We need to learn quickly to keep up with the massive change around us so we don't get run over. We need to outrun change.
Previous posts in this series describe a luxurious 87 m yacht, the 66 m support yacht, and all the ancillary equipment carried on board, such as a personal submarine, helicopter, and five speedboats.
One final thought – curb your envy.
First post in this series described a luxury yacht and its associated support yacht. Second post made some guesses on the price tag for the two yachts along with a private jet this person owns.
Now this look at some of the auxiliary equipment, referred to as “toys” in the trade magazines, carried on the support yacht.
Helicopter
Articles above describing the Honan say it is rated for a helicopter such as an EC145. Controller website lists several EC 145 for sale with prices shown for three:
Previous post described a huge luxury yacht and a slightly smaller yacht used his support to carry the helicopter, submarine, and five small (?) support boats.
Totally wild guesses on costs
The accountant in me is incapable of using a high-powered telescope to glimpse inside this rarefied world without wondering about the costs. So…
While on vacation recently in San Diego I saw a huge yacht parked in San Diego harbor. This one looked weird, with a helicopter and several boats on the deck. A few hours later another yacht pulled into the harbor, dropping anchor many hundred feet away.
Noticed the name on the side of the first ship was Hodor. Well, of course I did a quick check on the ole’ internet and learned it is a support yacht.
Watching news reports sometimes provides a glimpse into worlds far away that I’ll never visit. Such reports give some hint of what that world is like. There are lots of posts on my blog about such worlds. I wrote lots of posts about Silk Road, the on-line drug/ weapon/ body parts/ hacking tools/ contract murder web site.
An article in the Daily Bulletin on 2/29/20 provides another from a telescope of a distant planet: Authorities seize 2,669 pounds of meth from San Bernardino County stash house and storage facility.
DEA led several raids on February 20 and 21 with the only explicitly mentioned assistance being San Bernardino County Sheriff deputies.
What they found:
Just checked on the status of the players in the Silk Road dark web bazaar.
Updated previous post for the location and release date for Andrew Michael Jones. Release date and location for Gary Davis is now listed. Release date for Carl Mark Force has been shorted one month.
I won’t repost all the details. Check out the status at:
Time for a follow-up on the status and jail location of the major players in the Silk Road, dark web fiasco. If you need lots and lots of background, check out this tag.
Bureau of Prisons’ inmate locator service, some online searching, and previous reporting provides this info:
Ross William Ulbricht, a/k/a “Dread Pirate Roberts”, “DPR” – Silk Road mastermind – age 35.
Register number 18870-111.
Serving Life Sentence. (In the federal system, I think “life” means life.)
In 12/18 he was confined at Florence (Colorado) – High security U.S. Penitentiary, that is the ‘super-max’. On 9/2/19 he is confined at Tucson U.S. Penitentiary, a high security prison.
Update 11/21/19– Still at Tucson USP and still showing Life as release date.
Roger Thomas Clark – a/k/a “Variety Jones”, allegedly Mr. Ulbricht’s deputy – age 57
Register number 85816-054.
Several other players in the Silk Road gun/explosive/drug/body part bazaar have worked their way through the U.S. justice system.
Some info on their involvement and current status follows after mentioning Mr. Ulbricht’s final appeal was denied.
Ross Ulbrickt
As an aside, the Cyberscoop article below points to the following:
6/28/18 – Reason – Sadly, Ross Ulbrickt’s Case Will Not Be Heard by the Supreme Court – His appeal was denied by the Supreme Court on 6/28/18. That is his last opportunity for an appeal.
Article raises the troublesome procedural question that the sentencing judge used allegations that were not proved in court to reach his decision. Specifically, the judge used allegations of the murder-for-hire schemes which were discussed but on which Mr. Ulbrickt was not convicted, according to his attorney’s comments in the appeal.
Apparently there were some warrant-less searches at issue, which the USSC did not take up.
Andrew Michael Jones, Gary Davis, Peter Phillip Nash
7/13/18 – Cyberscoop – Alleged Silk Road employee extradited from Ireland to U.S. – Gary Davis, allegedly a/k/a Libertas, is accused of being a high level administrator in Silk Road. Article links to previously sealed indictment which accused Andrew Michael Jones, a/k/a “Inigo”, Gary Davis, a/k/a “Libertas” and Peter Phillip Nash, allegedly who had four aliases. (Inigo? Seriously? What is the deal with all the slander of the all-time classic comedy Princess Bride?)
Continue reading “Other players in the Silk Road drug sales website face justice”
While looking at the sentencing of former Secret Service agent Shaun W. Bridges I learned a few more details of what he was up to while looting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bitcoins. His sentencing is one of the loose ends on my posts about the Silk Road dark web site where you could buy any drugs, body parts, contract hits, weapons, explosives, or fake identification that your heart desired.
Some tidbits from a few articles on his antics:
12/7/15 – SFGate – Ex-Secret Service agent gets prison in S.F.-based Silk Road case – Good summary of first case. Sentenced 12/5/15 to 71 months, which is one month less than 6 years. Carl Force was sentenced on 10/19/15 to 6 1/2 years.
2/3/16 – Motherboard – Great Moments in Shaun Bridges, a Corrupt Silk Road Investigator – Article was written shortly after his re-arrest.
This guy had quite a career. Seriously. He was a successful hostage negotiator before joining Secret Service. He was on the Obama presidential protection detail and was a cyber currency expert while at the USSS.
One more loose end on my reporting of the drug/body parts/contract hit/weapons/fake ID/explosives dark web site Silk Road: sentencing for Shaun W. Bridges.
Update: After getting ready for followup to this post, I realized those are actually separate discussions. Thus, there will be no ‘part 2’ for this post.
He is the former Secret Service agent who, while assigned to the inter-agency task force investigating Silk Road, stole a large amount of bitcoins. He was sentenced to prison for 71 months.
The day before he was scheduled to report to prison he was trying to get out of the U.S. but was arrested for another theft of Bitcoins. He pled guilty and was sentenced to another 24 months, which the judge ordered to run consecutively.
He was also ordered to surrender 1,500 bitcoins, which were worth approximately $10.4 million at the time of his sentencing.
This post will discuss his sentencing. Next post will give some more background on his escapades which paid him a well-earned seven years in free federal housing.
I’ve previously walked through this exercise for Scott London and Keith Graves.
Release dates and actual time in prison
Continue reading “More sentencing details on Silk Road dark web site – part 1”
There are only a few loose ends on the massive on-line drug bazaar called Silk Road. Actually, you could buy weapons, human organs, explosives, and even a contract killing on the site along with any amount of any dope you have ever heard of.
Most of the players are in federal prison on long-term sentences.
Last time I checked, the remaining on-the-loose player was “Variety Jones.” He is now in custody, awaiting trial.
Continue reading “Silk Road perps. The last one has been extradicted and is awaiting trial.”
The sad tale of Ross Ulbricht and his on-line drug bazaar called Silk Road is a good study of the outer limits of how far rationalization can carry a person.
It is also a frightening illustration of Jeremiah 17:9. From the New International Version, ponder:
The heart is deceitful above all thing and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Considering the tale of Silk Road is useful for accountants wanting to learn about the outer fringe of the internet and he investigative power of the federal government, believers who would like an illustration of the frightening level of deceit that lives in the human heart, and anyone else wanting to learn more about the dark worlds that normal people will never see.
My posts are gathered into two collections:
This is the 9th and final part of a discussion of Silk Road, as discussed in American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road, written by Nick Bilton. For the longer story, you may enjoy reading parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight.
Other thoughts on the book
If you have previously been following the Silk Road story, you will enjoy the book. It reads like a good detective novel, except it is all true.
The book describes the mutual low opinion held of other federal agencies by the staff of most of the federal agencies that had a part in the investigation. This is not the first time I’ve read of those attitudes or heard of poor cooperation across agencies.
Lack of technical discussion
A couple of the reviews at Amazon indicate there is minimal technical detail in the book. That is absolutely the case.
Continue reading “Final thoughts on the tale of Silk Road. Part 9.”
This is part 8 of a discussion of Silk Road, as described in American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road, written by Nick Bilton. To learn how these three individuals earned an extended stay in federal housing, you may enjoy reading parts one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven.
Current status:
In good ol’ Dragnet style, where are bad guys now?
Here is the info from the federal Bureau of Prisons website:
Update 12/10/18: Roger Thomas Clark, accused of being “Variety Jones”, is in federal custody awaiting trial.
Continue reading “The Silk Road perps. Where are they now? Part 8.”
Two of the feds working on the Silk Road investigation went rogue. That did not turn out well for them.
This is part 7 of a discussion of Silk Road, as described in, American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road, written by Nick Bilton. Check out parts one, two, three, four, five and six, if you wish. (Cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)
Since the book was written, there have been more developments. I stumbled across the additional info after drafting this series of posts.
Let’s take a look at how things turned out for the two crooked federal agents.
What did the two feds do and what did they get for their trouble?