Statement about the suspect of recent Bitcoinica hack

[Raoul Duke]

I have agreed to transfer the funds to Patrick Murck and it'll take place within 24 hours.

To my best knowledge the total interest held by Patrick's clients far exceeds the requested funds at the moment, and Patrick has given me a statement acknowledging that the funds returned are strictly originated from stolen properties of Bitcoinica.

The relevant parties will also post a statement publicly upon receipt of 15,000 BTC, the first batch of funds.

Cool.  So this guy was happy to just hand over the cash to you after you called him out?  Apparently so.

That's standard relic collector gangster procedure, didn't you know?

[dree12]

I'm still not sure why everyone seems to believe Zhou stole the funds. At this point, it's becoming increasingly obvious that he didn't.

[vampire]

I'm still not sure why everyone seems to believe Zhou stole the funds. At this point, it's becoming increasingly obvious that he didn't.

Really? He found a hacker, talked to him and got funds back? From a multimillionaire?

If that guy was real, it would be impossible to prove that he stole money. IMPOSSIBLE. Nice story that Zhou registered his email account at that guy online website?

LOL!

[RoloTonyBrownTown]

I'm still not sure why everyone seems to believe Zhou stole the funds. At this point, it's becoming increasingly obvious that he didn't.

Increasingly obvious?   How so exactly?    For the record I didn't have funds in Bitcoinica (I wasn't much of a fan from the start) so I have no horse in this race and I'd like to think I can approach it objectively, but I really don't see how Zhou is any less likely to be behind all this than he was from the start.    There's certainly no new evidence that would suggest otherwise.  Sure there's this whole mystery Chen fella, but right now he's just a phantom.  There's no evidence whatsoever to show that he was behind it, or even exists.

[dopamine]

I just want my bitcoins back and giving it back to bitcoinica is a bad idea, zhoutong was able to process claims in less than 24 hours. How long do we have wait to even get 50% back.

[dree12]

I'm still not sure why everyone seems to believe Zhou stole the funds. At this point, it's becoming increasingly obvious that he didn't.

Really? He found a hacker, talked to him and got funds back? From a multimillionaire?

If that guy was real, it would be impossible to prove that he stole money. IMPOSSIBLE. Nice story that Zhou registered his email account at that guy online website?

LOL!

A multimillionaire would rather return funds than get sentenced to prison and lose his multimillionaire status.

If you consider that impossible, why not reflect on Zhou's possible motives for stealing the money? The aurumxchange side contends that he would be dumb enough to steal the money, transfer the USD to another service, and try to sell the BTC for USD as quick as possible: the next day. I find this story harder to believe than the one involving the relic collector.

I'm still not sure why everyone seems to believe Zhou stole the funds. At this point, it's becoming increasingly obvious that he didn't.

Increasingly obvious?   How so exactly?    For the record I didn't have funds in Bitcoinica (I wasn't much of a fan from the start) so I have no horse in this race and I'd like to think I can approach it objectively, but I really don't see how Zhou is any less likely to be behind all this than he was from the start.    There's certainly no new evidence that would suggest otherwise.  Sure there's this whole mystery Chen fella, but right now he's just a phantom.  There's no evidence whatsoever to show that he was behind it, or even exists.

Aurumxchange has failed to produce any new evidence, resorting to points that support Zhou's case. Patrick Murck has become involved.

[vampire]

A multimillionaire would rather return funds than get sentenced to prison and lose his multimillionaire status.

If you consider that impossible, why not reflect on Zhou's possible motives for stealing the money? The aurumxchange side contends that he would be dumb enough to steal the money, transfer it to another exchange, and try to sell it for USD as quick as possible: the next day. I find this story harder to believe than the one involving the relic collector.

You have no idea how bribery work! In countries like China, you just need to pay the right people. But what Zhou has on this multi millionaire - NOTHING! Absolutely fucking nothing, except his word. You can't sue a phantom.

[RoloTonyBrownTown]

Aurumxchange has failed to produce any new evidence, resorting to points that support Zhou's case. Patrick Murck has become involved.

Right, well you're clearly more easily pleased that I am.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Hmm. BitInstant (whom Roger Ver is part owner of), MtGox and AurumXchange start a thread about how Zhou Tong is a hacker and a thief (advised by their attorney) which breaks all of their privacy agreements of their own companies and is basically libel.

MtGox listens to the advice of BitInstant's attorney, someone who doesn't even work for them.

They the whole boys club suddenly decides that Roger Ver, Charlie Shrem and company's attorney should be the one holding ALL customer funds for Bitcoinica with a vague condition of "until things get worked out" or something to that degree (which could be that Patrick Murck independently decides that Roger Ver should get paid out first, 100%, everyone else paid later for all we know).

It's obvious that Bitcoinica's lack of accountability and management of this issue is appalling, but come on guys-- you don't think there is any problem with this picture?

[Matthew N. Wright]

I'm still not sure why everyone seems to believe Zhou stole the funds. At this point, it's becoming increasingly obvious that he didn't.

Really? He found a hacker, talked to him and got funds back? From a multimillionaire?

If that guy was real, it would be impossible to prove that he stole money. IMPOSSIBLE. Nice story that Zhou registered his email account at that guy online website?

LOL!

dree12 and rarity are either sock puppets, or complete lunatics... Asking for a round of applause for Zhou ... LOL ... I felt like Alice going the rabbit hole reading that.

He deserves a round of applause for not suing -you- yet for breaking your privacy agreement with him when he signed up at your exchange.

[Rarity]

I'm still not sure why everyone seems to believe Zhou stole the funds. At this point, it's becoming increasingly obvious that he didn't.

Really? He found a hacker, talked to him and got funds back? From a multimillionaire?

If that guy was real, it would be impossible to prove that he stole money. IMPOSSIBLE. Nice story that Zhou registered his email account at that guy online website?

LOL!

dree12 and rarity are either sock puppets, or complete lunatics... Asking for a round of applause for Zhou ... LOL ... I felt like Alice going the rabbit hole reading that.

Please stop with the baseless accusations of sock puppetry and the personal insults at my mental state.  I assure you my mind and body are Clear. I would think that after playing a major role in turning this forum into a public witch hunt against Zhou Tong you would know not to pull this stuff anymore.  You guys should have contacted him privately and he could have tracked down the hacker without all these public histrionics.    It's sad not everyone in Bitcoin shows the same calm, reasoned professionalism that Zhou Tong does.

[dree12]

I'm still not sure why everyone seems to believe Zhou stole the funds. At this point, it's becoming increasingly obvious that he didn't.

Really? He found a hacker, talked to him and got funds back? From a multimillionaire?

If that guy was real, it would be impossible to prove that he stole money. IMPOSSIBLE. Nice story that Zhou registered his email account at that guy online website?

LOL!

dree12 and rarity are either sock puppets, or complete lunatics... Asking for a round of applause for Zhou ... LOL ... I felt like Alice going the rabbit hole reading that.

Sure, call me a sock-puppet. Ignore the fact that I registered a year ago, have almost a thousand posts, and am generally well-established in this community.

This lack of professionalism is appalling. From individuals on Bitcoin Talk, it may be expected. But you, you are representing a company. Please, get a new PR! Baseless accusations of sock-puppetry and mental instability are not very effective advertising techniques.

[zhoutong]

If was the thief, I pretty much deserved the public accusations.

But, please, for the sake of the tiniest possibility of my innocence in your rational mind, consider the hurt and pressure on a victim that is definitely not better off in this situation.

I'm working to get this sorted out and trying to get the money returned to Bitcoinica's creditors (not Bitcoinica). Can you imagine the stolen funds can be returned faster than the not-stolen funds held by a company that every single responsible person has quit?

[Coinoisseur]

That would probably bring this whole theft into the purview of a court system. I'm sure he's quaking in his boots.

I'm still not sure why everyone seems to believe Zhou stole the funds. At this point, it's becoming increasingly obvious that he didn't.

Really? He found a hacker, talked to him and got funds back? From a multimillionaire?

If that guy was real, it would be impossible to prove that he stole money. IMPOSSIBLE. Nice story that Zhou registered his email account at that guy online website?

LOL!

dree12 and rarity are either sock puppets, or complete lunatics... Asking for a round of applause for Zhou ... LOL ... I felt like Alice going the rabbit hole reading that.

He deserves a round of applause for not suing -you- yet for breaking your privacy agreement with him when he signed up at your exchange.

[Bitcoin Oz]

How is everyone going to get money back from bitcoinica if all the principles have quit ? Maybe they should also transfer all remaining funds to Patrick Murck 

[zhoutong]

How is everyone going to get money back from bitcoinica if all the principles have quit ? Maybe they should also transfer all remaining funds to Patrick Murck 

In my opinion this is a highly viable option.

[stochastic]

So when is the person that stole the funds going to have criminal charges brought against them?

[repentance]

How is everyone going to get money back from bitcoinica if all the principles have quit ? Maybe they should also transfer all remaining funds to Patrick Murck 

People have been suggesting that the processing of refunds be done by a third party since soon after the Rackspace hack.  Nobody wanted to pay for a lawyer or accountant to oversee the process.

[vampire]

This is why I don't believe Zhou.

Zhou claimed:

That his business associate stole his password when he signed up on a website.
That his business associate had access to the source code prior to anyone else.
That his business associate knew who was Chris Heaslip!
That his business associate quickly decides to return funds when confronted!

Now replace the business associate with Zhou.. And it makes a lot of sense.

He had access to the email, which he havent used in a while.
Knew the password for lastpass and the source code.
Knew all the people in bitcoinica.
And of course had access to the stolen funds.


This is the evidence just from Zhou, not aurumxchange.

[zhoutong]

This is why I don't believe Zhou.

Zhou claimed:

That his business associate stole his password when he signed up on a website.
That his business associate had access to the source code prior to anyone else.
That his business associate knew who was Chris Heaslip!
That his business associate quickly decides to return funds when confronted!

Now replace the business associate with Zhou.. And it makes a lot of sense.

He had access to the email, which he havent used in a while.
Knew the password for lastpass and the source code.
Knew all the people in bitcoinica.
And of course had access to the stolen funds.


This is the evidence just from Zhou, not aurumxchange.

That email was protected with my weakest password that I reused everywhere and even shared with some other people. I didn't have to protect that email at all because it's meant to be semi-sockpuppet anyway.

He had access to source code after genjix released it.

Chris Heaslip's Mt. Gox account was stored alongside Wendon's in the LastPass. Obviously he didn't know which one had more money so he logged in to both.

I know a lot of his personal information (especially his and his wife's bank accounts and address), and I threatened to report to police if he didn't agree to refund.

I don't know where you got all the misleading information from.