Do you use a VPN? You may be send to prison for a crime someone else committed with that same IP address.
A lot of people ask why Roman Sterlingov’s prosecution may be as important as the prosecutions of Roman Storm and the Samourai devs, when one allegedly operated a custodial mixer and the others built a non-custodial software protocol.
The answer lies in how Sterlingov was identified as Bitcoin Fog’s operator – and it could happen to anyone.
At yesterday’s hearing, judges pushed back against the idea that Sterlingov “likely” operated BF.
Why? Because the main piece of evidence tying Sterlingov to BF is an IP address that was used to log into a Liberty Reserve account tied to BF.
A few minutes before, Sterlingov had used that same IP address to log into a Liberty Reserve account under his own name.
The prosecution argued that it is therefore “likely” that Sterlingov operated BF. But how “likely” is it really?
“Likely” is a comparative term, the judges argued yesterday. Could the prosecution present any framework for what constitutes “likely” in this case?
It could not: An IP address can be used by tens or thousands of people at the same time when using a public WiFi or a VPN. By how many on average? The prosecution didn't know.
Without the IP address tying Sterlingov to the Liberty Reserve account tied to BF, the entire case falls apart:
Because the cryptocurrency tracing is also tied to that same IP address – all it shows otherwise is funds from Sterlingov’s KYCed MtGox account flowing to a wallet outside of MtGox, exemplified by the Government with a literal black piggy bank with a question mark.
No one knows who that wallet belongs to.
From there, the funds flowed back into MtGox, and *numerous* hops later, through several other exchanges, wallets and addresses, test payments had been made to BF.
Again: the only evidence tying Sterlingov to BF is that someone with the same IP address logged into an account tied to BF in that chain of payments.
That could have been anyone on the same VPN or public WiFi – and it could have been you.
According to the Government, ofc there were other "indications" making it "likely" that it was him - such as an email showing that Sterlingov used Liberty Reserve and AurumXchange.
If you've been around long enough, you'll know that everyone used AurumXchange. And that everyone used Liberty Reserve. Bc bitcoin was early, and not many services existed.
The moral of this story is that if you happen to use the same VPN as a criminal, and you also use the most popular services a criminal uses, the government may send you to prison for over a decade for a crime it finds “likely” you committed with no framework of what “likely” even means.
This is the bar for factual evidence this case sets that can be used to send people to prison.
A lot of people ask why Roman Sterlingov’s prosecution may be as important as the prosecutions of Roman Storm and the Samourai devs, when one allegedly operated a custodial mixer and the others built a non-custodial software protocol.
The answer lies in how Sterlingov was identified as Bitcoin Fog’s operator – and it could happen to anyone.
At yesterday’s hearing, judges pushed back against the idea that Sterlingov “likely” operated BF.
Why? Because the main piece of evidence tying Sterlingov to BF is an IP address that was used to log into a Liberty Reserve account tied to BF.
A few minutes before, Sterlingov had used that same IP address to log into a Liberty Reserve account under his own name.
The prosecution argued that it is therefore “likely” that Sterlingov operated BF. But how “likely” is it really?
“Likely” is a comparative term, the judges argued yesterday. Could the prosecution present any framework for what constitutes “likely” in this case?
It could not: An IP address can be used by tens or thousands of people at the same time when using a public WiFi or a VPN. By how many on average? The prosecution didn't know.
Without the IP address tying Sterlingov to the Liberty Reserve account tied to BF, the entire case falls apart:
Because the cryptocurrency tracing is also tied to that same IP address – all it shows otherwise is funds from Sterlingov’s KYCed MtGox account flowing to a wallet outside of MtGox, exemplified by the Government with a literal black piggy bank with a question mark.
No one knows who that wallet belongs to.
From there, the funds flowed back into MtGox, and *numerous* hops later, through several other exchanges, wallets and addresses, test payments had been made to BF.
Again: the only evidence tying Sterlingov to BF is that someone with the same IP address logged into an account tied to BF in that chain of payments.
That could have been anyone on the same VPN or public WiFi – and it could have been you.
According to the Government, ofc there were other "indications" making it "likely" that it was him - such as an email showing that Sterlingov used Liberty Reserve and AurumXchange.
If you've been around long enough, you'll know that everyone used AurumXchange. And that everyone used Liberty Reserve. Bc bitcoin was early, and not many services existed.
The moral of this story is that if you happen to use the same VPN as a criminal, and you also use the most popular services a criminal uses, the government may send you to prison for over a decade for a crime it finds “likely” you committed with no framework of what “likely” even means.
This is the bar for factual evidence this case sets that can be used to send people to prison.
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