Deep Web Page #4

---

um, I was on Facebook.

And there's this guy that I know

and he's very into like Bitcoin

and cryptocurrencies

and stuff like that.

He posted this article and it

says, "Ross Ulbricht Arrested. "

And I pull up Lyn's, uh,

g - chat and I'm like,

"What is going on?

Like why is... "

And I'm looking at Ross' page...

picture, you know, about being arrested.

What is this?

She says,

"We don't even know.

We're leaving Costa Rica right now. "

I mean, they were on their way,

but it blew my mind.

I mean totally blew my mind.

Ross William Ulbricht grew up in a suburb

of Austin, the only son of Kirk and Lyn

with an older sister

named Callie.

It's a loving, tight-knit,

middle-class family.

The Ulbrichts earn their income

from properties they built

and rent on the

Costa Rican coast.

Ross was an avid outdoorsman,

an Eagle Scout like his father,

and displayed an early

aptitude for math.

Ross earned a full scholarship

to the University of Texas

at Dallas, studying Physics.

He graduated in 2006 and then

won another full scholarship

to Penn State to pursue a Masters

in Material Science and Engineering.

It was at Penn State that

Ross began a deep interest

in Libertarianism, particularly

the work of Ludwig von Mises

and the Austrian School

of Economics.

Yet by 2009,

having completed his Masters,

Ross seemed to be having

a change of life plan

telling his mother he no longer had an

interest in pursuing a career in science

and instead wanted to

become an entrepreneur.

Ross moved back to Austin

and opened his own used book

company, Good Wagon,

donating a portion of

the proceeds to an inner city

youth program and to

a prison literacy project.

- I remember him saying,

when we had coffee,

the last time we saw each other,

I remember him saying

that he wished he had joined

a fraternity in college.

And I remember saying,

"Well, that's surprising. "

You know, I didn't really

understand that perspective,

um, and I just remember him

thinking, well he focused a lot

on his studies in school and

maybe didn't create the social

network that he was looking

for, um, in... in school.

But as far as where we saw each

other going or where we saw

ourselves going, um,

I think we both had

a strong desire to

be in control of our destiny.

You know, again like when he started

the book company, uh, totally natural.

Not even something that I would have

questioned, where there are a lot of people

that would never start their own business.

But for Ross, sure, you know, why not?

But the business floundered

and Ross eventually shut it down.

And if a post on his LinkedIn

page was any indication,

Ross had experienced a kind of

epiphany on the next way forward.

Ulbricht wrote,

"Now my goals have shifted.

"I want to use economic theory

as a means to abolish

"the use of coercion and

aggression amongst mankind.

"To that end, I am creating

an economic simulation to give

"people a first-hand experience

of what it would be like

to live in a world without

the systemic use of force. "

From this moment,

in late 2010,

Ross became something

of a free spirit,

eventually leaving

his parents' home in Austin

to live with his sister Callie

in Sydney, Australia

and then returning

briefly to Austin.

Throughout this period,

as far as his family knew,

Ross' means of employment

was working on freelance

projects in computer finance.

I am Rene Pinnell, age 29.

Today is December 6, 2012

and we are in the Jewish

Contemporary Art Museum,

and relationship to partner

is best friend.

So, Ross, how did you come

to live in San Francisco?

Uh, you twisted

my arm until I said,

"Ah, fine I'll come. "

I get a phone call from Rene,

"Ross, call me up.

I've got an opportunity for you. "

I'm like, "Okay. "

He's like, "Yeah, I'm doing

a startup here in San Francisco.

Um, I want you to

be a part of it. "

The more I thought about it,

and the more he, um,

laid out the pros

and cons, uh... uh...

the more it all just

seemed like cosmic

and the right thing to do.

So, um, yeah.

I bought my ticket and two weeks

later I showed up at his doorstep.

As Ross Ulbricht was

making his way

from Australia to Austin,

and eventually to San Francisco,

the Silk Road was online

and growing steadily.

So naturally it sparked the attention

of federal law enforcement

and specifically

the wing of the DHS

called Homeland Security

Investigations,

housed in the old Customs House

in Baltimore, Maryland.

You have postal

inspectors in Seattle

and Customs and Border

Protection, uh,

intercepting mail shipments

coming from overseas

full of drugs, full of,

uh, full of currency.

And one thing

that happens is

they all lead back

to the Silk Road.

And you have a number of

independent investigations

sort of cropping up around

the same timeframe

following different leads,

but all leading back to the same place.

At the same time,

the New York Cyber-Crime

Division of the FBI

began their own investigation,

headed by Agent Chris Tarbell.

There were people

essentially online 24/7

as part of the team that...

that was monitoring,

gathering, even just the

little bits of evidence.

Informants were activated.

The site was crawling with law enforcement

posing as vendors and buyers

from the very beginning

of Silk Road's existence.

In early 2012, HSI partnered

with Tarbell's FBI investigators

as well as the DEA to mount

an undercover operation

called "Marco Polo"

with the intention of

penetrating the inner

sanctum of the Silk Road.

The operation gained traction

when an undercover agent using

the vendor name of "nob"

was allegedly able to establish

direct communication

with the Dread Pirate Roberts,

which would lead to a

shocking turn of events.

Nob complained to DPR

about the small-fry nature

of most deals on the Silk Road.

"It really isn't worth it

to do below 10 kilos,"

the agent wrote.

DPR offered to help

find a buyer for nob

and allegedly turned to one

of his most trusted partners

known only as "chronicpain"

to put the deal together.

Chronicpain had been one

of the core administrators

of the Silk Road

from the beginning,

a frequent contributor

to the forums who shared

the Silk Road vision for

reducing harm in the drug trade.

But these halcyon days

were about to end.

In order to facilitate

this drug deal,

chronicpain gave the informant

his home address.

Federal agents immediately

apprehended chronicpain

at his Salt Lake City home and

were surprised to discover

that this 47-year-old family man named

Curtis Clark Green was a dark net criminal.

At some point they're going

to catch one of those people.

And what do you do

in a typical drug case?

You roll that person over

as a cooperating witness.

And in this case, one of them

they got really lucky

and he was an administrator

on the system.

Green had access to other Silk Road users'

accounts and financial records,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes