Prosecutors present evidence in Silk Road trial that links $13.4M in Bitcoins to Ulbricht's laptop

[Shawn Knight]

Since his arrest in October 2013, alleged Silk Road mastermind Ross Ulbricht has maintained that the Bitcoins confiscated by the FBI do belong to him and are a result of early investments he made in the cryptocurrency – not proceeds from running an illegal online drug marketplace.

Prosecutors in the trial against Ulbricht presented evidence on Thursday that debunks that claim.

Former FBI special agent Ilhwan Yum took the stand to describe how he traced 3,760 Bitcoin transactions over the course of a year ending in August 2013. Based on data pulled from seized servers, all of those transactions lead back to Ulbricht’s Samsung 700z laptop – the same computer he was using (and logged into Silk Road) when he was arrested.

Based on exchange rates at the time of each transaction, the coins were worth roughly $13.4 million.

The evidence against Ulbricht continues to mount in the case. Thus far, prosecutors have detailed a journal they found that details the site’s creation and heard testimony from a college friend that claims Ulbricht confessed that he created the site.

The latter statement isn’t up for dispute, however, as Ulbricht’s attorney Joshua Dratel said his client did create the site but only as an economic experiment. After a few months of operating the site, Ulbricht claims he handed it off to others and was lured back as a patsy just before police closed in to take the fall.

Dratel has also suggested that Dread Pirate Roberts, the online moniker of the person or persons that ran Silk Road, may have been Mark Karpeles, the CEO of embattled Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/59584-prosecutors-present-evidence-silk-road-trial-bitcoin.html

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

What difference does it make if the Bitcoins belong to him or not, it's not as though he'll need them where he's going anyway.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Prosecutors in the trial against Ulbricht presented evidence on Thursday that debunks that claim.

I guess this debunks the concept that Bitcoin transactions can not be traced! Tell me again why Bitcoins are used over the already existing trade methods?

 

[insect]

Prosecutors in the trial against Ulbricht presented evidence on Thursday that debunks that claim.

I guess this debunks the concept that Bitcoin transactions can not be traced! Tell me again why Bitcoins are used over the already existing trade methods?

Bitcoins can always be traced via the BlockChain (google it) - but there are ways to make it very very hard to trace (like splitting up 1 bitcoin into 100 transactions, then 100 more and so on until each is at the minimum value then slowly recombining them over a long time).

What makes bitcoin anonymous (but traceable) is that no one knows who owns which "accounts" until you access the PC with the wallet (a key of sorts) to see which transactions they have been a part of. Lose your wallet (I.e., PC dies and you didn't back it up) then those bitcoins are gone forever (analogous to you storing your cash in your mattress, but then your house burns down). This is how Mt. Gox was able to steal everything - people trusted them with their wallets and to keep them backed up (much like we trust banks with our savings accounts so we don't have to worry about the mattress). Personally, I just keep mine on my PC and backed up to a few other flash drives, just in-case because I don't trust the online bitcoin "banks".

 

[RustyTech]

"...prosecutors have detailed a journal they found that details the site’s creation and heard testimony from a college friend that claims Ulbricht confessed that he created the site."

right...

 

[Guest]

At least in jail, Ulbricht will get to eat a lot of Shatner.