Bitcoins Seized In Drug Bust 198
First time accepted submitter Salo2112 writes "In a case believed to be the first of its kind, federal authorities have seized a Charleston man's virtual currency due to an alleged drug law violation with possible links to a shadowy online black market. From the article: 'The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration recently posted a forfeiture notice indicating that agents had seized 11.02 Bitcoins worth $814 from 31-year-old Eric Daniel Hughes for allegedly violating the federal Controlled Substances Act. No other details were provided.'"
Business models (Score:5, Interesting)
How to make money selling drugs. (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone under the misapprehension that the drug war is about catching scum bag drug users or dealers should watch this excellent documentary:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1276962/ [imdb.com]
You'll learn who the really big players are. Hint: it's not who you think it is ;)
Peace,
Andy.
Re:It was bound to happen (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:It was bound to happen (Score:5, Interesting)
If people were allowed to trade their own labor or goods without having to invoke the mandatory use of Federal Reserve notes/bits it would be much more difficult for the USA's Federal Government to put a toll on that transaction.
Yes, we get that Bitcoin is potentially useful for tax evasion. Can you spell out why that is socially desirable?
Indeed Bitcoin is a competing currency that allows people to bargain directly with one another which the Federal Government would interpret as competition
People do bargain directly with each other now. The government isn't involved in that. But if good or services are sold, that transaction tends to be subject to taxes, although not always. And that does ignore the underground economy that tends to involve cash transactions.
I don't think you are showing much of a case here.
Re:It was bound to happen (Score:5, Interesting)
Because it's totally off topic, this has nothing to do with what bitcoin is. If you get busted for drugs, the police will cease anything of value including cash, real estate, possessions, if you buy gear for your WoW character or land in Second Life with drug money that has resale value they can in theory cease that one too. The point is that bitcoins have been hyped up as anonymous money to buy drugs so lots of dealers should have bitcoins which makes it surprising that they haven't found any to cease before. Nothing here happened to his bitcoins that wouldn't have happened to anything else he owns.
Re:It was bound to happen (Score:2, Interesting)
Yes, we get that Bitcoin is potentially useful for tax evasion. Can you spell out why that is socially desirable?
It is socially desirable to avoid paying taxes because the goverment just hands it over to the NSA to spy on us.
And they have yet to produce anything of value from all that money.
Hows that...
Re: It was bound to happen (Score:3, Interesting)
Not exactly. Forfeiture is a separate, civil proceeding against the property itself, and not the owner. In order to prevail, the DA has to prove only that it was more likely than not that the property in question was the proceeds of, or used to advance, criminal conduct. So it is much, much easier to steal property through forfeiture than it is to convict someone of a crime. In some cases the property is taken even if the person is found not guilty in a court. In some even more egregious cases, the property is seized and the owner is never even charged with anything. The real kicker? There's no right to an attorney in forfeiture cases, so you don't get a PD if you can't afford a lawyer.
Re:It was bound to happen (Score:5, Interesting)