The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released (archive) two documents with the stated aim of helping the public and private sector understand the methodology used by supposed criminals to facilitate money laundering and terrorist financing. The two documents – titled the National Money Laundering Risk Assessment (NMLRA) and the National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment (NTFRA) – cite Bitcoin as just one method supposed criminals use to launder money and supposedly fund terrorist organisations such as ISIL/ISIS. Continue reading
Category Archives: North America
Reddit Outrage Reveals Y Combinator Censorship Agenda
This week under the guise of a new "harassment policy" Reddit banned a number of forums from their site including the incredibly popular /r/fatpeoplehate which boasted more than 150,000 subscribed members. Substantial outrage ensued on the Reddit which lead to expressions of anger towards interim Reddit CEO Ellen Pao and classic fat hate images dominating the aggregated Reddit /r/all feed. While this may be Reddit's Digg inflection point which leads it to popular irrelevance, this episode exposes a larger long term trend of encroaching censorship in Silicon Valley companies and startups. Especially in ventures connected to startup fermenter Y Combinator. Continue reading
FBI Counterterrorism AD Michael Steinbach: "Prevent encryption above all else"
During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing in Washington, D.C. on June 3rd, 2015, FBI Counterterrorism Division Assistant Director Michael Steinbach enlightened those present to the difficulties his agency faced in using encrypted data from the private sector. “When a company, a communications company or a ISP or social media company elects to build in its software encryption, end-to-end encryption, and leaves no ability for even the company to access that, we don’t have the means by which to see the content”, Steinbach said, insisting that such content was useful for the interception of terrorism activities, particularly amongst supporters of ISIS abroad. Continue reading
17-year-old Virginian Pleads Guilty to Tweeting About Bitcoin and ISIS
The Bitcoin badmouthing continues as reports are coming in that Ali Shukri Amin of Manassas, Virginia1 is pleading guilty to "conspiring to provide material support to terrorists" by helping fellow Virginian Reza Niknejad2 to fundraise for his jihadi mission in Syria3 using the one and only cryptocurrency. Leveraging some 4,000 Twitter followers and a personal blog, the honors student and "promising young man"4 from Osbourn Park High School is apparently a "public safety" concern and now faces upwards of 15 years in prison. Despite being only 17-years-old, Mr. Amin is being tried as an adult in the United States District Court Eastern District of Virginia.
Mr. Amin's lawyer, one Joseph Flood of Sheldon, Flood & Haywood P.L.C., now finds himself in the unenviable position of being just as much of a failure as Ross Ulbricht's lawyer, Joshua Dratel.
Not to be confused with the smaller Manassutten, Virgina, home of the ever-so-bear-wary garbage police. ↩
Who is still "at large." ↩
To fight with ISIS against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. ↩
According to none other than Andrew McCabe, assistant director of the FBI's Washington field office. ↩
Exodus From New York Begins
In the wake of New York's adoption of regulations which seek to regulate rather than submit to Bitcoin, Erik Voorhees has taken his altcoin exchange startup ShapeShift.io and taken it out of New York. Voorhees previously acquired the fledgling accountless Bitcoin gaming site Satoshi Dice leading it to a long reign as the most popular Bitcoin gambling site of the time. Stock in Satoshi Dice was traded on MPEx as S.DICE where it similarly enjoyed a long reign of popularity until Voorhees sold the site in full to close the security as part of a settlement with the United States Security and Exchange Commission over his first Bitcoin startup FeedzBirds. The exodus of businesses from New York, the United Kingdom, and other jurisdictions that wish to regulate themselves out of relevance in the Bitcoin space is likely to continue.
Bharara Seeks To Prosecute Silk Road Trial Commenters
Popehat has obtained a subpoena pushed through by Preet Bharara's office seeking information on a number of persons who commented on a May 31st article by Nick Gillespie published on Reason Magazine's website. The article in question concerned Ulbricht's pre-sentencing letter to Judge Katherine Forrest. Preet Bharara's office intends to prosecute the emotionally distraught commenters under the Federal Statute prohibiting the interstate communication of threats. This is the same statute under which just days ago a conviction won by Federal prosecutors from another office was overturned and sent for retrial under more restrictive jury instructions as criminal threats must be demonstrated to have a culpable state of mind on the part of the speaker for them to be actually criminal. Let us consider each of the eight instances of speech that Preet Bharara wants to prosecute as criminal: Continue reading
US Government Shuts Down US Government Drug Manufacturing Operation
The United States Food and Drug Administration has shut down a drug lab operated by the National Institute of Health in order produce drug samples used in clinical trials. The National Institute of Health responded to the shut down by announcing a suspension of operation for their Pharmaceutical Development Section and revealed that the contaminated product which the Food and Drug Administration ordered the shut down over was a common injectable solution of albumin used for facilitating the delivery of pharmacologically active chemicals that had become contaminated by fungus. At this point it is clear that the endemic decay affecting the apparatus of the United States Government is not restricted to its facilities for deploying violence but has indeed spread mycelium even into operations tasked with promoting the health and well being of the public.
Bandits Stick Up Craigslist Bitcoin Seller
The dangers of trapping has once again reared its head in the city of New York with CNBC reporting (archive) a 28 year old man who attempted to sell bitcoins via craigslist met with a purported buyer who then lead him to a vehicle to finalise the transaction. Hidden in the back seat of the car was another man who ordered the seller to transfer the bitcoins to his wallet at the point of a gun. In addition to the USD $1,100's worth of bitcoin, the bandits stole the man's mobile phone. Continue reading
3 Years Prison For Backpack Full of Cash in Winnipeg
Erwin Speckert was sentenced to three years of prison after a money laundering conviction derived from his arrest while boarding a Greyhound bus with $1.3 million Canadian Dollars in his backpack. Speckert plead guilty back in October and the sentence was arranged this week through agreement between the prosecution and defense lawyers. Speckert had requested his security screening be done in private due to the sensitivity and value of his backpack's contents and after he was assured by the private security officer who screened him that taking that much cash on him was kosher, the private security officer phoned police who assert Speckert consented to a second search conducted by them. Police further assert that Speckert was determined by their investigation to be working as a courier for "illegal gaming" operators. Speckert throughout his time consenting to security searches at the bus station asserted he intended to purchase real estate and was conveying cash in this manner as he reasonably did not trust banks.
NYDFS Announces Final Bitlicense Rules
As the days wind down before Benjamin Lawsky leaves the New York Department of Financial Services for private practice, Lawsky unveiled the final version of his New York Bitlicense proposal at an event in Washington DC. The full text of the document is available below: Continue reading