Perhaps, but the only references I saw to 2019 in the criminal complaint[1] were with respect to Tor and his phone. I don't know if he was actually under surve

Perhaps, but the only references I saw to 2019 in the criminal complaint[1] were with respect to Tor and his phone. I don't know if he was actually under surveillance that early or if this is just stuff they later found. While there are plenty of ways this guy could have attracted the attention of California, Florida, or federal law enforcement, it's entirely possible that seeing a US residential IP address is what started this case. I can't really tell without seeing dated search warrant applications. The latest PDF[2] states: In discovery, the Government has declined to provide any information related to its TOR operation. The Defense therefore researched and drafted a motion to compel such discovery. In the course of this research, the Defense discovered an exhibit filed on the public docket in at least two federal cases with similar issues (“Exhibit 2”). The document is partially redacted, purports to be the work of a U.S. government agency, and is marked “Top Secret.” Outside of these public docket filings, Exhibit 2 is widely available on public internet sources. A Google search for Exhibit 2’s title yields 102,000 results. All of the top results apparently provide the document itself, and most of these date back to 2013. That would likely be a reference to something leaked by Edward Snowden given the year mentioned. 1. https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1279441/download https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1279441/downl... 2. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23569961-motion-to-reconsider-hsd-order https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23569961-motion-to-r...