Topic: Who is "Variety Jones"? - page 15. (Read 47236 times)

Why would they do that?
They are in deep shit already.
That would be suicide.

I don't think the chat statements alone are enough proof. I think it will be called something like "hearsay". It can be one piece of the puzzle, though.
The whole defense should be based on Ross knowledge about the origin of these files. If he is sure about not saving the logs and writing the journal, there will be a way to prove that with forensic, but when he created the files himself, there will be no way to prove the opposite.
If he was framed by FORCE/BRIDGES in a way, beyond the already known, it is possible, that one of the two will declare that in court.

I really think the evidence has been manipulated as I have stated and explained here: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/was-ross-ulbright-framed-by-the-fbi-1038833
That just doesn't make sense.
It really doesn't

Wait, I thought you said he was put on federal probation for 5 years.

That's exactly why he should prove, that he sold the site a few month after creating. It was getting too big for him, so he sold the site. Chatlogs were manipilutated on his pc to make him the fall guy. Later he was tricked back in with some administrative tasks just to have him arrested "red handed".

Now, if he lied about the file manipulation, then things are quite different. All allegations about him beeing DPR the whole time will be true and therefore he should face the kingpin charge. He was not only in the kingpin position at Silkroad, but he also acted like one in the murder for hire story. Even when no one got killed, he still was acting like the typical drug lord. If LE had let him doing or if he contacted a real hitman instead of FORCE, there would have been real dead people.

edit: If he can prove, he sold the site, there still will be the question "Who bought SR from Ross and ordered the hitmen?"

You are most possibly right about Jester. The chance is quite small, that he is VJ, esp since Thomas Clark is already a perfect match. I am just waiting for his arrest. Now, when LE is not looking for him, the chance is big, that VJ was working undercover for LE from early on.

Just did some research. I wish i would have copied the link, but basically since he was convicted of the kingpin charge, he has to be sentenced to life. Granted, judges can do whatever they want they rarely stray from the guidelines., but that looks like thats going to be his punishment.. plus, it will be most likely in a super max.. I honestly dont think id want to live. ive heard those supermaxes are terrible.. 23 hours locked in a tiny cell, by yourself. you get out 1 hour a day in a dog pen basically.. 2 showers a week and they purposely keep you away from the press.

Honestly, while I think Ross is guilty, but that punishment is too harsh. give him 20 years in a medium security prison, but life in a super max? no way..

Jester no, he would've jacked the site and stolen the coins, failing that would've bragged endlessly how "military experienced" he was in private chats. As for Ross Ulbricht I'm pretty sure no plea offers were tabled, sometimes the government if they have a slam dunk case wants to make an example and will proceed to trial especially if it is a high profile political case like SR, they want their show trial.

Fed prosecutors claiming SR product was involved in 6 overdose deaths they are really piling it on, they plan on parading these grieving parents in front of the judge during sentencing  http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/25/feds-6-died-as-a-result-of-overdosing-from-silk-road-purchased-drugs/

Ulbricht always said he was 'prepared' to face life in prison but unfortunately with that continuing corruption charge he is looking at life at a supermax prison as all previous convictions for that charge have ended up there. That's a lot of solitary confinement and is designed so media can never have access to you.

No, i dont know his mom. I did see the video where she stated they turned down 2 offers. Its all speculation, but ive also read that hes looking at 30 years minimum. which sounds about right. the 20 years isnt with all the enhancements.....

You know his mom personally?
And she told you that?

I dont have the source, youll just have to take it with a grain of salt, i guess... but his mother did say that they turned down 2 offers, that was in one of her videos.. but all I can say is "trust me" lol....

Source?

Oh, Ross will be lucky to get just 30 years, hes facing 20 year mandatory minimum. But the judge could make all  the charges run concurrently. if that the case, he could do only 20 years, but with computer crimes, the charges get enhanced, so, I honestly think hell be lucky to get 30 years. The prosecution is going for life, I doubt he will get life, but he very easily get 30-40 years, which is really life for a 30 year old..

From what I was told. they offered him a deal of 25 years and he declined it. hes probably regretting that one.. he douls be out in his mid fifties, which he could still have somewhat of a life outside of prison. In the fed system you have to serve roughly 90 percent of the time, its not like state, where if you sentenced for 20 years you could get paroled in 7. there is no such thing as parole in the fed system.

On a side note, a guy that was convicted of trafficking 80 kilos of maryjane  with his plane, he was moving it from sate to state. was put on federal probation for 5 years, what a lucky bastard, he had to pay a 50k dollar fine and he lost his interest in the plane to the govt. he was facing 20 years behind bars. so, you can get lucky once in a while...This just happened a couple of months ago..

We can only speculate about the origin of the Bitcoins found on his computer. He was stating first, that these were winnings from investements, trading and such, but this turned out to be a lie, since they found the connection to Silk Road coins. Might be Silk Road winnings from the time beeing the admin of the site plus the ones he already mentioned.

We know that he created the concept and the early stage of the website and we know that he earned commisions from all the sales at least until the time, he possibly gave away the control. He should have known, that his actions are illegal in most of the countries in the world esp. in his own home country, so he will be better off taking the responsibility for that.

Ross is the one who knows, if he has really saved all the chat logs and if he wrote the journal. If this is true and he really did all this by himself, fully conscious and at the same time lying to all of his friends and his community and also ordering hitmen on people without even having proof of anything, he deserves a long sentence for beeing the "ruthless drug lord", that he never wanted to be.

I am sure he will get 10+ years, for the proven and already admitted counts. The 10 years that come in addition at minimum, could be avoided, when he can prove, that he was framed back in at the day of his arrest and has sold the site long time before. When he can prove, that he has nothing to do with all the murder for hire accusations and when he can prove, that the files on his pc were altered by someone else, meaning that all the evidence found on his computer could be excluded.

Ok, lets say for a minute that what Ross is saying is true. He handed the reigns over to someone and then someone hacked into his computer and installed a few terqbytes of information. Now, why would that person give ross over a hundred thousand bitcoins? Doesn't make sense. Plus, he was caught logged in his DPR account talking as DPR. This does not sound like he was set up. He got caught, plain and simple. why he kept a log of everything is mind boggling. Here he was worried that his admins were logging the tor chats and yet he was doing just that. He thought he was smarter than everyone else. Indestructible.

IF he hadn't kept a lof of everything Im pretty sure that he would have walked from some charges, if not all of them. What was the purpose of logging the chats? makes no sense to me at all. Plus, he should have had a system that a plug wrapped around his wrist that fit into his usb port and if it ever got disconnected, the computer would shut down. that would have been something pretty easy to make, especially with all of his money...

He should have taken his millions, sold his site to someone and moved to an island. Now hell be sleeping with bubba....

At the first sight, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence against Ross, but when you dig deeper things turn out to be a lot more complicated. This topic was created, because Variety Jones had a massive impact on Ross. He was manipulating Ross right from the beginning and it is now pretty much proven, that he took over the DPR moniker at a certain time.

Don't get me wrong here. I don't think that Ross is completely innocent. He knew about the laws. He knew that earning commission from drug sales is as illegal as selling them by himself. I mean, do you think that Pablo Escobar saw, or even touched the cocaine he was selling? No, he was earning a commision and was controlling the business, just like Ross.

He also knew that some of the goods he was earning commision from, in some cases could be used to fraud, harm or even kill innocent people. In his libertarian mind it seems justifiable, but I have my doubt, that this is morally correct with all of the goods that were sold on Silk Road. Especially when it comes to children, who were also able to buy anything on the SR.

I am open to discuss the laws on cannabis, which make no sense in light of the legal drugs, like alcohol, tabacco and pills. These laws look kinda outmoded. How many people die every year from alcohol? A very big nuber! How many people die from cannabis? I never heard of one in history! Possible, that there were some few, but this doesn't seem to be a big number compared to the hundreds of thousands death's caused directly by alcohol in every year!

I am also open to discuss about "free information" and some other aspects regarding the products that were sold on SR, but when it comes to hard drugs things are different. It's all about responsibility.

Now back to Ross and the question, wether he was framed or not and if it makes a differrence for his fate:

If most of the evidence presented in his case was manipulated by either the corrupt agents or Variety Jones or maybe both, there should be a retrial based on evidence that is left over after cleaning up.

Ross' laywer said, that he handed over the SR site at an early stage and was tricked back to login as DPR, at the time he was arrested. If this was true and his computer was backdoored and files were altered to fit into the accusations, they have pretty much nothing left as evidence, to prove Ross beeing the great "druglord, that even hires hitmen to get rid of unwanted opponents".

Don't you think he deserves a retrial?

I am really amused by the Ulbricht apologists. To me, the "kid" seems like someone who watched a movie where bad guys do bad things and he idolized them, carried out the exact actions, he became a copy cat. Then he got busted. End of story. No one "needed" to frame poor old Ross. He did it to himself. Yeah, those crooked Feds are crooked, but it doesn't change anything.

I don't think that all this points to VJ beeing a mole. He wouldn't be taking that nick and he would definitely not give DPR the "Plural of Mongoose" hint to find out his name (Thomas Clark).

There are three possibilities:

1. He saved everything knowingly and no files has been manipulated - Guilty in all counts + an extra smack in the face for beiing that dumb
2. He saved everything knowingly and files has been manipulated - He can lower the sentence or get out free eventually if he can raise doubt about the files that have been used as evidence. Still deserves the slap in the face for saving evidence on his everyday pc
3. All files has been manipulated - He created the site and sold it, before the investigation began. He should get out as a free man and take some lessions in computer security ;-)

Why ross kept logs of this sort of stuff or anything at all regarding silk road is beyond belief. Then he makes it even worse by keeping it all on his laptop that he actually uses to run sr. Just doesn't make any sense.