Category: Mayhem

A man was arrested on July 18 for trying to launder $19 million of bitcoin earned on the darknet drug marketplace Silk Road. Hugh Haney faces one charge of money laundering and one count of engaging in a financial transaction using illegally-gotten gains. If guilty, he could face up to 30 years behind bars.

Homeland Security identified Haney after he allegedly moved stolen funds to an unidentified crypto exchange. Haney claimed the large amounts of bitcoin were proceeds from bitcoin mining, but Homeland Security says it has evidence which can trace transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain back to the Silk Road. Once the bitcoin—which was earned between 2012 and 2013—was transferred into cash, Homeland Security officers say that’s when they seized the money.

Silk Road was one of the original and most popular darknet marketplaces for buying and selling drugs, and other illegal (and legal) items. It was shut down by the FBI in 2013 and its founder Ross Ulbricht was later sentenced to life in prison without parole. In its two and a half year lifespan, it was reported to have more than 100,000 customers.

Silk Road to redemption: Will Trump pardon Ross Ulbricht?

While Silk Road has long since deceased, the dark web continues to be a popular place for bitcoin. According to Chainalysis, more than $600 million worth of bitcoin was funneled into the dark web in 2018. But, the proportion of bitcoin being used for ilicit activities compared to legal ones has plummeted from nearly seven percent in 2012, to a fraction of a percent today.  Crime in crypto, it seems, still pays.

SOURCE: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/silk-road-drug-dealer-caught-122416173.html

Cyber security pioneer, crypto bull and 2020 US presidential candidate John McAfee is on the move again. In a tweet on Friday, in which he can be seen brandishing a gun, he claimed that the CIA had attempted to “collect” him and his wife Janice. “We are at sea now…I will continue to be dark for the next few days,” he said. The CIA has attempted to collect us. We are at sea now and will report more soon. I will continue to be dark for the next few days. pic.twitter.com/o79zsbxISl — John McAfee (@officialmcafee) July 19, 2019 We’ve been here before, of course. Last month, McAfee said that he was going dark “for at least 48 hours”. This followed onThe post All at sea. John McAfee goes dark again, claims CIA in pursuit appeared first on Coin Rivet.

LINK: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sea-john-mcafee-goes-dark-100018935.html

He was a prankster, a master of the put-on that thumbed its nose at what he saw as a stuffy and blundering political establishment.

And as much as anyone else, Paul Krassner epitomized a strain of anarchic 1960s activism — one that became identified with the Yippies as they nominated a pig for president and rained dollar bills onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Along with Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin and a few others, Mr. Krassner helped found that group, and he also joined Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters on their LSD-fueled bus trip across America.

READ MORE: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/21/obituaries/paul-krassner-dies-at-87.html

 

The alleged murder of a 17-year-old blogger has revealed a dark reality of the ‘incel’ offshoot, which followers seemed to think was a joke. Writer Elfy Scott has been investigating the movement.

LINK: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/how-the-alleged-murder-of-a-blogger-has-revealed-the-dark-reality-of-incels

In his old life, Matthew Cox told stories to scam his way into millions of dollars. Now he’s trying to make it by selling tales that are true.

LINK: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/08/matthew-cox-true-crime/592798/

Season two of the award-winning podcast from Longreads, in partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Listen

Also available as a Longread

When a bomb exploded in a tiny desert town, there was no doubt who did it. But no one could understand why.

 

Nightmarish allegations against the well-connected financier show why so many Americans let their imagination run wild when it comes to elite corruption.

The more we learn about the allegations against the reclusive billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, the more he seems like a figment of the online fever swamps. The wealthy financier arrested last week for underage sex trafficking is accused of operating an international sex ring that could implicate high-powered men across business, politics, and Hollywood. Every nightmarish detail of his story—from the creepily decorated mansion to the flights on “the Lolita Express” to the stays on “Orgy Island”—sounds like it was conjured by conspiracy theorists.

Just this morning, President Donald Trump told reporters that Alex Acosta was stepping down as Secretary of Labor amid mounting outrage over the sweetheart deal he gave Epstein years ago as a federal prosecutor. The resignation will surely draw more attention to what Epstein got away with over the years—and who helped him.

It should not come as a surprise that some of America’s most outspoken conspiracists have spent the days since Epstein’s arrest taking victory laps.

LINK: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/07/epstein-conspiracy-theories/593605/

And here’s a counterpoint view:

https://youtu.be/ZflAp7OKvOs

The web magazine, Trigger Warning, has reposted a copy of our manifesto. Head on over to TW and check it out. NOTE: Trigger Warning has edited some of the content for their own purposes of style. If you want to read the original, unfiltered version, you may do so here.

LINK: http://triggerwarning.us/walking-the-psycho-path-a-manifesto/

They took your data. Then they took control. The Great Hack uncovers the dark world of data exploitation through the compelling personal journeys of players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data scandal. In select theaters and on Netflix July 24.

XEN: THE ZEN OF THE OTHER
a book by Ezra Buckley of The PsychoPath.Org
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When we ask why the archetype of the serial killer has faded from public consciousness, we may well look to the trend of murders broadcasted directly to the internet.

Like far too many people, I can’t help checking my phone one last time before bed, usually while brushing my teeth. When I did so on Sunday night, I saw Twitter chatter about a murder that had unfolded that morning on Instagram and Discord, with possible connections to 4chan and an incel subgroup known as “darkcels.” Some 10 hours later, police confirmed that 17-year-old Bianca Devins of Utica, New York, was the victim of a homicide; 21-year-old Brandon Andrew Clark, her alleged killer, was hospitalized in critical condition due to severe injuries.

READ MORE: https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/bianca-devins-murder-livestream-darkcel-instagram-4chan-discord