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Topic: BurtW arrested (update: charges dropped!) - page 10. (Read 74668 times)

legendary
Activity: 2646
Merit: 1136
All paid signature campaigns should be banned.
So it means BurtW would now be free to talk in this topic, right?

I believe he previously said he couldn't because of an injunction or something.
Just read the last few pages of this thread.
legendary
Activity: 2646
Merit: 1136
All paid signature campaigns should be banned.
Great news! Colorado remains a Bitcoin friendly state.

Other people were charged in the same operation.  What happened to them?
Just two pages back:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.11890239
legendary
Activity: 1946
Merit: 1035
So it means BurtW would now be free to talk in this topic, right?

I believe he previously said he couldn't because of an injunction or something.
hero member
Activity: 532
Merit: 500
no longer selling accounts
Great news! Colorado remains a Bitcoin friendly state.
The charges were federal, making state law, and the political environment in CO regarding bitcoin irrelevant.

Also, local law enforcement agencies (multiple according to reports) participated in the raiding of BurtW's home in order to share in the civil forfeiture proceeds...
hero member
Activity: 910
Merit: 1003
Great news! Colorado remains a Bitcoin friendly state.

Other people were charged in the same operation.  What happened to them?
legendary
Activity: 2156
Merit: 1393
You lead and I'll watch you walk away.
Sure, he can file a lawsuit, but it would be very costly and the odds of winning are highly stacked against him.

If you file a lawsuit the fool behind the bench works for the government you're suing. Good luck with that.
sr. member
Activity: 434
Merit: 250
Loose lips sink sigs!
http://www.coindesk.com/charges-against-colorado-bitcoin-trader-dismissed/

Great news! Colorado remains a Bitcoin friendly state.

It's very unfortunate that Burt has endured $95,000 of legal fees based on a charge that was ultimately deemed not worthy of bringing to the courts. I hope he plans to sue the Government or State of Colorado for recuperation and reimbursement of his time and money. The legal system also needs to reward people for the time and money they force citizens to endure for frivolous charges.
legendary
Activity: 3878
Merit: 1193
Sure, he can file a lawsuit, but it would be very costly and the odds of winning are highly stacked against him.
hero member
Activity: 658
Merit: 500
Buy and sell bitcoins,
After doing a full thread back read, it seems that you can file charges against them for false accusation? Or maybe not. That's just my opinion though. Welcome back BurtW and I hope you get your coins back or at least a percentage of it if not full.
legendary
Activity: 1904
Merit: 1073
Seeing that all charges was dropped... can you sue them for wrongful arrest or something? Most people lose all seized items or it gets hold up in administrative rubbish for years

to frustrate the hell out of you.

They most probably dropped the charges because some procedures were not followed and they know the conviction success ratio is very low for this alleged offense.

In their opinion, can Localbitcoin users legally operate within the laws of the United states.... My guess is NO.. with all the KYC/AML regulations there.  Huh Huh 
full member
Activity: 135
Merit: 100
"They did not want us to talk to each other so they issued an administrative separation order covering all the Bitcoiners arrested in the sweep."

There were several posts regarding the impact of public discussion of your case.
Did that help? Could we have done more? What was their attitude to bitcoin?

I'm working on the premise that at some time some government will try to arrest all bitcoiners,
and that it would be foolish to assume that cannot happen.
legendary
Activity: 1498
Merit: 1000
Welcome back BurtW! I am glad justice did prevail in this case! Sorry you were left holding bag for that payment, get on your feet buddy!
legendary
Activity: 1232
Merit: 1001
mining is so 2012-2013
did you get a tattoo while you were in?   Smiley

just joking.  bet it felt so good to walk out the doors of that jail and drive away.
legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1010
Ad maiora!
sounds like quite the ordeal, at least you are free now. After you get your stuff back, do you have recourse to sue? you were locked up for a long time.
hero member
Activity: 966
Merit: 1003
On the day I was arrested at my client's office in front of my client and all my co-workers they did not have to tell me why I was being arrested - sealed arrest warrant.
That same day they searched our house and did not have to tell us what they were looking for - sealed search warrant.
...

Thank you very much for posting this. Should give food for thought for everyone regarding what the threat model we need to be safe against actually is. Plausible deniability is one of the things that come to mind.
legendary
Activity: 1302
Merit: 1004
Core dev leaves me neg feedback #abuse #political
I hope you get your coins back.  Be patient and persistent my friend.
legendary
Activity: 2646
Merit: 1136
All paid signature campaigns should be banned.
Thank you for your reply. That's really unfortunate they moved the coins... I seriously hope you get what's yours back.

It's also very shocking that they placed you on a cage 23 hours a day while murderers, robbers and pedophiles aren't even sentenced...

All the best for you and your family.

To be clear I was in a very small cell by myself 23 hours a day and out in the exercise yard in a bigger cage for fresh air by myself one hour a day.  I talked to the other guys through the bars a lot, since there was nothing else to do but at no time did I feel endangered by any of them since we were all separated at all times.
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1009
Did they move your funds? If not, do you have another copy of the seed, or do you know it by heart to move the funds?

I seriously don't understand why they put you on solitary when they had nothing else to take away from you...
They moved the funds (twice for some reason).
There were several arrests made by the task force that weekend.
They did not want us to talk to each other so they issued an administrative separation order covering all the Bitcoiners arrested in the sweep.
At the detention center where I was held there are three huge separate jails, two general population jails and one SHU.
They had to assign each of us to a separate jail.
I was placed in the SHU on an administrative separation (as opposed to a punitive separation).
So, unless they were picking on my specifically, I just got the short straw when the guards selected which jail to assign us to.

Here is a picture of the center, check it out:

Federal Correctional Institution Englewood  

I was in my cell 23 hours a day and got one hour a day out in the slightly larger cage shown here:

Outdoor exersise area of the SHU

Thank you for your reply. That's really unfortunate they moved the coins... I seriously hope you get what's yours back.

It's also very shocking that they placed you on a cage 23 hours a day while murderers, robbers and pedophiles aren't even sentenced...

All the best for you and your family.
legendary
Activity: 2646
Merit: 1136
All paid signature campaigns should be banned.
Did they move your funds? If not, do you have another copy of the seed, or do you know it by heart to move the funds?

I seriously don't understand why they put you on solitary when they had nothing else to take away from you...
They moved the funds (twice for some reason).
There were several arrests made by the task force that weekend.
They did not want us to talk to each other so they issued an administrative separation order covering all the Bitcoiners arrested in the sweep.
At the detention center where I was held there are three huge separate jails, two general population jails and one SHU.
They had to assign each of us to a separate jail.
I was placed in the SHU on an administrative separation (as opposed to a punitive separation).
So, unless they were picking on me specifically, I just got the short straw when the guards selected which jail to assign us to.

Here is a picture of the center, check it out:

Federal Correctional Institution Englewood  

I was in my cell 23 hours a day and got one hour a day out in the slightly larger cage shown here:

Outdoor exersise area of the SHU
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1009

My security threat profile was common burglary and my main concern was making sure my wife would be able to sell the Bitcoins in the event of my death.  So, the the vast majority of my Bitcoins were kept in a Trezor Bitcoin safe with the seed words kept off-site.
After searching my house for many hours and not finding what they were looking for, but taking every computer and electronic memory device they could get their hands on, they phoned in a search warrant for my office, which was granted.
Upon searching my office they found my off-site paper backup of the seed words for the Trezor which were there with retrieval instruction in the case of my death.  They took all of our corporate computers and left.
The rest is, as they say, history.

Food for thought:  my attorney informed me that they can and sometime do put people in jail until they turn over a password.  So in reality your passwords are only as safe as your willingness to spend time in jail over them.  After spending 3 days and 2 nights in solitary confinement (in the SHU at the federal detention center) I can tell you that most people will crack in pretty short order.  It boring beyond comprehension.

Part of the total cost shown on my wife's web site ($284,373.00) was the cost of replacing all of the computers and cell phones we needed in order for our business to keep operating.  Of course once we get all the computers back we will then have more computers and phones than we know what to do with.  Anyone want to buy a used computer that was under government control for nine months?

Did they move your funds? If not, do you have another copy of the seed, or do you know it by heart to move the funds?

I seriously don't understand why they put you on solitary when they had nothing else to take away from you...
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