Topic: Follow the Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security (Read 12602 times)

i feel bad for op he needs help right now how did they get access
to your account op?

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.
After being arrested in front of my client, which was a nice touch as they immediately terminated our contract, they took me to our house.  I was taken aback by the number of cars so I made a point of counting them, 22.
The neighbors who watched the whole thing but failed to take any video (darn) counted up to 35 agents involved in the search.
They were very thorough even searching the entire attic and crawl space, every book, etc.  It took my wife weeks to get the house put back together.  Imagine up to 35 people searching you house for hours, they had the manpower and time to search just about everywhere.
During the search they got into my safe containing all of my physical Bitcoins and other Bitcoin related stuff.
Since I was not doing anything wrong I never expected to be shaken down in this way.  
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 is 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?

wow really? why did they take it?

But thank god that you have not been thrown in to jail at least.

This is disgusting, what else can I say. I am sorry BurtW that this has happened to you and thanks God I don't live anymore in the US, the land of free, the land of opportunity(this I say with the highest degree of irony, of course).

I hope you will get back in your feet somehow. I surely hop you are not done with Bitcoin. I also wish that you fight those a**holes with the best attorneys possible, unfortunately I don't see how this will be possible when you are essentially going against the government.

Good luck!

Too bad all of the coins are going to be sold in a single block... However:


I don't think you'd be able to buy some back even if your part was sold in one block (if I'm correctly understanding this). Or maybe the rule they apply to you is:

https://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2016/080816.htm

It looks like they are going to finally auction off the coins they took from me.  My coins were here:

https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3

Then moved to here:

https://blockchain.info/address/1EJgLfRaXARWgj29FRCLSj2Nfkynb2JGGx

Now they are here:

https://blockchain.info/address/18natxG8EnhmcQQAjirNXoGrZ5geBWcM2R

Getting ready for auction.

Civil Forfeiture Action: As a matter of policy, the USMS extends
the purchase restrictions of a criminal case to any person whose
conduct gave rise to a civil forfeiture of the property or to anyone
acting in concert with or on behalf of, such a person.

Bitcoin Transfer. The USMS will not transfer any bitcoins until it has confirmed receipt of purchase funds from the buyer. The USMS will not transfer bitcoins to an [...] hostile to the United States

Civil asset forfeiture is a hot topic right now, it's total bullshit.  Unfortunately here in California we just had a promising reform bill shot down by misrepresentation from the law enforcement lobbies.  Most of the California forfeit cases deal with cannabis cultivation.

The scary thing is, when you get to looking at civil asset forfeiture, they really don't need any reason to take your stuff, you do not need to be accused or convicted of a crime, and you have no recourse to get it back.

Here are the 186 ($42,222.00 as of this posting) Bitcoins taken from me by Homeland Security:

https://blockchain.info/address/1Eu38i1DkRAPAJhSqbseVroJDpMRfJbAx3

I am sure you guys can come up with some creative, interesting, fun ideas to do with this information.

Bad news, the sheriffs that are all addicted to the "pennies from heaven" shared with them from the Federal asset forfeiture fund whined loud enough and "equitable sharing" was quietly reinstated.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/28/the-feds-have-resumed-a-controversial-program-that-lets-cops-take-stuff-and-keep-it/

(and others)

Good news is I can once again try and corner the sheriff in my county and ask him what he plans to do with the money taken from me.

Amusing "public notes". Was that the basis of what homeland charged you on? Dirty money, child porn and drug trading? If so, I'll laugh.