Judges can be a bit on the "selective" side when they don't believe someone could forget a password but shrug off a federal agent deceiving them on a FISA warrant application.
@Baby Fishmouth Ted? Ted who? And the "them"...is Ted dealing with judges, people "forgetting" passwords, or...is it federal agents lying? I like to get a warm and fuzzy feeling.....oh, I can do that on my own. Time for my bong.
If his wallet used 2FA he could have gotten away with such a weak password since it wouldn't work without the security key. Then, years later, he uses a deterministic seed to recover the wallet on a new computer and after moving the money explain that he did comply with giving them the password, but since they didn't actually take the coin within X years limitations apply and they give up being allowed to take it. Then he keeps it.
I was behind this guy at the airport in the security line where they open and inspect your carry on. They were just finishing up with him and were about to turn to me. When the inspector who had just checked his bag shouted for the man to halt and come back to the inspection area. He asked "why?" Homeland Security answered " because I think I saw bitcoins in your bag and I want to Re-Inspect it." I *GUFFAWED* outloud. And told him he was an idiot.
Back in its early years they actually had physical Bitcoins. The encryption key was inside the physical coin. My friend back in like 2014 showed me where he had picked one up a few years ago and its value was actually 1 bitcoin. I think he paid like $350 for it. I believe he ended up selling it in 2017 and made a hefty profit on it.
@douglasbrittain7018 Amazingly enough, this could be plausible. I just looked on ebay. There are in fact graded and ungraded physical bitcoins selling for thousands each. 😮 Joke coins gone wild! 😂
To be fair, this guy is a piece of crap and a thief as well. He installed mining software on others people computers. If he has 60 million, that is a lot of computers that others paid for those resources and wear and tear on machines running at higher temps for long periods of times. Worse bitcoin mining requires a lot of energy. That being said the government seized the money as punishment for illegal activity, but that does not help any of those who were hurt.
@@ashtonw9931 You have to assume he a) started out mining Bitcoin on his own computer(s)/server(s) and b) continued to do so while hacking other computers to do it as well. That means there's a portion of the content in the wallet that he acquired legally. You have to remember that when people started mining Bitcoin in earnest it was barely worth a buck or two. It's only when the value rocketed that people started to pay attention. The government wants all of it. Not sure about the laws in Germany, but realistically they should only be able to seize the proceeds from the criminal part of his operation. How much Bitcoin did he acquire legally before the value skyrocketed? There's also the question of compensation for the victims. What's fair for the people he used (abused)? The only real damage suffered is wear + tear on equipment and their feelings from being victims of getting hacked (the hacking part he's served prison time for already). Replace the computers and punitive damages + forfeiture of the ill gained portion? If I was in that position where they wanted to seize everything I wouldn't give them the password, either.
@@ffedurchyour point b is more important than a. My opinion it should all be divided up among the people he stole from. Which I agree with you is not the government. But the same crap happens here too. Someone commits a crime/fraud against other citizens. The government levies huge fines, seizes all assets and keeps everything and those who were the victims are left to try to try to sue in civil court against the perp who at that point has nothing left.
I always like government logic around these crimes: "If he illegally extracted value from others, the government is entitled to that stolen money" Lol.
well it's not like they are willing to give it to the effected public, that's silly talk. now if it was stolen from a bank that's different! cant let a bank suffer. public = state money bank = good boys who work hard and need there assets back
@@aaronlandry3947 it is one thing that it goes to the federal coffers. Big problem in the US is that it stays with the PD or town. And they can spend it however they like. Now that is incentive! And why so many cops fabricate lies and write you up.
@Audrey P hmmmm... If they know, how do they know... And is it actually illegal if he were to transfer it and could you convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt he did it.
@@cannaroe1213 interesting, but I kinda think convincing a judge that because a few bits flipped the other way in a remote data cache that someone should go to prison, might be a big ask. There might be in a logic to it, but there's a ton of room for obfuscation.
@Audrey P 50 million Euros will make you invisible fast. Especially when concerning bitcoin, with which it's so easy to create noise in the transaction chain. Also, I have doubts on the intelligence of the authorities who can actually say straight faced that they seized his bitcoin account by confiscating a copy of his digital wallet.
@@dsmith3391 Because not even this comment section can agree on what the "something about it" should be. We may all agree things the way they currently are is bad but I doubt we'll agree on a solution
There was a case in the UK fairly recently where a guy was tried for bank robbery and found guilty. Got 7 years inside but his criminal assets were ordered to be seized but according to the prosecution their was £10 m not recovered. The judge ordered him to reveal the whereabouts of this money or face an extra 5 years in jail. The guy is now serving the extra time as many believe he's decided 5 years inside is worth it to keep his hidden £10m!
@@Ralnon Pretty certain that in the UK and any western democracy you can't be imprisoned again for the same crime. In England, Wales and probably every country based on the British legal system, a person cannot be tried twice for the same crime. Let alone sentenced to prison. That has been part of English law for 800 years and is built into most British Commonwealth countries. Even beyond that, the 72 signatories and 166 parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognise, under Article 14 (7): "No one shall be liable to be tried or punished again for an offence for which he has already been finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of each country."
Ten megabucks makes it worth the time inside, if you can get away with it. Me, I'd have a hard time deciding...I wouldn't be able to handle being locked up for a few weeks, let alone several years, but getting out of poverty might make it bearable.
Contempt of court for not testifying is one of the things I seriously disagree with in the system. Had family get hurt pretty bad by one guy, she was forced to testify but couldn't due to mental trauma from it. Their idea of what would be healthy for her is to put her in a cage.
My friend got kicked out of school in 2013 for using all the school computer to mine bitcoin. Funny thing is he’s the richest person I know and won’t have to work a day in his life because of it
They didn't want young students to become aware that they can be successful in beating the system...or benefitting from...or taking advantage OF the system. And Bitcoin is a new system...They want us to work (FOR them...) to make and keep them rich....while WE struggle and accept our little subsistence and shut up !!!!!!!!!
doubtful... 1) a high school main frame wouldn't have the power...but... 2) the power draw and time required would leave the schools system unable to do it's day to day tasks so even if the kid managed to hack in it'd be discovered quickly the next day...so no..he didn't get rich because of it 3) even if this tale was true he's a minor...his parents would be on the hook and to avoid jail time any bitcoin would be forfeited
@@Agent-ew6jw just to show how wrong you are, go to a school computer and type in a search for kid porn and see if they can figure out who when and etc, when i was at a lighthouse for the blind as a student our instructor was a young woman that worked at one time with the government pulling info from computers, she told us that not only can info be pulled from your hard drive there is a path where it never goes away that can be trapped.
About sunken treasure, it annoys me when a treasure hunter mounts an expedition to recover a treasure that has been under water for as much 400 years and succeeds, the nation under which the ship was flagged pops up and demands the the treasure be returned to them, even though they had no hand in recovering the assets. Many times the nation will be under a different government as well.
That one's always pissed me off, too. As usual government thinks it owns something through the sweat and effort of someone else. It was down there 400 years. You had plenty of time to get off your worthless dead asses and get it yourself!
It’s no different than our government taking taxes out of any winnings you receive...!!! Or, taxing any gains from the sale of your home...!!! They did absolutely nothing to earn any of that money yet they can claim more that half of the value for taxes...! What a crock of BS ...! You are the one taking all of the risks...! It’s your money being invested not theirs...! What entitles them to any of it...?
Lloyd's of London typically insured those long lost treasures and paid out the claim to the country or owner of said vessel. Once they've paid the claim, they can't then request said treasure. Most of the divers who go out on the treasure hunt do so for free with the hopes that it will eventually be found and they get a "cut" of the recovered treasure. Signed, Ex-wife of a Commercial Deep Sea Diver who has been on Treasure Hunts.
Nobody says a thing until the guy recovers the gold. Then the lawyers and insurance companies come out of the woodwork like cockroaches. Yet for the past 400 years everybody is free to search, find and recover the gold themselves yet not a single one of them has not even lifted a finger to do so themselves.
We had a case in Australia where an illegal bookmaker refused to disclose information in a court case the Judge held him in contempt , he was in jail for over & 7 YEARS for contempt and was only released because of his ill health .
Yes this. If they want something badly enough and believe you are intentionally withholding it they can just keep you locked up indefinitely by stacking contempt charges. The minute this German guy or Tommy were to be released for serving his sentence and he still refused to give the password(reveal gold location) they'd just immediately arrest him again and throw him back in the cell
Sounds like his crime was running mining software on other peoples' computers without their knowledge. So he did not steal Bitcoin from them. The only thing those people lost was from a small increase in their electric bills.
@@billweasley1382 Very true. It makes me more curious over the details of the case... This guy must have been tasking their computers for several weeks or more, and the computer owners didn't seem to notice for a very long time. It's an interesting aspect of it.
After my grandfather died in the early '6o', Grandmother for "some reason" took out the title to the farm to look at. She found $20 in between each page. She started looking around, and finally found several thousand dollars total, all in $20 bills. Grandfather had been "squirreling' it away. They had both grown up in the Great Depression. Michigan / US
@@alecbaldwinsnotpropgun . Then don't tell anyone about anything. A guy in Hamilton Victoria bought something and found fifteen thousand dollars in it. Told his friend and went halves in iit. Then the friend felt guilty and handed it into the Police. The guy that found it was then charged with theft and found guilty in Court.
Right he stole that money fair and square and since they prosecuted him and put him in prison he can honestly say that he's paid his debt... I don't hope he gets away with it but I don't think the cops should get the money either
@@SP-tu7od So... when your house catches fire, are you going to start taking bids on private fire fighting services since the taxpayer funded fire dept doesn't exist anymore because all taxes are theft?
So the authorities have the bitcoin digital wallet, so they have seized it and he no longer has it. They additionally want the password so they can spend it, sounds like 2 seperate issues.
@@liaminwales So it depends. If he had it stored on an exchange, he could login from anywhere and move the coins to a local wallet. If his bitcoin was already on a local wallet, he needs physical access to the wallet to get his bitcoin
It’s funny that you bring up Tommy Thompson. I see him almost every day at work and he cracks me up! I came here for the Bitcoin story and ended up hearing about Tommy. Thanks!
It could be that he simply doesn't want the police to have it, and he won't bother trying to take it back for himself.. "If I can't have it, no one can!"
@@sethbarnes7608 But then he would immediately be jailed again for contempt. And then they probably wouldn't let him out until he coughs up the money. Either way, he's probably getting some satisfaction at the cops bashing their head against the wall because they can't get the money.
If he gives up the password, there will be zero chance to get the money back later at some point. And of course, giving it away doesn't give him anything so why do it. This way he might also get some secondary benefits like interviews or book deals later.
I believe you're right. I know of a way that he could recover at least half of his btc, which i wont mention the method for obvious reason. I think its only a matter of time before he figures it out. But in using this method the question is will he be held accountable by leo when the wallet is accessed even though they could not prove he was the one who did so?
There will come a day when someone has to come off of EVE assets in a courtroom. Laptops open, stations transferred in front of the world's most bewildered judge.
If a person is testifying only because the judge threatened them with jail time if they didn't then their testimony should be considered suspect and that information should be revealed to the jury.
@@geoh7777 a threat is simply a promise of retaliation. All threats are promises. Not all promises are threats. The problem though can be that one man's promise is another man's threat. If a cop says I will arrest you if you punch me, the officer may only intend it to be a promise, but the person may view it as a threat because he doesn't like the outcome.
The judge only tells them that they must testify. They can't tell them what to say once they are on the stand. In fact, some testimony might be more credible if the witness believes e.g. that testifying will put themselves in danger.
If he owes anyone anything, it's the cost of the electricity spent mining that coin. That's a fair cost to pay back, but it's on them to figure out how much that is. If they can't do that, that's their problem.
From the High Desert and the great American southwest, I bid you all good evening or good morning as the case may be, across all these many time zones from the Tahitian and Hawaiian island chains in the west, eastward to the Caribbean, south into South America and north to the pole, this is Coast to Coast AM. Good morning. RIP Art. We all loved you.
Judges have way too much power. Effectively imprison a man for life for being uncooperative. That's pure BS. I have nothing but contempt for this sort of thing and these judges.
glad to see they will keep a guy in jail for an indefinite time for forgetting something but child rapists' can get out and walk among our children. You really have to question the justice system.
No justice system m8, just money systems. Kiddy fiddler will probably be reoffending so more money through court cases. This guy has €60million the courts want. It's all about money.
Absolutely love your videos Steve ! know are a true good person. On behalf of all those who think all lawyers just want money, you're a man of much integrity ! God bless all you love, and thanks so much for sharing your wisdom for those who cant afford, or are scared to even call a lawyer. You ROCK bro ! 4ever grateful !
Defendant's actions affecting judges is a real thing. I was unlucky enough to be in court one day for a traffic infraction and the guy in the case just before me clucked like a chicken the whole time. Out loud. Wouldn't even say his name when asked, his public defender said it for him. That put the judge in a really bad mood for the rest of the day. I got no leniency at all as a first time offender and the bailiffs told me later that he treated everyone else after me the same way all day.
How can you prove that someone remembers something? I've forgotten plenty of passwords. This also applies to search warrants: they can come into your home but cannot compel you to tell them where something is. Yet they think they can make you tell them a password so that they can search your computer. I can see both sides, but strongly believe that you can't force someone to tell you something, especially when you can't prove they know it.
The Tommy Thompson saga is a fascinating story from the first idea to search for the ship and its contents to the bizarre nature that it has grown into. It falls into the category of “you can’t make this stuff up”
The gold is in a big black chest with brass hinges on it. It is buried deep under a large grey rock with an "X" on it. You'll find the spot 17 passes north of the three palms trees on the windward side of the largest of a pair of desert islands just three days voyage due west of Bora Bora in the South Pacific Ocean.
The password is linked to the wallet , but the wallet can be recreated. If you have your seed phrase, all you need is a new wallet. Enter the seed phrase and you can now access the crypto. Leaving the authorities with an empty wallet. 😂
You do realize he stole that money from other people, they paid the price. Or does anti government = criminal? That would actually make sense of some of these comments.
@@antonphibes4924 If I understood it correctly then he didn't actually steal the money from others, but made their computers mine it for him so he stole processing power/electrical power I guess?
@@antonphibes4924 "You do realize he stole that money from other people, they paid the price." They paid the price... so if the government got access to the bitcoin they would give it to the people who paid the price then? If not I don't see how it helps those people who paid the price? Yes of course he should be punished but I very much doubt that government would actually give the bitcoins to the people that was hacked so if he gives it up or not it won't change much for them
I watched a video yesterday about a well off gentleman who collects military vehicles. He bought a Russian T-34 tank for $30.000. When they cleaned out the fuel tank they found five large fold bars in it. I think said it was worth about 2.5 million dollars.
And then the IRS came after him for income tax and capital gains tax on the gold, as well as circumvention of import duties (and thus smuggling) on the gold, took it all and fined him several million dollars? That's what they'd do here...
SCOTUS has already decided a case like this when they ruled that a person being coerced to reveal a safe combination was protected under the 5th as "content of the mind". Then they went on to rule that coercing someone to reveal the location of a safe key was not. Don't quite understand that but a bitcoin password falls in the first case.
FYI: If he can get away from the police he might still be able to recover his money. He doesn't need the wallet if he remembers his twelve word encryption key. Bitcoin exists on the blockchain. Wallets only store keys to entries on the blockchain.
I would assume someone smart enough to be mining Bitcoin on other people's computers illegally probably knows how to access his money without the physical wallet...
That was my thought, or possibly that since they have his hot wallet he may have simply transferred them out of that wallet onto a cold wallet, I don't believe they would have any way to know untill they unlock the one they are holding lol
They know the wallet's public address. They can see if the balance has been transferred to another wallet and that new wallet's public address. That information is all available from the blockchain.
When I'm under stress I tend to forget things. Like when I went for cancer treatment then couldnt unlock my laptop for a month or two after I got home. Had to buy a new one. Just sayen. Jail is pretty traumatic.
Let me see if I got this right. Tommy Thomson got, in actual fact, convicted by a judge of contempt, without any actual proof of deception. And gets imprisoned for as long as the judge wants, without benefit of trial? Would this not fall under cruel and unusual punishment? Sounds like something that should be appealed up to the Supreme court.
because the guy didn't know WHEN to keep silent, then contradicted what he said. It's on tribunal record so it's evidence (he basically confessed he knew where the gold was, to get a better deal.)
Gah! Thank you, I was racking my brain trying to work that out the last half of the video! I was thinking it was Joe Turkel as Eldon Tyrell from Blade Runner
It’s not a password it’s a 12 word seed phrase the private key and it would take them 10000 years with a computer the size of the earth to figure it out
This brought a chuckle to me and first time in ages of CZcams. So good to see someone either sticking it to the courts, or at least not bowing to threats. Pity of they genuinely can’t remember...but I like to think they just bring stubborn and good on them. Sometimes it’s worth it just to let them know you can’t make me say something if I really don’t want to 😝
How can they continue to hold Thompson in jail for contempt indefinitely though? Contempt can’t be a life sentence can it? Shouldn’t be more than a year long sentence anyway.
A Coin Password is usually extraordinarily long (like 14 questions and answers) and has to be written down some where Unless you have an extraordinary memory.
Under normal circumstances that's actually fairly safe as the biggest threat is from being hacked by someone who doesn't have access to your physical computer. But in situations like this it would be wise to memorize it.
I know a guy that found money from a bank robbery in the 50s hidden in a house he bought in the 80s and turned it in and then got charged with the crime of the bank robbery and put in prison for 7 years ! For posession of the stolen money . And nostatutes of limitations was not recognised by the judge .
A few hundred years ago, being caught and assumed in possession of important knowledge was a death sentence, you were almost always tortured to death in some gruesome way, even if you told them the truth and they could verify it, they would assume you had more since you gave it up so easy considering their experience of people they were sure knew but never told them and died before telling (because of course they didn't know anything). If you did survive the torture and they stopped I would argue that was worse because they would throw you in the dungeon until you died of infection or dehydration.
Sounds like the court may have messed up. I have met people who were on indefinite probation until they paid all of their restitution. And money is fungible. If he owes $60 million, he owes $60 million. One way he can pay is by providing his password. Another way is to make payments for the rest of his life while being monitored by a probation officer to ensure he doesn't spend money or obtain any assets outside his normal means - in which case the court seizes and auctions them off.
Does he owe, 60 million, or X amount of BTC. If the amount is in $$ at time of trial, then eventually, or even now, he could sell "part" of the BTC he has to pay the fine, and keep the rest.
@@shaunclarkson7131 Technically, he only owes the value of the computer time he used, which should be far less than the value of the BTC mined on the computers.
If you find drugs in your yard, it's yours. If you find gold in your yard, it's theirs.
Massively underrated tweet!
BINGO! (~_^)-b
OY VEY!
You're 100% correct on what they would say.
That’s so right mate.
Judges can be a bit on the "selective" side when they don't believe someone could forget a password but shrug off a federal agent deceiving them on a FISA warrant application.
@Baby Fishmouth Ted? Ted who? And the "them"...is Ted dealing with judges, people "forgetting" passwords, or...is it federal agents lying? I like to get a warm and fuzzy feeling.....oh, I can do that on my own. Time for my bong.
Ya.... Ya.... Ya...!!
GIVE THEM NOTHING!
@@loremasterlizard2839 He could try to negotiate for a percentage.
John Gilmer: gee, who'da thought POWER could CORRUPT?
What if his password was actually "I Forgot" and he was telling it to the judge the whole time
Good one😂
If his wallet used 2FA he could have gotten away with such a weak password since it wouldn't work without the security key. Then, years later, he uses a deterministic seed to recover the wallet on a new computer and after moving the money explain that he did comply with giving them the password, but since they didn't actually take the coin within X years limitations apply and they give up being allowed to take it. Then he keeps it.
Great password
that would be hilarious!
Excellent idea. Password=letmethink2,4,6,8FudkyoupigsIain'ttellingyou
I was behind this guy at the airport in the security line where they open and inspect your carry on. They were just finishing up with him and were about to turn to me. When the inspector who had just checked his bag shouted for the man to halt and come back to the inspection area.
He asked "why?"
Homeland Security answered " because I think I saw bitcoins in your bag and I want to Re-Inspect it."
I *GUFFAWED* outloud. And told him he was an idiot.
Are you saying this actually happened?
Back in its early years they actually had physical Bitcoins. The encryption key was inside the physical coin. My friend back in like 2014 showed me where he had picked one up a few years ago and its value was actually 1 bitcoin. I think he paid like $350 for it. I believe he ended up selling it in 2017 and made a hefty profit on it.
@douglasbrittain7018 Amazingly enough, this could be plausible. I just looked on ebay. There are in fact graded and ungraded physical bitcoins selling for thousands each. 😮
Joke coins gone wild! 😂
Don't steal, the government hates competition!
-Ron Paul
To be fair, this guy is a piece of crap and a thief as well. He installed mining software on others people computers. If he has 60 million, that is a lot of computers that others paid for those resources and wear and tear on machines running at higher temps for long periods of times. Worse bitcoin mining requires a lot of energy. That being said the government seized the money as punishment for illegal activity, but that does not help any of those who were hurt.
Ah yes, Ron Paul. Lived on the tax payer's dime while claiming to be a libertarian. Like father like son.
@@AnexoRialto Ron Paul was an obstetrician before running for office. He wasn't in Congress for a paycheck.
@@ashtonw9931 You have to assume he a) started out mining Bitcoin on his own computer(s)/server(s) and b) continued to do so while hacking other computers to do it as well. That means there's a portion of the content in the wallet that he acquired legally. You have to remember that when people started mining Bitcoin in earnest it was barely worth a buck or two. It's only when the value rocketed that people started to pay attention. The government wants all of it. Not sure about the laws in Germany, but realistically they should only be able to seize the proceeds from the criminal part of his operation. How much Bitcoin did he acquire legally before the value skyrocketed? There's also the question of compensation for the victims. What's fair for the people he used (abused)? The only real damage suffered is wear + tear on equipment and their feelings from being victims of getting hacked (the hacking part he's served prison time for already). Replace the computers and punitive damages + forfeiture of the ill gained portion? If I was in that position where they wanted to seize everything I wouldn't give them the password, either.
@@ffedurchyour point b is more important than a. My opinion it should all be divided up among the people he stole from. Which I agree with you is not the government. But the same crap happens here too. Someone commits a crime/fraud against other citizens. The government levies huge fines, seizes all assets and keeps everything and those who were the victims are left to try to try to sue in civil court against the perp who at that point has nothing left.
I always like government logic around these crimes: "If he illegally extracted value from others, the government is entitled to that stolen money" Lol.
"you're trying to kidnap what I've rightfully stolen" - Vizzini
Don't steal kids: the government HATES competition.
well it's not like they are willing to give it to the effected public, that's silly talk.
now if it was stolen from a bank that's different! cant let a bank suffer.
public = state money
bank = good boys who work hard and need there assets back
@@aaronlandry3947 it is one thing that it goes to the federal coffers. Big problem in the US is that it stays with the PD or town. And they can spend it however they like. Now that is incentive! And why so many cops fabricate lies and write you up.
@@FlexDRG No kidding, imagine a teacher that gets a larger Christmas bonus the more students they fail... such backwards logic
I'm guessing this German guy has a backup copy of his wallet and is now golden.
He definately has. The hardware wallet can be replaced in an instant as soon as he / if he gets out
@Audrey P hmmmm... If they know, how do they know... And is it actually illegal if he were to transfer it and could you convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt he did it.
@@cannaroe1213 interesting, but I kinda think convincing a judge that because a few bits flipped the other way in a remote data cache that someone should go to prison, might be a big ask. There might be in a logic to it, but there's a ton of room for obfuscation.
@Audrey P somebody could find his private key and take the money. They can't blame him for that.
@Audrey P 50 million Euros will make you invisible fast. Especially when concerning bitcoin, with which it's so easy to create noise in the transaction chain. Also, I have doubts on the intelligence of the authorities who can actually say straight faced that they seized his bitcoin account by confiscating a copy of his digital wallet.
7:30 wow. I'm more convinced than ever contempt of court is completely corrupt and unconstitutional
I see a lot of people sick of our broken corrupt government why don't we all get together and do something about it
@@dsmith3391 Because not even this comment section can agree on what the "something about it" should be. We may all agree things the way they currently are is bad but I doubt we'll agree on a solution
Sounds like the tax man wasn't happy he didn't get his 95% of the loot
no tax on crypto in Germany
@@ct1762 NEIN !! NEIN !!
@@ct1762 This was ill-gotten.
they want 100%.
There was a case in the UK fairly recently where a guy was tried for bank robbery and found guilty. Got 7 years inside but his criminal assets were ordered to be seized but according to the prosecution their was £10 m not recovered. The judge ordered him to reveal the whereabouts of this money or face an extra 5 years in jail. The guy is now serving the extra time as many believe he's decided 5 years inside is worth it to keep his hidden £10m!
Thing is, the court can - and likely will - keep bouncing him back to jail for contempt of court.
@@Ralnon lol. No they wont
Smart laddie!
@@Ralnon Pretty certain that in the UK and any western democracy you can't be imprisoned again for the same crime. In England, Wales and probably every country based on the British legal system, a person cannot be tried twice for the same crime. Let alone sentenced to prison. That has been part of English law for 800 years and is built into most British Commonwealth countries.
Even beyond that, the 72 signatories and 166 parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognise, under Article 14 (7): "No one shall be liable to be tried or punished again for an offence for which he has already been finally convicted or acquitted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of each country."
Ten megabucks makes it worth the time inside, if you can get away with it. Me, I'd have a hard time deciding...I wouldn't be able to handle being locked up for a few weeks, let alone several years, but getting out of poverty might make it bearable.
Contempt of court for not testifying is one of the things I seriously disagree with in the system.
Had family get hurt pretty bad by one guy, she was forced to testify but couldn't due to mental trauma from it.
Their idea of what would be healthy for her is to put her in a cage.
I mean it fits the Tommy and German guy situation the Judge in your family case just abused it.
My friend got kicked out of school in 2013 for using all the school computer to mine bitcoin. Funny thing is he’s the richest person I know and won’t have to work a day in his life because of it
They didn't want young students to become aware that they can be successful in beating the system...or benefitting from...or taking advantage OF the system.
And Bitcoin is a new system...They want us to work (FOR them...) to make and keep them rich....while WE struggle and accept our little subsistence and shut up !!!!!!!!!
@@douglasrowland3722 Yes because the odds of beating the system are lower than beating the odds in Vegas.
Wow! What grade did he get kicked out in ? college?
doubtful...
1) a high school main frame wouldn't have the power...but...
2) the power draw and time required would leave the schools system unable to do it's day to day tasks so even if the kid managed to hack in it'd be discovered quickly the next day...so no..he didn't get rich because of it
3) even if this tale was true he's a minor...his parents would be on the hook and to avoid jail time any bitcoin would be forfeited
@@Agent-ew6jw just to show how wrong you are, go to a school computer and type in a search for kid porn and see if they can figure out who when and etc, when i was at a lighthouse for the blind as a student our instructor was a young woman that worked at one time with the government pulling info from computers, she told us that not only can info be pulled from your hard drive there is a path where it never goes away that can be trapped.
Given the honesty of government, I see no reason to comply with law.
Amen!
When Uncle Thomas and Gym Jordan do, I shall, as well.
Well thats fine but in this instance they'll just stack charges and keep you locked up indefinitely until you cooperate
About sunken treasure, it annoys me when a treasure hunter mounts an expedition to recover a treasure that has been under water for as much 400 years and succeeds, the nation under which the ship was flagged pops up and demands the the treasure be returned to them, even though they had no hand in recovering the assets. Many times the nation will be under a different government as well.
That one's always pissed me off, too.
As usual government thinks it owns something through the sweat and effort of someone else. It was down there 400 years. You had plenty of time to get off your worthless dead asses and get it yourself!
especially when it was stolen from another country...thier all criminals
It’s no different than our government taking taxes out of any winnings you receive...!!!
Or, taxing any gains from the sale of your home...!!!
They did absolutely nothing to earn any of that money yet they can claim more that half
of the value for taxes...!
What a crock of BS ...!
You are the one taking all of the risks...!
It’s your money being invested not theirs...!
What entitles them to any of it...?
Lloyd's of London typically insured those long lost treasures and paid out the claim to the country or owner of said vessel. Once they've paid the claim, they can't then request said treasure. Most of the divers who go out on the treasure hunt do so for free with the hopes that it will eventually be found and they get a "cut" of the recovered treasure.
Signed, Ex-wife of a Commercial Deep Sea Diver who has been on Treasure Hunts.
Nobody says a thing until the guy recovers the gold. Then the lawyers and insurance companies come out of the woodwork like cockroaches. Yet for the past 400 years everybody is free to search, find and recover the gold themselves yet not a single one of them has not even lifted a finger to do so themselves.
Politicians use the phrase . "I have no recollection of that". and it gets the most corrupt politicians off without even a slap on the hand..
We had a case in Australia where an illegal bookmaker refused to disclose information in a court case the Judge held him in contempt , he was in jail for over &
7 YEARS for contempt and was only released because of his ill health .
Yes this. If they want something badly enough and believe you are intentionally withholding it they can just keep you locked up indefinitely by stacking contempt charges. The minute this German guy or Tommy were to be released for serving his sentence and he still refused to give the password(reveal gold location) they'd just immediately arrest him again and throw him back in the cell
Cops: You stole that money so you can't have it. Can we have it then?
Man: No
Cops: Please?
Sounds like his crime was running mining software on other peoples' computers without their knowledge. So he did not steal Bitcoin from them. The only thing those people lost was from a small increase in their electric bills.
@@johnconstantine1604 additional wear on the components, lack of available resources to use on the system themselves.
@@billweasley1382 Very true. It makes me more curious over the details of the case... This guy must have been tasking their computers for several weeks or more, and the computer owners didn't seem to notice for a very long time. It's an interesting aspect of it.
Ohhh I think 🤔 you are on to something! Lol
@@billweasley1382 Nah, electricity costs haven’t quintupled in 3 years.
After my grandfather died in the early '6o', Grandmother for "some reason" took out the title to the farm to look at. She found $20 in between each page.
She started looking around, and finally found several thousand dollars total, all in $20 bills.
Grandfather had been "squirreling' it away. They had both grown up in the Great Depression.
Michigan / US
Buy books at estate sales
@@alecbaldwinsnotpropgun . Then don't tell anyone about anything.
A guy in Hamilton Victoria bought something and found fifteen thousand dollars in it.
Told his friend and went halves in iit.
Then the friend felt guilty and handed it into the Police.
The guy that found it was then charged with theft and found guilty in Court.
Sorry to hear, inflation would have destroyed the purchasing power. They should have bought gold
I always check Bibles on the free table at the dump, found over a hundred so far and a couple of silver certificates that I haven't priced.
@@Foolish188 nice!!!!
This man has absolutely no obligation whatsoever to help the police with their investigation or to help them steal his money and extort him
"steal his money".... oh, you mean the money he stole from others? I get it...
They want to steal his stolen money. He stole it fair and square!
Right he stole that money fair and square and since they prosecuted him and put him in prison he can honestly say that he's paid his debt...
I don't hope he gets away with it but I don't think the cops should get the money either
60% of all money made is stolen from someone, legally or illegally. rob peter to pay paul is the name of the game. Taxes are theft as well.
@@SP-tu7od So... when your house catches fire, are you going to start taking bids on private fire fighting services since the taxpayer funded fire dept doesn't exist anymore because all taxes are theft?
Never give the cops your password! 😎
So the authorities have the bitcoin digital wallet, so they have seized it and he no longer has it. They additionally want the password so they can spend it, sounds like 2 seperate issues.
he may have a backup? no idea how bitcoin works.
Or they can settle ahead of time for percentiles. Have a third party lawyer open it and disburse it. The computer owners get percentiles.
@@liaminwales So it depends. If he had it stored on an exchange, he could login from anywhere and move the coins to a local wallet. If his bitcoin was already on a local wallet, he needs physical access to the wallet to get his bitcoin
As far as I read about it, they have his offline wallet, but not the password. So none of them can enjoy the value...
@@liaminwales if the wallet is off-loaded to a local offline wallet, like a special encrypted usb key wallet. Then the password is the only way..
I've guessed his password: "Nein nein nein nein nein nein nein nein nein!"
No, no, no, no, no. It is mein, mein, mein, mein, mein mein, mein, mein, mein.
Those are both only 9 word phrases. Bip 39 mnemonic encryption is 12, 18, or 24 words
@Puma-Frank -Puma and his username is password
@Puma-Frank -Puma ughhhh....would you believe these folks exist?! The Idiots using "password" for their passwords.🤦🏻♂️
Its probably stuck on the bottom of his keyboard....they`ll never find it!
It’s funny that you bring up Tommy Thompson. I see him almost every day at work and he cracks me up! I came here for the Bitcoin story and ended up hearing about Tommy. Thanks!
Some judges deserve contempt.
It could be that he simply doesn't want the police to have it, and he won't bother trying to take it back for himself.. "If I can't have it, no one can!"
As long as he doesn't give em the password, he might still be able to get access to it using his 12 word "recovery phrase"
@@sethbarnes7608 But then he would immediately be jailed again for contempt. And then they probably wouldn't let him out until he coughs up the money.
Either way, he's probably getting some satisfaction at the cops bashing their head against the wall because they can't get the money.
If he gives up the password, there will be zero chance to get the money back later at some point. And of course, giving it away doesn't give him anything so why do it. This way he might also get some secondary benefits like interviews or book deals later.
I believe you're right. I know of a way that he could recover at least half of his btc, which i wont mention the method for obvious reason. I think its only a matter of time before he figures it out. But in using this method the question is will he be held accountable by leo when the wallet is accessed even though they could not prove he was the one who did so?
@@TimoRutanen I might guess that he did not put it all in one wallet. If they cant open it, they do not know what is actually in that wallet.
civil asset forfeiture 2.0, or
digital asset forfeiture XD
up next, police will come after your in-game balance.
Damn bustas tryin' steal muh robux.
There will come a day when someone has to come off of EVE assets in a courtroom. Laptops open, stations transferred in front of the world's most bewildered judge.
the IRS has already come from that for some people, something about in-game sales in Fortnite IIRC.
Don’t give the IRS any ideas...
That's actually criminal asset forfeiture. He's been convicted and even served his time. Part of the sentence was that he loses the bitcoin.
Without PROOF, contempt of court is a joke.
Fun Fact: Someone emptied his wallet some days ago. Now they got nothing but that empty wallet
If a person is testifying only because the judge threatened them with jail time if they didn't then their testimony should be considered suspect and that information should be revealed to the jury.
That is call a treat ,and is penalized, on criminal court.
@@germanespichan114 With a judge, it is more of a promise than a threat.
It could be considered duress maybe.
@@geoh7777 a threat is simply a promise of retaliation. All threats are promises. Not all promises are threats. The problem though can be that one man's promise is another man's threat. If a cop says I will arrest you if you punch me, the officer may only intend it to be a promise, but the person may view it as a threat because he doesn't like the outcome.
you cant use US legal arguments for Germany
The judge only tells them that they must testify. They can't tell them what to say once they are on the stand. In fact, some testimony might be more credible if the witness believes e.g. that testifying will put themselves in danger.
If I owe the someone $1k, that's my problem. If I owe them a few million, that's their problem.
problem is he used their computer and its recourses without the owners permission so it became his problem for doing that
yep, cant squeeze blood from a turnip...get in line, debtors!
If he owes anyone anything, it's the cost of the electricity spent mining that coin. That's a fair cost to pay back, but it's on them to figure out how much that is. If they can't do that, that's their problem.
Because a few million can buy a hell of a lot of legal representation.
@@SovereignStatesman It can also do a lot of ''good''....!
From the High Desert and the great American southwest, I bid you all good evening or good morning as the case may be, across all these many time zones from the Tahitian and Hawaiian island chains in the west, eastward to the Caribbean, south into South America and north to the pole, this is Coast to Coast AM. Good morning. RIP Art. We all loved you.
Those private keys going to work great on a $50 ledger when he gets out lol
Judges have way too much power. Effectively imprison a man for life for being uncooperative. That's pure BS. I have nothing but contempt for this sort of thing and these judges.
🤷♂️ that's how it goes in some of these places that don't have the same rights as we do here in the states.
@@M167A1 yes and he was LEGALLY held in contempt, and lucky he was not charged with aggravated perjury.
@@edsloan8535 They didn’t start out the mining themselves. He just used their resources.
@ThePatUltra Um, what? No, I’m saying they didn’t mine, therefore he didn’t steal bitcoin. It was pretty clear.
@ThePatUltra Double down? I already explained myself. Good lord, you sovereign citizens are quite the bunch. lol
glad to see they will keep a guy in jail for an indefinite time for forgetting something but child rapists' can get out and walk among our children. You really have to question the justice system.
Let's hope trumps sewage system keeps on working, uk
great point
Efforts/gains ratio
No justice system m8, just money systems. Kiddy fiddler will probably be reoffending so more money through court cases. This guy has €60million the courts want. It's all about money.
@@marktruth1006 that's dumb
"When one door closes, another opens." Pandora's box staving off despair yet for another day
Absolutely love your videos Steve ! know are a true good person. On behalf of all those who think all lawyers just want money, you're a man of much integrity ! God bless all you love, and thanks so much for sharing your wisdom for those who cant afford, or are scared to even call a lawyer. You ROCK bro ! 4ever grateful !
I forgot,,,,,,
Sounds like everybody questioned in our congressional hearing 🙄
Priceless!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yep, all are pos.
kind of like the nominated ATF head thats going to ban assult weapons but doesn't know the meaning of assult weapons
I guarantee he hasn’t forgotten the password if he’s installing malicious software On other peoples computer he’s pretty tech savvy
I bet he has some sort of backup somewhere, and he can access it any time he wants.
@@aaronlandry3947 He absolutely has an encrypted random password generator/safe somewhere.
Or maybe the password is, idontremeber
If he's text savvy, then he must be a really good editor.
@@aaronlandry3947 I wonder if anyone has tried the password Data used to encrypt command functions in Star Trek. Incredibly long, easy to retrieve.
When we talk about infinite contempt of court I can't help but remember the situation of Chelsea Manning
*Bradley
Love your stories you have a great sense of humor. This one even made me laugh
Defendant's actions affecting judges is a real thing. I was unlucky enough to be in court one day for a traffic infraction and the guy in the case just before me clucked like a chicken the whole time. Out loud. Wouldn't even say his name when asked, his public defender said it for him. That put the judge in a really bad mood for the rest of the day. I got no leniency at all as a first time offender and the bailiffs told me later that he treated everyone else after me the same way all day.
How can you prove that someone remembers something? I've forgotten plenty of passwords.
This also applies to search warrants: they can come into your home but cannot compel you to tell them where something is. Yet they think they can make you tell them a password so that they can search your computer.
I can see both sides, but strongly believe that you can't force someone to tell you something, especially when you can't prove they know it.
Many stories like this , thanks for your views on these. Very informative.
I always find it interesting that a Judge can compel speech. To remain silent is a Constitutionally Protected Right.
The Tommy Thompson saga is a fascinating story from the first idea to search for the ship and its contents to the bizarre nature that it has grown into. It falls into the category of “you can’t make this stuff up”
The gold is in a big black chest with brass hinges on it. It is buried deep under a large grey rock with an "X" on it. You'll find the spot 17 passes north of the three palms trees on the windward side of the largest of a pair of desert islands just three days voyage due west of Bora Bora in the South Pacific Ocean.
Mad Mad Mad Mad
On a flat earth or globe earth ?
Love the watch! I have a blue Navitimer, myself! Beautiful chronographs!
"Authorities assure him he can't access his money" Lol .. yeah right.
The password is linked to the wallet , but the wallet can be recreated. If you have your seed phrase, all you need is a new wallet. Enter the seed phrase and you can now access the crypto.
Leaving the authorities with an empty wallet. 😂
I guess that is where "it got lost in a boating accident" came from. 🤣🤣🤣
"I hit my head during a boating accident and forgot the password"
imagine the password is "I forgot my password I don't know what it is" lol
or "I will never tell the police my password"
That's a passPHRASE... passwords don't have spaces.
Crypto wallets are usually pass phrases of 12 words.
@@TheOJDrinker you must be fun at parties
This is now a criminal offence in Australia. Since 2018!
May be a criminal offence, but you still don't have to give your password up. You just have to be willing to accept the consequences of that decision.
BRO!!!!! THE WRIF STICKER......LOVE IT OLD SCHOOL.....HAD MY CEILING COVERED IN THOSE.
Good on him. According to the system the currency doesn't exist. yet they want to capitalise.
You do realize he stole that money from other people, they paid the price.
Or does anti government = criminal? That would actually make sense of some of these comments.
@@antonphibes4924 If I understood it correctly then he didn't actually steal the money from others, but made their computers mine it for him so he stole processing power/electrical power I guess?
@@antonphibes4924 "You do realize he stole that money from other people, they paid the price."
They paid the price... so if the government got access to the bitcoin they would give it to the people who paid the price then? If not I don't see how it helps those people who paid the price? Yes of course he should be punished but I very much doubt that government would actually give the bitcoins to the people that was hacked so if he gives it up or not it won't change much for them
WHY WOULD THEY WANT TO TAKE IT FROM HIM IF IT HAS NO VALUE?????
@@antonphibes4924 I see your point, but I would rather 1 thief have the money, instead of the government who fucks over everyone.
Not to mention the guy who was on his 9th of 10 attempts to guess his password to unlock millions.
Just simply say “I don’t remember what it was” they cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this mans brain contains the password 😂
This is not how it works.
@@12345fowler It was a two year old comment that wasn't meant to be serious, you are slow in more than your brain, my friend.
So what are they going to do? Keep him in prison forever? Can they do that? I don't think legally. He might really have forgotten.
I watched a video yesterday about a well off gentleman who collects military vehicles. He bought a Russian T-34 tank for $30.000. When they cleaned out the fuel tank they found five large fold bars in it. I think said it was worth about 2.5 million dollars.
Buying secondhand stuff, or better yet storage lockers, is a great way of whitewashing stolen goods. Not sure how closely that is monitored by police.
T-34 tanks needed those gold bars to get better traction in the winter roads.
And then the IRS came after him for income tax and capital gains tax on the gold, as well as circumvention of import duties (and thus smuggling) on the gold, took it all and fined him several million dollars? That's what they'd do here...
@@jwenting
I think it happened in the UK IRC, and he just told the authorities about it, and willingly gave it to them.
There's an edit button for when you spell gold f o l d
They obviously don't understand it if they think they're denying him 'his' money by confiscating his wallet! Ha ha!
That made me laugh too
Yeah, exactly. And all the commentators seem to make this mistake as well.
I was tortured by police after I got an insurance payout and wouldnt give them access to the bank account. Never give them access
SCOTUS has already decided a case like this when they ruled that a person being coerced to reveal a safe combination was protected under the 5th as "content of the mind". Then they went on to rule that coercing someone to reveal the location of a safe key was not. Don't quite understand that but a bitcoin password falls in the first case.
Do you know what the case was?
FYI: If he can get away from the police he might still be able to recover his money. He doesn't need the wallet if he remembers his twelve word encryption key. Bitcoin exists on the blockchain. Wallets only store keys to entries on the blockchain.
I would assume someone smart enough to be mining Bitcoin on other people's computers illegally probably knows how to access his money without the physical wallet...
Thank you, that was the question on my mind this whole video.
That was my thought, or possibly that since they have his hot wallet he may have simply transferred them out of that wallet onto a cold wallet, I don't believe they would have any way to know untill they unlock the one they are holding lol
yep exactly that's what i was thinking, i thought i was missing something here...you don't need the wallet to recover them.
They know the wallet's public address. They can see if the balance has been transferred to another wallet and that new wallet's public address. That information is all available from the blockchain.
I keep my passwords stuffed in a paper bag under my mattress.
What is your name and address? Asking for a friend.
When your house burns down?
Better yet keep it written on TOILET PAPER!
@@bohemoth1 Forbidden TP
Great episode. Some nice meandering side stories made for good entertainment.
When I'm under stress I tend to forget things. Like when I went for cancer treatment then couldnt unlock my laptop for a month or two after I got home. Had to buy a new one. Just sayen. Jail is pretty traumatic.
You didn't have to buy a new one.
Let me see if I got this right. Tommy Thomson got, in actual fact, convicted by a judge of contempt, without any actual proof of deception. And gets imprisoned for as long as the judge wants, without benefit of trial? Would this not fall under cruel and unusual punishment? Sounds like something that should be appealed up to the Supreme court.
Why? He's a douche that defrauded his investors, he deserves it. He has no proof he's telling the truth either.
@@nodak81 Tell me you don't know how American courts work without saying you don't know how American courts work.
@@nodak81 A Negative cannot be proven.
@@nodak81 You dont need to prove someone is innocent, you need to prove someone is guilty.
because the guy didn't know WHEN to keep silent, then contradicted what he said. It's on tribunal record so it's evidence (he basically confessed he knew where the gold was, to get a better deal.)
Love the Art Bell T-shirt. Can't tell you how many times I was entertained by this guys show.
Wanna go for a ride?
@@KC9UDX more like "wanna take a ride?"
@@1mozfan1 West of the Rockies, you're on the air.
Gah! Thank you, I was racking my brain trying to work that out the last half of the video! I was thinking it was Joe Turkel as Eldon Tyrell from Blade Runner
When one door closes another opens , just don't let it hit you in the face !
I love it 😂. Attacking the judge Plan B . I needed that laugh.
Digital treasure map needed.
Gonna need a hell of alot more than a treasure map. Lol
@humandxp BDS
How can this man can be on contempt on court, for not testifying against himself..?...you only on contempt if you are a defendant..
That's on America...you still have some rights. Elsewhere not so much.
Like your shirt, i listened to Art for years when I was trucking. Looked forward to his ghost to ghost shows
All Americans need to listen to this @
this is your Freedom! "Knowledge Will Forever Govern Ignorance"
Most courts operate on the principal, it's The Judge's Court Room and if he wants to bury you under the courthouse, everyone goes along with him.
It’s gonna take the government a very very long time to take this guys bitcoin. If he has a 16 digit password then he’s good.
It’s not a password it’s a 12 word seed phrase the private key and it would take them 10000 years with a computer the size of the earth to figure it out
Oh well... If I can't have it. Well neither can you. 😁😆😅😂🤣
I love the Art Bell tee shirt. This is a good episode to wear it for. You're awesome.
Have they checked to see if the password to his digital wallet is stored in his prison wallet?
Probably "password".
Now that is funny, unless your prison wallets prolapsed and you password is revealed .
@@stevelehto superman
Ben behind the marathon ribbons.
Spectacular catch. I salute you!
By, drove, your, right. Good, eyes.
It is a strange thing that refusing a court order can produce life in prison or jail but murder gets a few years.
Years ago when I was in my 20's I worked security at a hotel, graveyard shift... Loved listening to Art Bell.
This brought a chuckle to me and first time in ages of CZcams. So good to see someone either sticking it to the courts, or at least not bowing to threats. Pity of they genuinely can’t remember...but I like to think they just bring stubborn and good on them. Sometimes it’s worth it just to let them know you can’t make me say something if I really don’t want to 😝
How can they continue to hold Thompson in jail for contempt indefinitely though? Contempt can’t be a life sentence can it? Shouldn’t be more than a year long sentence anyway.
I think 3 years is the max
@@jeffkoehne4852 I think it’s two years.
Steve, I watched 'Red Metal: The Copper Country Strike of 1913' today. You did good. You had a good presence in the film. Congrats.
AAAAH, Oh my God, "we call that plan B" I'm goddamn dying!!🤣🤣
A Coin Password is usually extraordinarily long (like 14 questions and answers) and has to be written down some where Unless you have an extraordinary memory.
You could memorize it if you really needed to
Or set your password to something you've already memorized.
I hope he doesn't write his passwords down on a Post-It note on his desk like my wife does.
Under normal circumstances that's actually fairly safe as the biggest threat is from being hacked by someone who doesn't have access to your physical computer. But in situations like this it would be wise to memorize it.
😂😂😂
The contempt of court.... Can you testify and say you forgot to avoid contempt?
I know a guy that found money from a bank robbery in the 50s hidden in a house he bought in the 80s and turned it in and then got charged with the crime of the bank robbery and put in prison for 7 years ! For posession of the stolen money .
And nostatutes of limitations was not recognised by the judge .
Knowing your opinion on asset forfeiture, I’m surprised you framed this as a problem.
Sounds like a solution.
Love the Art Bell t-shirt.
Love me some Coast to Coast original!!! (And new)
Love the Art Bell Tee. Cheers.
I LOVE your Art Bell T-Shirt!!!!
A few hundred years ago, being caught and assumed in possession of important knowledge was a death sentence, you were almost always tortured to death in some gruesome way, even if you told them the truth and they could verify it, they would assume you had more since you gave it up so easy considering their experience of people they were sure knew but never told them and died before telling (because of course they didn't know anything). If you did survive the torture and they stopped I would argue that was worse because they would throw you in the dungeon until you died of infection or dehydration.
yeah today they just show you pictures of biden and whoopi and threaten to put you in a room with either of them
90 days contempt of court and brought to judge to be released the next day.. thats when you tell the judge to fucking off and walk out
Love the Art Bell shirt. What a radio host.
The red Daytona Charger on the shelf with the mics is absolutely gorgeous.
You need my password to seize my wallet. Apparently he's lost the password.
Sounds like the court may have messed up. I have met people who were on indefinite probation until they paid all of their restitution. And money is fungible. If he owes $60 million, he owes $60 million. One way he can pay is by providing his password. Another way is to make payments for the rest of his life while being monitored by a probation officer to ensure he doesn't spend money or obtain any assets outside his normal means - in which case the court seizes and auctions them off.
Does he owe, 60 million, or X amount of BTC.
If the amount is in $$ at time of trial, then eventually, or even now, he could sell "part" of the BTC he has to pay the fine, and keep the rest.
@@shaunclarkson7131 Technically, he only owes the value of the computer time he used, which should be far less than the value of the BTC mined on the computers.
No Mount Gox was like a centralized bank where they held your keys.
And that is why you must hold your coins in a cold wallet.
Yes, they can- and will- lock you up. However, what few people realize is the potential "haul" determines how motivated they are to do it.