
Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht’s luck finally ran out after having a jury found the Dark Net business owner guilty on seven federal counts, one by having a mandatory prison sentence that is 20-year.
Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht is facing life in prison following a federal jury found him guilty on all seven charges relating to the Dark Net marketplace that specialized in the illegal sale of sets from heroin to hitmen’s services.
Using the supposedly untraceable cryptocurrency Bitcoin for its financial transactions, Silk path became the de facto Amazon marketplace for every illicit thing anyone could ever want.
Prosecuting attorneys successfully argued the 30-year-old operated the exchange that is underground the pseudonym ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ to allow internet surfers to offer 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 within the suit against Ulbricht, is a strong gambling that is anti-online who ended up being 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 removal of PokerStars, Comprehensive Tilt, and Absolute Poker from 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.
Especially, which includes Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) who recently announced their own 2016 GOP exploratory that is presidential committee. a cohort that is close of Vegas Sands magnate Sheldon Adelson, the senator is adamant that Internet video gaming could be directly associated with terrorism.
During their 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 to have online gaming that might be very hard to regulate?’
Once a commodity that is rising attracted Wall Street investors, Bitcoin’s price nose-dived following revelation that crooks found its anonymous and de-centralized nature the perfect currency for fraudulent activities.
But, Bitcoin has remained a commonly used online poker money at several web sites, including Seals with Clubs, a system 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, running the Deep Web forum from his small apartment in San Francisco with just a laptop and Wi-Fi.
In accordance with proof presented in court, through the next three years, their platform executed more than one million medication deals, making Ulbricht a revenue of over $18 million in Bitcoins.
Ulbricht’s parents, whom keep his innocence, insisting he was the fall guy for Silk path, claim their son simply got in over his head. His mother Lyn states, ‘He’s very idealistic and I could see Ross thinking, ‘ I want to create a market that is open people can freely trade.”
But having a Bitcoin bank account growing exponentially, he apparently destroyed the ‘friendly, compassionate, caring’ character his mother 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 government that is federal a year later on, along with his successor Blake Benthall taken into custody.
Netanyahu’s Likud Denies Providing Adelson Leg-up in Japan Casino Bid
Best of friends: Sheldon Adelson and Binyamin Netanyahu, but has the latter been making inappropriate advancements to the government that is japanese behalf of his casino magnate buddy? Likud says no. (Image: flash90)
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party has angrily rejected reports that the Israeli minister that is prime to influence the Japanese government on behalf of his friend and near confidante Sheldon Adelson.
Israeli paper Haaretz advertised this week that during a ‘financial work see’ to Tokyo in might 2014, Netanyahu asked a ‘very senior source in the government that is japanese 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 titanic slot machine bonus basis or connection to reality whatsoever,’ said a representative for Likud. ‘ The prime minister didn’t request a ‘private’ meeting with any sources within the Japanese government, and certainly didn’t ask for a meeting to use and advance Mr. Adelson’s passions, or those of anybody else. The things that were stated simply never were.’
Resting Giant
Adelson made no secret of his desire to develop a casino resort in Japan as soon as the country’s lawmakers began debating the possibility of opening up the market to legal casino gambling year that is last.
The nation’s ruling Liberal Democrat Party submitted a bill to parliament in early December 2013 that aimed regulation that is establish a video gaming market that specialists believe may potentially be the second-largest in the world, after Macau.
It is calculated that Japan’s casino market could eventually produce $40 billion in revenue annually.
The casino magnate vowed that he would spend ‘whatever it takes’ to gain a foothold in Japan if the nation legalize land-based casinos, later clarifying that ‘whatever it takes’ is ten dollars billion.
Adelson even told a press conference in Tokyo that he would pay that sum in ‘cash’ if necessary and that he had already create offices in the country and was prepared to begin with hiring staff.
Regulation Postponed
Today, however, Adelson’s Japanese office is most likely instead peaceful; Japan’s casino bill did not pass during 2014, as anticipated, regardless of the tacit backing of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The nation had wanted to ready its casino market to cash in at the 2020 Olympics, a deadline it has now probably missed, because of the lengthy bidding procedure that would ensue following legalization and period of time it takes to construct large casino buildings.
It looks like Adelson must await his Japanese mega-resort, then, 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 certainly no stranger to forming political alliances in order to further his very own ends and Netanyahu is no secret to his relationship.
Sheldon Adelson has the free daily Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, which will be so pro-Netanhayu so it has been accused of compromising the foundations of Israeli democracy.
Miami Cops Accused of Protecting Illegal Gambling Ring
Miami authorities officer Jerry Sutherland surrendered to the FBI after being accused of offering protection to a unlawful gambling band in the city. (Image: CBS4)
A Miami authorities officer surrendered to FBI officials Monday on charges that he took money payments from an illegal sports gambling operation in Liberty City in trade for protection solutions.
The officer, a patrolman named Jerry Sutherland, was charged with two counts of extortion under the Hobbs Act.
The crimes carry a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison each.
According to an FBI press release, Sutherland was charged by information instead than indictment.
It’s usually an indicator that he’s cooperating with investigators within the investigation, though his lawyers never have released any information regarding the case.
They did, nevertheless, say 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 associated with 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 we simply take these allegations extremely seriously.’
‘The allegations Mr. that is surrounding Sutherland in no way a reflection of the hard working men and women of the Miami Police Department,’ Llanes added.
According to a press launch through the FBI, Sutherland is speculated to have agreed to protect the sports betting ring ‘on or just around January 28, 2014.’ It further alleges that Sutherland ‘facilitated the theft of proceeds from an illegal gambling operation in exchange for the receipt of cash payments’ last July.
No information was provided on the gambling band that Sutherland was supposedly protecting.
Sutherland, 28, has become a person in the Miami Police Department since shortly after graduating from high college.
He also once attempted to run for the City Commission seat in 2010, but fell short in their effort.
Miami Police Department No Stranger to Sports Betting Controversies, Officer Misconduct
The situation is just certainly one of several related to sports wagering 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 jobs of about ten Miami police who were fired, resigned, or had been convicted of crimes in connection to your betting ring that was based out of a barber shop that is local.
That case was evidently unrelated to the Sutherland arrest.
In a case that is separate three Miami police and two helps were suspended after being suspected of using kickbacks from towing businesses.
Based on the allegations, Officers Michael Bode, Artice Peoples and Julio Ruiz were directing tow truck companies to traffic accidents instead than using the businesses which had contracts with the city of Miami, and obtained payments from providing the information.
More recently, that investigation has expanded by the FBI to check into other officers in the Miami-Dade Police Department and other agencies.
There are suspicions that the scheme went beyond kickbacks to offers and also involved auto body stores that overstated the damage to vehicles to be able to improve the worthiness of insurance claims.