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> Silk Road drug lord Oh please. Ross was no saint by any stretch and it does look like he may have made a very dark decision at one point, but it didn't happ

> Silk Road drug lord Oh please. Ross was no saint by any stretch and it does look like he may have made a very dark decision at one point, but it didn't happen in a vacuum. There's a mountain of details and nuance around that case, including a whole host of law enforcement abuses that many people would find distasteful if not sickening if they actually got the whole story.

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ratelimitsteve 1y ago
>it does look like he may have made a very dark decision at one point very vague. care to expound?
- soulofmischief 1y ago
  Entrapment. The FBI posed as a user and convinced Ross that some people needed to be taken out, offered to do it, arrested him, dropped the murder-for-hire charges because they didn't want to play that game in court, knowing it would backfire, while still using those (unconvicted) charges to publicly smear him and influence the judge's decisions, and finally stole his Bitcoin. Two agents went to prison over this. Those same agents have a history of fraud and abuse.
- alwa 1y ago
  So -- I can't imagine how one could expect to run a massive drugs-and-arms bazaar and not go to jail forever for something or other. But. I think the surrounding circumstances gp's alluding to might have involved [0] and [1] (with a fairly colorful slant). I'm inclined to give a little weight to the colorful account since the agents in question actually went to jail for the massive theft; for a more neutral treatment, Justice [2] and Vice [3] cover the situation. The basic claim being that the salacious murder-for-hire bit was 1) never tried or proven, and 2) was allegedly instigated in part by federal agents (operating out of unrelated offices) and a "mentor" of Ulbricht's. In reaction to one of the federal agents himself stealing $800,000 from the criminal enterprise for himself in the course of his investigation. Or something like that. I'm not clear how that squares with Ulbricht going on to order five more imaginary executions, but the whole thing seems awfully sordid from every angle. [0] (Sarah Jeong for Forbes' contributor network thing) https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahjeong/2015/04/17/could-the-crimes-of-two-corrupt-agents-free-ross-ulbricht/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahjeong/2015/04/17/could-the... [1] (Andy Greenberg for Wired Magazine) https://archive.is/BvuQr https://archive.is/BvuQr [2] https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-federal-agents-charged-bitcoin-money-laundering-and-wire-fraud https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-federal-agent... and https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-dea-agent-sentenced-extortion-money-laundering-and-obstruction-related-silk-road https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-dea-agent-sen... [3] https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-evidence-of-government-corruption-was-suppressed-in-the-silk-road-trial/ https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-evidence-of-government-c...

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ratelimitsteve 1y ago

>it does look like he may have made a very dark decision at one point very vague. care to expound?

soulofmischief 1y ago
Entrapment. The FBI posed as a user and convinced Ross that some people needed to be taken out, offered to do it, arrested him, dropped the murder-for-hire charges because they didn't want to play that game in court, knowing it would backfire, while still using those (unconvicted) charges to publicly smear him and influence the judge's decisions, and finally stole his Bitcoin. Two agents went to prison over this. Those same agents have a history of fraud and abuse.
alwa 1y ago
So -- I can't imagine how one could expect to run a massive drugs-and-arms bazaar and not go to jail forever for something or other. But. I think the surrounding circumstances gp's alluding to might have involved [0] and [1] (with a fairly colorful slant). I'm inclined to give a little weight to the colorful account since the agents in question actually went to jail for the massive theft; for a more neutral treatment, Justice [2] and Vice [3] cover the situation. The basic claim being that the salacious murder-for-hire bit was 1) never tried or proven, and 2) was allegedly instigated in part by federal agents (operating out of unrelated offices) and a "mentor" of Ulbricht's. In reaction to one of the federal agents himself stealing $800,000 from the criminal enterprise for himself in the course of his investigation. Or something like that. I'm not clear how that squares with Ulbricht going on to order five more imaginary executions, but the whole thing seems awfully sordid from every angle. [0] (Sarah Jeong for Forbes' contributor network thing) https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahjeong/2015/04/17/could-the-crimes-of-two-corrupt-agents-free-ross-ulbricht/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahjeong/2015/04/17/could-the... [1] (Andy Greenberg for Wired Magazine) https://archive.is/BvuQr https://archive.is/BvuQr [2] https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-federal-agents-charged-bitcoin-money-laundering-and-wire-fraud https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-federal-agent... and https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-dea-agent-sentenced-extortion-money-laundering-and-obstruction-related-silk-road https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-dea-agent-sen... [3] https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-evidence-of-government-corruption-was-suppressed-in-the-silk-road-trial/ https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-evidence-of-government-c...