't necessarily new (think CMGI or ICG) and Internet incubators aren't necessarily new (think idealab, which spawned eToys), the combination of the two is relatively new. The group could file for an IPO as early as December, said one source familiar with the company.

The advantage to an incubator approach, which is rapidly catching on as a way to grow 'Netcos, is that the start-ups share resources and expertise through their common shareholders. And in the case of Divine InterVentures, an incubator fosters the cultivation of Silicon Valley culture in a place where it's lacking, such as Chicago, Filipowski notes.

But there are downsides to incubators, says Gill Cogan, a general partner of Weiss Peck & Greer, one of the Bay Area's top-tier venture firms. These firms get coddled more than your average start-ups, and "sooner or later you have to push them out of the nest," he says. What's more, backers are more reluctant to pull the plug on lousy performers after they have been part of the start-up family, he adds.

"That's probably true," Filipowski admits. But that isn't going to stop this butcher's son from taking his Internet fund to public market any time soon.

Here's what's interesting about the above, in case you didn't figure it out. It was penned by a Mark Veverka on Nov. 8, 1999. BTW, Google Mark Veverka + Bitcoin, and see what you find.

Recall when I told you to remember the following link?: http://lsvp.com/2013/05/14/lightspeed-is-anchoring-a-bitcoin-focused-fund/

Well, guess what happened to Weiss Peck & Greer: http://www.nndb.com/company/132/000125754/

Weiss, Peck & Greer

COMPANY

Venture capital firm, over $700M under management. Part of Robeco. Other parts of WPG are now Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Industry: Private Equity

Ticker: (subsidiary)

Again, Google Lightspeed Venture Partners + Bitcoin, and see if you find anything interesting.

Pretty impressive for starting out as a butcher's son and... GULP! On second thought, I will now be deleting all my posts. NOT!

[Bit_Happy]

How dare you guys use the Spanish 'haha' on such a serious thread?

I find it funny how FBI agents would post pictures of themselves on Facebook.  

How hard is it to make a few fake FB profiles, am I missing something or isn't that really extremely weak "evidence?"

[Phinnaeus Gage]

How dare you guys use the Spanish 'haha' on such a serious thread?

I find it funny how FBI agents would post pictures of themselves on Facebook.  

How hard is it to make a few fake FB profiles, am I missing something or isn't that really extremely weak "evidence?"

The Facebook profiles in question were started in September, 2012, mostly. The question is why and by whom, for I've shown that when one post, others almost immediately reply. And, some have locked down their accounts since I first brought all this to light.

[Plento]

I've lurked here for a long time and have always assumed that PG's posts are just conglomerated spam.  
I apologize if I'm off-base here, just what I've observed.

His posts are akins to another user's posts around here who seems to have vanished, Mircea or something along those lines?

Who has time in a day to post novels on a daily basis?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I've lurked here for a long time and have always assumed that PG's posts are just conglomerated spam.  
I apologize if I'm off-base here, just what I've observed.

His posts are akins to another user's posts around here who seems to have vanished, Mircea or something along those lines?

Who has time in a day to post novels on a daily basis?

This is me, none other, albeit Mircea (who was banned) was the first person to give me my first positive trust. Broadcasting live, here in Sandwich, IL.

In case you need further proof that I am who I say I am, take a look at these videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO-EGJhdx4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33ZbYVcyY-A#t=290

BTW, I see you have lurking down to a science:

Total Time Spent Online:  26 minutes

Care to elaborate?

I even have an Honest Abe totem pole next to my home, to boot.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I'm curious as to how Marcos Rector was able to garner up Likes on his Facebook in about an hour via simply changing his cover image on a Friday afternoon: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=320077448143827&set=a.100636926754548.2094.100004247222228&type=1&theater



To boot, here's the original, sans the 'MERICA and the stylized Diary of a Country Girl.