Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht’s fortune finally ran out following a jury found the Dark web business owner guilty on seven federal counts, one with a mandatory 20-year prison sentence.
Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht is facing life in prison after a federal jury found him guilty on all seven charges relating to the Dark Net marketplace that specialized in the illegal sale of everything from heroin to hitmen’s solutions.
Using the supposedly cryptocurrency that is untraceable for its financial transactions, Silk Road became the de facto Amazon marketplace for every illicit thing anyone could ever want.
Prosecuting attorneys successfully argued the 30-year-old operated the underground exchange using the pseudonym ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ to allow online users to market a wide range of contraband, hacking tutorials, and worse.
The jury took just three-and-a-half hours to reach its verdict, with sentencing scheduled for May 15 after three weeks of testimony.
Online Gambling Connection
US Attorney Preet Bharara, the lead prosecutor into the suit against Ulbricht, is really a strong anti-online gambling proponent who had been recently considered by President Obama to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder.
Bharara is infamous among Internet poker fans for being responsible for ‘Black Friday,’ the Department of Justice’s crackdown and elimination of PokerStars, Full Tilt, and poker that is absolute the United States online gaming market. During the time, he referred to online gambling as a ‘concocted and elaborate fraud that is criminal,’ with the defendants engaged in ‘massive money laundering and bank fraud.’
Bitcoin Betrayal?
The Silk Road case could add credence to those in power who are seek to ban iGaming in the US for its acceptance of the digital currency Bitcoin although the President passed over Bharara for Attorney General.
Such as, that features Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) who recently announced his own 2016 presidential GOP exploratory committee. a cohort that is close of Vegas Sands magnate Sheldon Adelson, the senator is adamant that Web video gaming can be directly connected to terrorism.
During his questioning of nominated Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Graham asked, ‘Would you agree one of many best means for the organization that is terrorist a criminal enterprise in order to enrich themselves is always to have online video gaming that might be very difficult to control?’
Once a rising commodity that attracted Wall Street investors, Bitcoin’s price nose-dived following the revelation that criminals found its anonymous and de-centralized nature the right currency for fraudulent activities.
However, Bitcoin has remained a widely used online poker money at several sites, including Seals with Clubs, a network that keeps accounts anonymous and caters to Americans.
Ross Ulbricht Plummets Faster than Bitcoin
Launched last year, the tale of Silk Road reads like a Jason Statham thriller, but in reality Texas native Ulbricht was the mastermind, operating the Deep Web forum from his apartment that is small in Francisco with just a laptop and Wi-Fi.
Based on proof presented in court, through the next three years, their platform executed more than one million drug discounts, leaving Ulbricht a revenue titanic slot machine play online of over $18 million in Bitcoins.
Ulbricht’s parents, who maintain his purity, insisting he was the fall guy for Silk Road, claim their son merely got in over his head. His mother Lyn says, ‘He’s very idealistic and I could see Ross thinking, ‘ I want to create a market that is open people can freely trade.”
But by having a Bitcoin bank account growing exponentially, he apparently destroyed the ‘friendly, compassionate, caring’ spirit his mom described. He was considering hiring hit men to murder five Silk Road users who threatened to reveal his identity when he was arrested, his computer seizure showed activity suggesting.
Following Ulbricht’s arrest, Silk Road 2.0 straight away launched, nevertheless the site was shutdown by the federal government exactly a year later on, together with his successor Blake Benthall taken into custody.
Netanyahu’s Likud Denies Adelson that is giving Leg-up Japan Casino Bid
Best of friends: Sheldon Adelson and Binyamin Netanyahu, but has the latter been making inappropriate advancements to the Japanese federal government on behalf of his casino magnate buddy? Likud says no. (Image: flash90)
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party has angrily denied reports that the Israeli prime minister attempted to influence the Japanese government on behalf of his friend and close confidante Sheldon Adelson.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz claimed this week that during a ‘financial work visit’ to Tokyo in might 2014, Netanyahu asked a ‘very senior source in the Japanese government’ to appear favorably on Adelson’s ambitions to create a casino resort in Japan, a demand that has been reportedly rejected.
Haaretz‘s source claims that the Japanese official was ‘shocked’ at the suggestion, and informed his colleagues about this.
‘This is a completely false ‘report,’ with no basis or connection to reality whatsoever,’ said a spokesperson for Likud. ‘ The minister that is primen’t request a ‘private’ meeting with any sources within the Japanese government, and certainly don’t ask for a meeting to try and advance Mr. Adelson’s interests, or those of anyone else. The items that were stated simply never were.’
Sleeping Giant
Adelson made no secret of his want to develop a casino resort in Japan when the nation’s lawmakers started debating the possibility of opening the market to legal casino gambling year that is last.
The country’s ruling Liberal Democrat Party submitted a bill to parliament in early December 2013 that aimed regulation that is establish a gaming market that experts think may potentially be the second-largest in the world, after Macau.
It is calculated that Japan’s casino market could eventually generate $40 billion in income annually.
The casino magnate vowed it takes’ to gain a foothold in Japan should the country legalize land-based casinos, later clarifying that ‘whatever it takes’ would be $10 billion that he would spend ‘whatever.
Adelson even told a press conference in Tokyo that he would pay that sum in ‘cash’ if necessary and that he had already arranged workplaces in the country and was prepared to begin with employing staff.
Regulation Postponed
Today, however, Adelson’s Japanese office might be rather quiet; Japan’s casino bill did not pass during 2014, as expected, inspite of the tacit backing of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The united states had wanted to ready its casino market to cash in at the 2020 Olympics, a deadline it has probably missed, as a result of the lengthy bidding process that would ensue following legalization and timeframe it will take to construct large casino complexes.
It appears like Adelson must watch for their mega-resort that is japanese, but he remains fixated on eastward expansion. ‘Right now our focus is on encouraging Asian countries, like Japan and Korea, to dramatically enhance their tourism offering through the development of integrated resorts there,’ he said recently.
Sheldon Adelson is truly no stranger to forming political alliances in order to further their own ends and Netanyahu is no secret to his relationship.
Sheldon Adelson owns the free daily newspaper that is israeli Hayom, which will be therefore pro-Netanhayu so it has been accused of compromising the foundations of Israeli democracy.
Miami Police Accused of Protecting Illegal Gambling Ring
Miami authorities officer Jerry Sutherland surrendered to the FBI after being accused of offering protection to a gambling that is illegal in the city. (Image: CBS4)
A Miami police officer surrendered to FBI officials Monday on charges he took cash payments from an illegal sports operation that is betting Liberty City in trade for protection services.
The officer, a patrolman named Jerry Sutherland, was charged with two counts of extortion under the Hobbs Act.
The crimes carry a prospective sentence of up to 20 years in prison each.
According to an FBI press release, Sutherland was charged by information rather than indictment.
This is an indication that he is cooperating with investigators in the investigation, though his lawyers haven’t released any details about the case.
They did, nonetheless, say that they had been happy with the $50,000 bond that Sutherland was granted in Miami court that is federal.
Police Chief ‘Disappointed’ By Officer
The charges prompted a statement from Miami Police Chief Rodolfo Llanes, whom said that the alleged crimes should not be taken being an indictment of this whole authorities department.
‘we have always been disappointed and disheartened that Officer Jerry Sutherland has been arrested by the FBI,’ Llanes said in the statement today. ‘The Miami Police Department’s Internal Affairs Section has assisted the FBI from the beginning of the investigation. Without a doubt that these allegations are taken by us very seriously.’
‘The allegations surrounding Mr. Sutherland are in no way a reflection of the hard working men and women of this Miami Police Department,’ Llanes added.
According to a press release through the FBI, Sutherland is purported to have agreed to protect the activities ring that is betting or just around January 28, 2014.’ It further alleges that Sutherland ‘facilitated the theft of proceeds from a gambling that is illegal in exchange for the receipt of cash payments’ last July.
No information was provided on the gambling ring that Sutherland was supposedly protecting.
Sutherland, 28, is a huge known person in the Miami Police Department since right after graduating from high school.
He also once attempted to run for the City Commission seat in 2010, but fell short in his effort.
Miami Police Department No Stranger to Sports Betting Controversies, Officer Misconduct
The case is just certainly one of several related to activities betting and misconduct by officers which have recently surfaced in the Miami Police Department.
In 2013, a major sports wagering security racket was busted, ending the careers of about ten Miami police officers who were fired, resigned, or had been convicted of crimes in relation to the betting ring that was based out of a barber shop that is local.
That case was evidently unrelated to the Sutherland arrest.
In a separate case, three Miami police and two helps were suspended after being suspected of taking kickbacks from towing businesses.
According to the allegations, Officers Michael Bode, Artice Peoples and Julio Ruiz were directing tow truck companies to traffic accidents instead than using the businesses that had agreements with the town of Miami, and collected payments from providing the information.
More recently, that investigation has expanded by the FBI to look into other officers in the Miami-Dade Police Department and other agencies.
There are suspicions that the scheme went beyond kickbacks to provides and auto that is also involved stores that overstated the harm to vehicles to be able to boost the worth of insurance claims.