Category Archives: The Law

Bryan Micon To Return To Las Vegas To Face Charge

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The Las Vegas Review Journal reports (archive) that Seals with Clubs operator Bryan Micon will return to Las Vegas to face a charge of operating an unlicensed interactive gaming system. Micon came to the attention of the Nevada Gaming Commission earlier this year for operating the now defunct Seals with Clubs bitcoin poker site which was relaunched by Micon himself as SwC Poker.

Court records1 indicate Micon will be released on his own recognisance after being booked with a hearing set for Thursday, June 25th at which Micon is expected to attend. Continue reading →

  1. Not verified by Qntra at this time. ↩

France Issues Humor Related Travel Warning For Visitors to the United States

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The French government has updated its list of advisories for its citizens headed to the United States to include a warning that comments attitudes or jokes of a sexual nature which would be harmless in civilized Latin countries can lead to criminal court in the United States, with even children susceptible to prosecution for a broad range of related charges. The addition to the advisory reads: Continue reading →

Shaun Bridges Pleads Guilty to Silk Road Theft

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Shaun Bridges who was charged the same day as Carl Mark Force IV has plead guilty to money laundering and obstruction of justice charges. Bridges as an agent of the United States Secret Service used passwords he coerced from a customer service representative of the Silk Road to move what prosecutors describe as $820,000 in Bitcoin value to a Bitcoin address under his control from Silk Road accounts.

Hulk Hogan Puts Denton's Control of Gawker Media on Life Support

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A Pinellas county Florida suit by Terry 'Hulk Hogan' Bollea against Gawker Media and two private individuals, Heather and Bubba "the Love Sponge" Clem, is part of a storm of misfortune that is placing Nick Denton's continued control of Gawker Media in jeopardy. The lawsuit relates to Gawker's publication of a sex tape where Bollea fucks Heather Clem. The tape also features Bubba "the Love Sponge Clem" giving his blessing for the coital act between Bollea and his ex-wife Heather. The Hulkster is seeking $100 million in damages against Gawker Media for their role in the publication of this sex tape. Gawker posted the tape on October 4th 2012 and an injunction was issued in April 2013. As of the time of this reporting the original post features a link that they purport still hosts the video though it no longer does. Continue reading →

France Demands Google Extend "Right to be Forgotten" to Global Domains

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The French data protection authority, led by Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, has threatened Google with various penalties including a fine of up to 300,000 Euros unless it extends the removal of search engine results to its global domains. A European court ruling last year decreed that any individual may petition a search engine to manually remove search results pertaining to themselves, under the guise of privacy. Proponents of the ruling have argued that people should not have to be associated with their past, or suffer unpleasant reminders of deeds they've commited or impressions they've made, apparently unconcerned about the fabrication of history to suit personal preferences such outlooks necessarily entail. Continue reading →

U.S. Treasury: Bitcoin Used In Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing

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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 →

17-year-old Virginian Pleads Guilty to Tweeting About Bitcoin and ISIS

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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.

  1. Not to be confused with the smaller Manassutten, Virgina, home of the ever-so-bear-wary garbage police.  ↩

  2. Who is still "at large." ↩

  3. To fight with ISIS against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. ↩

  4. According to none other than Andrew McCabe, assistant director of the FBI's Washington field office.  ↩

Exodus From New York Begins

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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.