I think the level of corruption and blatant disregard for laws by the privileged we're seeing is unlike anything in modern history. If Nixon's watergate happened today it wouldn't even be a blip in the 24hrs news cycle, that's how far gone the erosion of institutions and rule of law is.
And he has been and continues to make fun of the investigators, publicly mocking investigators and sending small amounts from the fraudulent wallets to investigators.
Dr. Fauchi pardon comes to mind. I doubt that his accepting of pardon was an admission of guilt. He wasn't even charged, so how can he admit the guilt?
And i think that similar preemptive pardon here, without charge and thus any guilt admission, wouldn't allow the fund seizure.
He’s reaping what he saw. Things aren’t looking good for him nor his father, a lesson both of them will painfully learn from. Father career is possibly over.
if you get caught. just saw a video on a couple who stole a Brinks armor car; disappeared into Europe with new identities; never caught until female turned herself in. Not everybody gets caught.
Is that same or different from the gang who robbed an armored car for about $100M worth of goods, and ICE stopped the prosecution and deported one of the robbers, before the stolen goods were recovered?
I don't have the knowledge to sanity check the claims, but I would've figured someone would be getting rolled by now. I recall that the dad was scrubbing socials along with the son, but that could be token harassment.
The feds won't say anything until after they arrest the father and son. Obviously there is an investigation going on but it takes more than a few days.
Correct. US Marshalls have a contract with this guy’s dad to mange their crypto holdings (seized as part of investigations). Kid steals money but can’t resist showing off to friends and gets “busted”. Except the government still doesn’t appear to acknowledge a theft even occurred and the kid taunts investigators by sending them small amounts of ETH.
just to let the kid know, I'm one of the investigators. I hate being taunted with any type of cryptocoin, cash of any denomination. I also hate gold and silver. I won't sleep until I catch you or $10 whichever comes first.
I doubt the present administration is particularly competent at bureaucracy but this theft occurred in Oct 2024 while the Biden administration was in charge. To be honest, Trevor Milton's pardon after donating a few million to Trump's campaign mean that any sum of money over $2m in government contractor hands is probably at risk. With a $2m price on pardons, it's just a question of mechanizing the machine.
Slightly tangential question but what’s with govt seized crypto assets? I had a bit of Litecoin a while back and went to check my wallet one day to find an FBI landing page instead. Is that just theirs now? Feels a bit like the gov seized control of my savings account.
It appears the feds were so incompetent they didn't realize the theft had occurred until AFTER Zach's post went viral, and even then, nothing may happen. And to think, had Lick done nothing he likely would have gotten away with it. Perfect crime undone by ego.
The headline is that the son stole the crypto. Maybe your sarcasm went over my head, and you're just saying that the dad is definitely involved too. In which case, probably.
i wasnt be sarcastic, it seems so easy to prove i cant believe the kid needed to DOX himself. the US Government puts his dad in charge of shitload of crypto and his son starts live streaming himself buying expensive watches - seems like a slam dunk to me
This isn't a "honor among thieves" thing. This is a "getting one over on someone you don't like because there's no consequences" thing.
This is a petty dispute. I'm not gonna go put a bullet in someone who over a petty dispute like this. Nobody is, not even thieves and other people who live outside the law. That's just absurd. Someone who I've wronged in doing so (i.e. someone who likes them) might put one back in me. Or there might be other consequences. People let those things go because it's just not worth it vs the risk of consequences.
But say I can do something that will cause the government to go after someone for me at no risk to myself... That's basically what happened here.
This is basically an attempted (we'll see if it succeeds) DDOS reflection attack but with government.
So much of the government is like this, they will hire some connected guy to manage something in a slightly competent manner.
Just learned that the federal government has long term leases on office buildings that congressmen have a financial interest in. More disappointment.
I think the level of corruption and blatant disregard for laws by the privileged we're seeing is unlike anything in modern history. If Nixon's watergate happened today it wouldn't even be a blip in the 24hrs news cycle, that's how far gone the erosion of institutions and rule of law is.
To be clear: the crypto in question wasn't managed in even a slightly competent manner. It was literally embezzled.
It was embezzled in a slightly competent manner. Not very competently.
>> More disappointment.
This whole headline in incredibly comical: https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/media-center/press-rel...
https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/dem...
And he has been and continues to make fun of the investigators, publicly mocking investigators and sending small amounts from the fraudulent wallets to investigators.
Crazy world
If he "invests" some of his funds ... could get a pardon.
Tbf, accepting a pardon is legally admitting guilt per SCOTUS and disgorgement would allow the funds to be sized
Dr. Fauchi pardon comes to mind. I doubt that his accepting of pardon was an admission of guilt. He wasn't even charged, so how can he admit the guilt?
And i think that similar preemptive pardon here, without charge and thus any guilt admission, wouldn't allow the fund seizure.
It was though. It wasn’t a conditional “everyone but Facui because some people liked him” thing.
He lied under oath about his knowledge of gain of function at the Wuhan lab. He is guilty of at least that.
In theory. Do you really think that would happen in the current ecosystem?
Even "better", Trump can extort more ...
with that dirtbag, anybody can get a pardon - even illegal immigrants and all they need is a dollar
The one thing the government will not tolerate is embarrassment. There's no way he avoids a long prison sentence.
He’s reaping what he saw. Things aren’t looking good for him nor his father, a lesson both of them will painfully learn from. Father career is possibly over.
> Things aren’t looking good for him nor his father, a lesson both of them will painfully learn from
You’re a hell of an optimist.
I’d say that it’s just as likely that the pardon sharpie is being readied, just as soon as the super PAC donation clears.
Put it into Trump's coin as a donation
Trump already rug pulled
Bribes are $3M cash. He's good.
why would that make a difference
X can't bribe Y by buying Z that Y has no interest in.
> Father career is possibly over.
Plenty of people would happily flush their career down the drain to run away with their family and $90M
I guess so but what about when you get caught and get nothing?
if you get caught. just saw a video on a couple who stole a Brinks armor car; disappeared into Europe with new identities; never caught until female turned herself in. Not everybody gets caught.
Is that same or different from the gang who robbed an armored car for about $100M worth of goods, and ICE stopped the prosecution and deported one of the robbers, before the stolen goods were recovered?
Different cases. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9766179 vs https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/immigration-officials-a...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_granted_executi...
Pretty sure they'll both be fine as long as they still have access to that money.
He and his son should be in jail. This is criminal; whether it's theft or criminal negligence.
the feds haven't even acknowledged there was a theft. it's possible they still don't know or somehow don't have the evidence to bring charges
Or this is a false accusation.
I don't have the knowledge to sanity check the claims, but I would've figured someone would be getting rolled by now. I recall that the dad was scrubbing socials along with the son, but that could be token harassment.
They did something, how else could the son flex watches worth 6 figures.
Likely? Yes.
Watches? You can also be right. Though, I don't think you need $90 million to spend <$1 million on a watch to splurge.
The feds won't say anything until after they arrest the father and son. Obviously there is an investigation going on but it takes more than a few days.
Molly White really is quite thorough
A bit lost here. Is there more backstory to this? It reads as if the government contractors son stole the 90 million from the government?
Correct. US Marshalls have a contract with this guy’s dad to mange their crypto holdings (seized as part of investigations). Kid steals money but can’t resist showing off to friends and gets “busted”. Except the government still doesn’t appear to acknowledge a theft even occurred and the kid taunts investigators by sending them small amounts of ETH.
just to let the kid know, I'm one of the investigators. I hate being taunted with any type of cryptocoin, cash of any denomination. I also hate gold and silver. I won't sleep until I catch you or $10 whichever comes first.
Is this the part everyone's telling me about where fascists are deeply incompetent?
It's not political. Most government contractors are barely competent and computer security is hard.
I doubt the present administration is particularly competent at bureaucracy but this theft occurred in Oct 2024 while the Biden administration was in charge. To be honest, Trevor Milton's pardon after donating a few million to Trump's campaign mean that any sum of money over $2m in government contractor hands is probably at risk. With a $2m price on pardons, it's just a question of mechanizing the machine.
Or, as Trump might say, "Bring back the autopen!"
Fascism is a lack of emotional intelligence, which is basic intelligence. Empathy and compassion are a form of basic intelligence.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/us-investigating-40-million...
This would be a much better link for this post
There's a lot more detail, and delivered in more professional way
If you email the mods about this (and link to your comment), they might well agree and update the post link.
Tangent: what does the govt do with seized crypto? Does it eventually get liquidated?
They used to auction it but I think now they are holding it in a "strategic reserve".
Slightly tangential question but what’s with govt seized crypto assets? I had a bit of Litecoin a while back and went to check my wallet one day to find an FBI landing page instead. Is that just theirs now? Feels a bit like the gov seized control of my savings account.
Same - lost 500 LTC and 5ish BTC to fbi raid of an exchange back when BTC was ~$12. Sure would love to get that back at current prices!
It appears the feds were so incompetent they didn't realize the theft had occurred until AFTER Zach's post went viral, and even then, nothing may happen. And to think, had Lick done nothing he likely would have gotten away with it. Perfect crime undone by ego.
Is the accusation the dad stole the crypto, or the dad AND the son stole the crypto ?
The headline is that the son stole the crypto. Maybe your sarcasm went over my head, and you're just saying that the dad is definitely involved too. In which case, probably.
i wasnt be sarcastic, it seems so easy to prove i cant believe the kid needed to DOX himself. the US Government puts his dad in charge of shitload of crypto and his son starts live streaming himself buying expensive watches - seems like a slam dunk to me
It's not clear.
There’s another crypto thief that is the son of the head government official…
There's no honor among thieves.
This isn't a "honor among thieves" thing. This is a "getting one over on someone you don't like because there's no consequences" thing.
This is a petty dispute. I'm not gonna go put a bullet in someone who over a petty dispute like this. Nobody is, not even thieves and other people who live outside the law. That's just absurd. Someone who I've wronged in doing so (i.e. someone who likes them) might put one back in me. Or there might be other consequences. People let those things go because it's just not worth it vs the risk of consequences.
But say I can do something that will cause the government to go after someone for me at no risk to myself... That's basically what happened here.
This is basically an attempted (we'll see if it succeeds) DDOS reflection attack but with government.