http://www.wired.com/2015/01/dhs-believed-mt-gox-ceo-might-silk-roads-secret-mastermind/In response to cross-examination by the defense in Ulbricht’s trial today, DHS special agent Jared Deryeghiayan revealed that in 2012 and 2013 he had pursued Karpeles as the suspected owner and operator of the Silk Road. He has also pursued Karpeles’ Mt. Gox associate Ashley Barr as the voice of the Dread Pirate Roberts, the Silk Road’s pseudonymous figurehead. Deryeghiayan confirmed he had even gone so far as to seek a warrant to search Karpeles’ Gmail account based on “probable cause” that the Mt. Gox owner had secretly administered the Silk Road in a bid to boost the price of bitcoin, and with it his own substantial cryptocurrency fortune.
In an August 2013 affidavit written by Deryeghiayan and read aloud by Ulbricht’s defense attorney Joshua Dratel, the agent cited evidence that included Karpeles’ purported control of the website silkroadmarket.org, information received from a federal informant working with Karpeles, and Karpeles’ profile as a programmer and bitcoin mogul. “I believe this evidence shows Karpeles controlled silkroadmarket.org and the tuxtele.com website and hosted them both at IP addresses he controlled,” Deryeghiayan wrote in 2013. In his affidavit, he went on to cite Karpeles’ Linkedin page, and to argue that Tokyo-based Karpeles was “well suited to [create] an e-commerce website such as the Silk Road underground website.”
In the same affidavit, Deryeghiayan also cited an interview I conducted with the Dread Pirate Roberts in July of 2013. “That sounds very much like Karpeles,” Deryeghiayan wrote.
Interesting...
