Apology accepted, but not needed. I accept grammatical errors as sine qua non for the passion exhibited on this forum.
Very gracious of you
This appeared to be more of a public announcement directed at the hundreds of users of this community who are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars that have "disappeared" under the fiduciary responsibility of Zhou Tong who accept those funds into escrow.
A public announcement is quite right under the circumstances. Disclosing the personal information was a step too far (certainly until it had been fully investigated).
I haven't lost a penny in this debacle.
Me neither. Perhaps I should have stated this earlier.
The only dog I have in this fight, as I quite openly stated in another thread several weeks ago, is to keep a solar flare burning on this issue so that criminal scams of all types will be found out, the guilty parties discovered, and the integrity of our community restored, along with the funds taken from the victims of these scams.
Hear, hear!
His lies are numerous, and his mis-directions are clearly stated for all to see. Building layer upon layer of the story does not change the truth of the issue.
I can't tell which are lies and which are truths simply because I don't think the evidence is present to say that ZT has lied (quite possible I've missed it).
There's certainly a lack of evidence to back up his defence but that isn't proof of guilt or lying.
By bringing his story into a public forum, and pleading his case in front of the court of public opinion "Zhou Tong" has given up any reasonable claim to privacy in this affair.
Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it AX that forced ZT to respond in a public forum because they were the first to make mention of any of this (even before filing a police report for what they believed was fraud/theft)? (That's not meant to read snarky, it's just my understanding is the opposite of yours).
Given that "Zhou Tong" himself started this very thread, and made very public claims of very private matters, it seems somewhat disingenuous to ask for privacy when the same consideration is given of his actions and information.
Have you seen the other thread that this thread is a response to? I'd forgotten about it too (despite it being only a week old). Here it is for your convenience:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=95738.0It seems to me that ZT was forced to respond publicly, no?
Bitconica was categorically NOT an exchange. It was an leveraged hedge speculation site based on projected future moves in the value of bitcoin against fiat. The site in fact had to rely on outside exchanges for conversion of fiat into bitcoin, and for the movement of payments. Speculation is a form of gambling, albeit one with a more socially acceptable reputation than others, but it is gambling none the less, and there is ample case law history that online gambling IS illegal in many countries.
Conceded
Will I feel remorse if by some inconceivable alignment of the planets and the absolute veracity of the Mayan Calendar exonerating "Zhou Tong" from any involvement in this matter? No.
I wouldn't say he's innocent either. He created the system, he promoted it and then he sold it. I would debate the amount of responsibility he has though.
He is by no stretch of the imagination "innocent", he crafted the gambling system, promoted it, lied about function and returns, lied about his own abilities when he sought angels to adopt the failure that it was becoming, and has consistently mislead, covered up and shaded the facts to support his own position to the detriment of all.
I haven't seen where he's lied about functionality and the returns or his abilities but I've been away from the forums for quiet some time but I accept that this might have happened. If so it certainly weakens his position.
I am not even convinced that he is a minor at all. There seems to be a growing body of proof that he may be buried under yet another layer of false identity, and no person could remain 17 for the length of time that he has claimed to be that age...
at some point a birthday will jump up and kick him in the teeth, even if he is using some obscure Confucian calendar, he ages. And, consider the fact of where he chose to play his games.
I don't know whether he's a minor or not either. I just feel it would be quite a feat of planning to expect to use it for some form of criminal defense in the future in case he got caught out. I accept that at some point he'll be 18 (probably soon if not very recently) but then if he is due to turn 'adult' you're accepting that he's 17 then?
If you want to be considered a child for protection as a minor, do not misrepresent yourself as an adult in an adult world, and play at adults games.
If by adult games you mean steal from the community then that presumes he's guilty. If by adult games you mean by creating Bitcoinica then I don't see why you have to be an adult to create it.
By his own statements he is the close associate of someone he alleges is a serious criminal, is this a child who should be accorded some special consideration because he didn't know what he was doing? No.
Associating yourself with criminals isn't a smart thing to do. Any adult would know this, especially in the business world. It's certainly something you'll learn from experience but that's the thing, he's a minor. He might not know better.
Also, I'd like to add, ZT hasn't ever mentioned that he's hiding behind the defence of being a minor. I'm the only one that's brought that up and the only reason why I do is because if he is a minor AND he's innocent then he doesn't deserve this.
1) Any belief that he's using his age as a cover is completely fictitious (because I'm the only one that's brought it up)
2) It requires you accept that his age is really 17/18
If you don't think he's a minor then claiming he's using his age as a cover doesn't make sense (but I'm not sure you are making that claim, rather, just debating the point).
And a small edit in light of point #3 above about being know as a "grass" (or squealer in the US)... with the level of criminal he is implicating in this matter, and the not insignificant amounts of money involved- this grass will not be long for this world in that community. A good soldier will shut up and take his stripes in this type of case, do his time and be welcome back into the company of criminals afterwards. A squealer won't make it past the first couple of days, giving up Notorious Relic Dealer Chen, and his ilk.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean here. Are you saying that he should just do as the criminal wants because he could otherwise face real danger?
