BurtW arrested (update: charges dropped!) - page 8.

sed

hero member

Activity: 532

Merit: 500

I hope your talks can help you make back that money taken by the feds.

BurtW

legendary

Activity: 2646

Merit: 1137

All paid signature campaigns should be banned.

I will be giving a talk entitled "BurtW - Arrested for Trading Bitcoins" in the Denver/Boulder area. Here is my current speaking schedule:

Libertarian Lunch
Thursday, September 10, 2015
12:30 PM
Carelli's Restaurant, 645 30th Street, Boulder
Libertarian Party of Boulder County

Colorado Bitcoin Society Monthly Meetup
Monday, September 14, 2015
6:00 PM
Southern Hospitality, 1433 17th Street, Denver
Colorado Bitcoin Society

Republican Breakfast
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
7:00 AM
The Plaza Conference Center, 1850 Industrial Cir, Longmont
Reservations: Rebekah Vicknair

I have also added the following tentative dates to my schedule:

Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA) Jury Nullification Education
Friday, September 4, 2015
10:00 AM
Boulder Justice Center

Protest at the Desert Snow Asset Forfeiture Training
Monday-Wednesday, October 5-7, 2015
Time TBD
Fountain Police Department

Full schedule always posted here:

http://www.burtw.com/speaking-schedule--new-.html

Kyraishi

hero member

Activity: 952

Merit: 513

Quote from: BurtW on August 27, 2015, 07:12:50 AM

-snip-

Thanks for the update.
I was not aware of how the case went.
I am sorry to hear that the government robbed you legally.
I hope and wish you manage to recover/recoup all of what was stolen from you plus interest.

BurtW

legendary

Activity: 2646

Merit: 1137

All paid signature campaigns should be banned.

Quote from: Kyraishi on August 27, 2015, 03:50:18 AM

That's nice.
Can you give us a little description on what will be covered at the speech?

Sure, I can save you the click. All three talks will be basically the same. Copy/Pasted from Colorado Bitcoin Society above:

Quote

If you have been in the Denver Bitcoin community for more than just a couple months you will have probably heard of Burt Wagner (BurtW in Bitcoinland). He has been tangled up in what is certainly the most public of cases involving person to person bitcoin trading.

BurtW will talk about his experience of being investigated and tracked for 18 months, indicted by a grand jury, arrested, charged with a Federal felony, and thrown into solitary confinement all over simply trading Bitcoins on localbitcoins.com.

He will also discuss the ~~one year~~ nine months of legal negotiations that led to the charges finally being dropped and the return of most of the property seized in the raid on his home and corporate offices.

We expect the talk to lead into an extensive question and answer session and the discussion of the subjects: Bitcoins, localbitcoins.com, law enforcement tactics, the law, licenses, civil asset forfeiture, the prison system, the justice system, homeland security, the patriot act, surveillance, etc. All of which happened to him personally.

http://www.jmwagner.com/home.html

and

http://www.burtw.com/home.html

Meetup structure this week.

6-6:30 Arrival and Drinks

6:45 Presentation

Recommended Parking at http://www.guarantyparking.com/

Discounted validation cards for this garage in the restaurant for paying guests.

Bitcoins accepted for all purchases of food and beverage along with tips. (Not converted into dollars instantly)

Kyraishi

hero member

Activity: 952

Merit: 513

Quote from: BurtW on August 23, 2015, 08:23:45 PM

I will be giving a talk entitled "BurtW - Arrested for Trading Bitcoins" in the Denver/Boulder area. Here is my current speaking schedule:

Libertarian Lunch
Thursday, September 10, 2015
12:30 PM
Carelli's Restaurant, 645 30th Street, Boulder
Libertarian Party of Boulder County

Colorado Bitcoin Society Monthly Meetup
Monday, September 14, 2015
6:00 PM
Southern Hospitality, 1433 17th Street, Denver
Colorado Bitcoin Society

Republican Breakfast
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
7:00 AM
The Plaza Conference Center, 1850 Industrial Cir, Longmont
Reservations: Rebekah Vicknair

That's nice.
Can you give us a little description on what will be covered at the speech?

hack_

hero member

Activity: 501

Merit: 503

Quote from: BurtW on August 23, 2015, 08:23:45 PM

I will be giving a talk entitled "BurtW - Arrested for Trading Bitcoins" in the Denver/Boulder area. Here is my current speaking schedule:

Libertarian Lunch
Thursday, September 10, 2015
12:30 PM
Carelli's Restaurant, 645 30th Street, Boulder
Libertarian Party of Boulder County

Colorado Bitcoin Society Monthly Meetup
Monday, September 14, 2015
6:00 PM
Southern Hospitality, 1433 17th Street, Denver
Colorado Bitcoin Society

Republican Breakfast
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
7:00 AM
The Plaza Conference Center, 1850 Industrial Cir, Longmont
Reservations: Rebekah Vicknair

Glad to know you made it out!

BurtW

legendary

Activity: 2646

Merit: 1137

All paid signature campaigns should be banned.

I will be giving a talk entitled "BurtW - Arrested for Trading Bitcoins" in the Denver/Boulder area. Here is my current speaking schedule:

Libertarian Lunch
Thursday, September 10, 2015
12:30 PM
Carelli's Restaurant, 645 30th Street, Boulder
Libertarian Party of Boulder County

Colorado Bitcoin Society Monthly Meetup
Monday, September 14, 2015
6:00 PM
Southern Hospitality, 1433 17th Street, Denver
Colorado Bitcoin Society

Republican Breakfast
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
7:00 AM
The Plaza Conference Center, 1850 Industrial Cir, Longmont
Reservations: Rebekah Vicknair

BurtW

legendary

Activity: 2646

Merit: 1137

All paid signature campaigns should be banned.

Quote from: acquafredda on August 17, 2015, 08:00:12 AM

Quote from: BurtW on August 17, 2015, 07:39:20 AM

Very well written article about the case, and civil asset forfeiture in general:

http://coinjournal.net/burt-wagner-localbitcoins-case-shows-danger-of-overbearing-government

If you are in the Boulder/Denver area I will be speaking:

http://www.meetup.com/Colorado-Bitcoin-Society/events/224676885/

Updated web sites:

http://www.burtw.com/

http://www.jmwagner.com/

I hope to raise some money for you man. You are a good man.
We could have been you.

I hope everything will be ok soon.

Hold on! Take care.
thanks

That would be fantastic. We do have a fund raiser in the works. Three of my friends who are musicians and/or have bands have offered to play. We are just looking for a venue to host the event. It will be in the Boulder/Longmont area somewhere. I will keep everyone posted.

Westin Landon Cox

full member

Activity: 136

Merit: 100

Get your filthy fiat off me you damn dirty state.

I'm also glad to see this outcome...or maybe relieved is a better word. I was afraid it was going to be a lot worse.

RustyNomad

sr. member

Activity: 336

Merit: 251

Glad to see that you were able to walk away from this Burt but very sad to see what an overbearing government can do to a person's life.

Another sad thing is that I do not see this changing anything. We live in a militarised world where governments are under the impression that they can do as they please with impunity as they were put in place by the 'majority' i.e. the majority funders yes.

Long gone are the days where a 'civil servant' acted as a servant of the people.

acquafredda

legendary

Activity: 1316

Merit: 1481

Quote from: BurtW on August 17, 2015, 07:39:20 AM

Very well written article about the case, and civil asset forfeiture in general:

http://coinjournal.net/burt-wagner-localbitcoins-case-shows-danger-of-overbearing-government

If you are in the Boulder/Denver area I will be speaking:

http://www.meetup.com/Colorado-Bitcoin-Society/events/224676885/

Updated web sites:

http://www.burtw.com/

http://www.jmwagner.com/

I hope to raise some money for you man. You are a good man.
We could have been you.

I hope everything will be ok soon.

Hold on! Take care.
thanks

iCEBREAKER

legendary

Activity: 2156

Merit: 1072

Crypto is the separation of Power and State.

Quote from: rpietila on July 29, 2015, 12:07:57 PM

Insuring against government is typically illegal.

That's nice. Could it be done, perhaps using Monero-funded smart contracts on Ethereum? Wink

BurtW

legendary

Activity: 2646

Merit: 1137

All paid signature campaigns should be banned.

Very well written article about the case, and civil asset forfeiture in general:

http://coinjournal.net/burt-wagner-localbitcoins-case-shows-danger-of-overbearing-government

If you are in the Boulder/Denver area I will be speaking:

http://www.meetup.com/Colorado-Bitcoin-Society/events/224676885/

Updated web sites:

http://www.burtw.com/

http://www.jmwagner.com/

spazzdla

legendary

Activity: 1722

Merit: 1000

Quote from: jbreher on July 30, 2015, 02:16:09 PM

Quote from: Quickseller on July 28, 2015, 12:33:33 PM

The government has the right to ...

I disagree. Governments have no rights. They have powers. Sometimes stated as authority, but authority is in itself a contradiction.

This guy gets it. The right LOL, no.

jbreher

legendary

Activity: 3038

Merit: 1660

lose: unfind ... loose: untight

Quote from: Quickseller on July 28, 2015, 12:33:33 PM

The government has the right to ...

I disagree. Governments have no rights. They have powers. Sometimes stated as authority, but authority is in itself a contradiction.

sAt0sHiFanClub

hero member

Activity: 546

Merit: 500

Warning: Confrmed Gavinista

Glad to hear that you came out the better party in this.

I cant begin to imagine the stress you were put under, but I get the impression that you have sufficient strength of character to weather it, and prevail.

It is deeply disturbing to realise that we live in societies where our governments feel the need (indeed the right) to intimidate citizens in order to ensure their compliance.

Compliance with laws that favour a small, wealthy and powerful elite.

rpietila

donator

Activity: 1722

Merit: 1036

Insuring against government is typically illegal.

Quickseller

copper member

Activity: 2996

Merit: 2374

Quote from: DannyHamilton on July 28, 2015, 12:14:10 PM

Quote from: BurtW on July 28, 2015, 11:50:36 AM

Part of the $284,373.00 cost was repairing the damage they did to our home and office, including doors, locks and walls.

I take it homeowners insurance doesn't cover the costs of repairing damage caused during a search even if the charges are dropped?

Most insurance policies will include exclusions against damage caused by government action. According to insure.com, the most broad homeowner insurance policy, HO-3, will cover against everything except a small number of things, government action being one of them. This appears to be corroborated by investopedia, as well as an article by lexis nexis.

The government has the right to search/seize property if there is probable cause that a crime occurred. If there was actually probable cause is a different question as I know the search warrant was sealed even to Burt when it was executed and I haven't read anything about it ever getting unsealed.

DannyHamilton

legendary

Activity: 3472

Merit: 4801

Quote from: BurtW on July 28, 2015, 11:50:36 AM

Part of the $284,373.00 cost was repairing the damage they did to our home and office, including doors, locks and walls.

I take it homeowners insurance doesn't cover the costs of repairing damage caused during a search even if the charges are dropped?

BurtW

legendary

Activity: 2646

Merit: 1137

All paid signature campaigns should be banned.

Quote from: Stephen Gornick on July 28, 2015, 11:35:52 AM

Quote from: BurtW on July 17, 2015, 09:22:00 AM

During the search they got into my safe containing all of my physical Bitcoins and other Bitcoin related stuff.

Out of curiosity, was it by force (e.g., damage the lock or hinges)?

If we gave them the keys then they did not have to break in (front door, some lock boxes, etc.)
If they found the keys during their search then they did not break in (some doors, lock boxes, etc.)
If we did not give them the keys or they could not find the keys then they just broke in (my toolbox, door to the outdoor shed, the gun safe, etc.)

So, bottom line, it just cost me money to repair or replace the locks on anything we did not give them the key to or they did not find the key for.

Part of the $284,373.00 cost was repairing the damage they did to our home and office, including doors, locks and walls.

Topic: BurtW arrested (update: charges dropped!) - page 8. (Read 74713 times)