My good friend and the High Priestess of the Reformed Satanic Church of Keene, Aria DiMezzo, is through her first month of her 18 month federal prison sentence for the victimless “crime” of selling bitcoin without a government permission slip. You can find out how to write her letters, send her books, or money for her commissary on her blog post here. This week, she sent me the following blog from the Devens, MA federal prison camp, as originally posted to her website, AriaDiMezzo.com:

No one dislikes the government more than I do (although some may equal my disgust with the institution), but even so it would be silly and unfair to accuse the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) of being anti-trans, in exactly the same way that it would be absurd to accuse the rain of malice because it erodes the hills. The water does not hold enmity toward the dirt; the rain only does what it does, and there are simply effects to that. In actuality, the treatment of the BOP in regard to trans people is both a stark contrast and an alarming analog to the conversion therapy camps that were more common in the 90s; by holding none of the enmity and sharing none of the intentions of the “pray the gay away” camps, the BOP is more subtle in its erasure of trans identity, but this doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Just as the rain does not try to destroy the hillside, and is merely a result of weather patterns much greater in scope than a mound of dirt, so is the assault on transgener identity only an effect of a larger phenomenon: a widespread tendency to glance at a newborn’s genitals and map out large sections of their life for them, and then becoming irate and hostile at the suggest that an infant’s gentials may not be the best way of grouping adults into relationships, friend circles, or prisons.

It is simple, when a patient complains of a cough, for a doctor to prescribe some cough syrup, but nearly no doctor would do this, because it is myopic and narrow to treat a sympton rather than the underlying illness that causes the symptom. By treating only the cough, a doctor could easily miss the pneumonia, lung cancer, or asthma that is causing the patient to cough. Similarly, there is a Buddhist story where the Buddha is traveling with students when one of them is shot by an arrow, and begs the Buddha to pursue the attacker, so they might be held to account. The Enlightened One responds that he could do that, or he could remove the arrow and dress the wound, but he obviously could not do both. Similarly, shaking our fists angrily at the torrents or clouds that produce them has a tremendous opportunity cost and is a waste of emotional energy; instead, we could devote our time and efforts to halting the erosion, and then preventing it from recurring.

The issue at hand is not that the BOP maliciously denies transgender healthcare, because it doesn’t; the BOP fails to provide adequate care to transgender inmates, but it is because the society behind the prison industrial complex routinely fails the transgender population, largely due to apathy, although there is occasionally malice shown to these people who declare themselves to fall into the cracks of the social construct of gender, which, in the estimation of the bigoted, is sufficient for “everyone else,” and thus must work for all. It is the equivalent of telling a person who is cold to remove their coat because the speaker isn’t chilly, so how could anyone else be?

Even under the best of circumstances, being transgender is difficult. Transgender people already know in their hearts that they will never be indistinguishable from a cisgender person, but there are plenty of people who enjoy reminding trans people of that anyway, to say nothing of the myriad of minor, incidental, and accidental ways in which this is made clear to a trans person. No one ever said, “I’m going to make my life easier by dressing as the opposite sex,” because, despite bigoted claims to the contrary, such a monumental step serves only to make one’s life more challenging, at least for the foreseeable future, when it is less readily apparent that a person is trans at all.

Everyone has struggles, though, and it would be inaccurate to suggest that this is unique to trans people, or that the hardships of a trans person are unduly difficult. Rather than somehow being “worse” than the challenges other people faced, the tragedy of the trans plight lies in how utterly and easily preventable–and harmlessly so!–the difficulties are. In prison or larger society, it brings no risk or hurdles to anyone else for a person of any characteristics to present themselves as they need to in order to look in a mirror and be reasonably happy with the reflection.

The existence of transgender people, without a doubt, creates challenges for society that it is not equipped to handle, but putting trans women into a men’s prison and trans men into a women’s prison should be regarded at least as catastrophic to the involved people as placing trans men into a men’s prison and trans women into a women’s prison is regarded by those who have run out of real problems to deal with and so instead spend their time seeking trivialities about which they can be upset.

For more than a month, I have been waiting on basic items, not necessarily to reaffirm or bolster my identity as much to simply maintain it against the unrelenting, subtle forces that exist within a men’s prison to oppress, deny, and erase all non-masculine traits, with men’s prison obviously being the peaks of testosterone and toxic masculinit: emotions are not expressed, oether than anger. Imagine trying to maintain femininity in an environment entirely ruled by testosterone, much less attempting to enhance one’s feminine side such that behavior more closely matches the interior. Even if I had every resources that I’ve collected over the last decade in my life as a trans woman, simply existing as myself would be a challenge; with those resources denied me by policy, and with the meager substitutes taking now more than a month to reach me, the task is utterly impossible.

This shouldn’t be taken as necessarily the fault of the BOP, just as rain is not really to blame for the erosion of soil; rather, that it is this way is a reflection of social values. Though society increasingly recognizes the rights and needs of transgender individuals, the government always lags behind, and then always fails to actually meet the needs that are recognized–someone with a malignant growth will have to wait months to have it addressed, because the prison industrial complex is not equipped to act with grace and compassion. Given that this is the case, perhaps our first goal should be to not have the largest prison population on the planet, and, in so doing, we would lessen the hardship unnecessarily placed on all people, transgender or not, and that could only ever be a positive thing for us all.

Federal District Church Court

One of the biggest frustrations with the federal court system is the fact that recording hearings in any form is completely forbidden, and has been since 1946. No audio, no video, no photographs can be taken. Only pen/pencil and paper are allowed. We tried to get the judge to provide at least an online/phone audio feed as the federal civil courts had done since COVID. The courtroom is wired for sound and video at least since COVID, but alas, we were not successful in our request.

Free Keene blogger Chris Waid did an amazing job taking and transcribing notes every day and those were posted here, but no one sitting in the audience can capture all that is said. Thankfully, the court does offer an official record, which of course one must pay for. Since I plan to appeal my ridiculous convictions for victimless “crimes” regarding selling bitcoin, we have to have the full transcripts. Now we do and I’m legally able to share them publicly.

To make them easier to search and copy, I’ve put them all through Optical Character Recognition, so you can easily select blocks of text you might want to use for whatever purpose. Certainly there are many ridiculous moments that were hopefully somewhat captured by text, though obviously you don’t have the benefit of the witness’ facial expressions. Hopefully someday cameras will be allowed into federal courts, but for now full transcripts months later are the best we can do.

You can download all the trial transcripts in PDF form here as a ZIP file. It also includes the following index as a TXT file, showing the witnesses called on each day. Each PDF also has its own index up front showing the witnesses and pages on which their direct, cross, and any redirect examinations of them took place. Each day usually has two files, one for morning and one for afternoon. You can click each individually below if you don’t want to download them all at once in the ZIP file. (Depending on your browser, you may need to right click and save as to get the download working.)

Day 1 PM – Opening Statements
Day 2 AM – PROSECUTION – Alexandra Comolli
Day 2 PM – Alexandra Comolli, Theodore Vlahakis
Day 3 AM – Theodore Vlahakis, Kathryn Thibault, Kevin McCusker, Derek Feather
Day 3 PM – Christopher Rietmann, Colleen Fordham
Day 4 AM – Hope Cherry, Bruce Sweet, Pavel Prilotsky
Day 4 PM – Pavel Prilotsky, Renee Spinella
Day 5 AM – Dustin Wong, Nicholas Nathans, James Rossell, Patrick Brown, Harold Jones
Day 5 PM – Harold Jones, Melanie Neighbors, Karla Cino
Day 6 AM – Kendall McBrearty
Day 6 PM – Dannela Varel, Kendall McBrearty
Day 7 AM – Kendall McBrearty, Rebecca Ault, Kate Eyerman, Nancy Triestram
Day 7 PM – Nancy Triestram, Diane Cacace, Thomas Connolly, Colleen Ranahan
Day 8 AM – Renee Spinella
Day 9 AM – DEFENSE – Keith Murphy, Max Santonastaso, Edward Forster, Adam Mosher, Dael Chapman, Carolynn Urbanski, Melinda Cambiar, Ian Freeman
Day 9 PM – Ian Freeman
Day 10 AM – Mohammed Ali, Paul Niwa, Closing Arguments
Day 10 PM – Jury Instructions
Day 11 – Verdict

The latest on the case is both sides are currently arguing over the motion to dismiss that my attorney, Mark Sisti, made during the trial at both the close of prosecution and at the end of the defense. Presuming the judge does not throw out all eight counts, we will move to sentencing that is currently set for August 17th, though there is a good chance that will be delayed yet again. Should you wish to write the judge on my behalf, you can find instructions and an address here.

Meanwhile, my co-defendant Aria DiMezzo is in a federal prison camp in Devens, MA serving an 18-month sentence for the completely victimless paperwork violation of operating a “money transmitting business” without a government permission slip. Sadly, but understandably – it’s scary to face down a dozen charges in front of government-biased juries – she took a plea to the charge despite the statutes not mentioning cryptocurrency in any way and despite the fact that bitcoin is never “transmitted” at all, by the government’s own definition of “transmitting”. Unfortunately one cannot appeal a plea deal under most circumstances, so she’ll have to serve some as-yet-undetermined amount of the 18-month sentence. However, you can help her make the time go faster by writing her letters, sending books, or money for commissary. Instructions are here at AriaDiMezzo.com.

As always, stay tuned here to Free Keene or Free Talk Live for the latest.

If you’re an old-school Cop Block supporter, you surely remember Cell 411. It was a killer app that allowed the user to send GPS-based emergency alerts out to friends and family and also allowed for live streaming video from the scene, among other useful features for police accountability activists.

For instance, a Cop Blocker could be getting pulled over, send an alert to a “cell” including other Cop Blockers in the area, and then others would know the sender’s location and what was happening, and could mobilize to the scene to provide support. Meanwhile, the Cop Blocker who sent the alert could also stream live video from the pullover that his cohorts could watch while they were en route.

The app also had alerts for other categories such as fire, medical emergency, breakdown, and others. The idea being that when something bad is happening in your life, it’s better to have friends respond instead of armed psychopaths who might shoot you, your family, or your dog. In case you’re not already familiar with Cell 411, here’s a video that Cop Block’s co-founder Pete Eyre made showing the app’s various features several years ago:

Unfortunately, after years of useful service, Cell 411 fell into disrepair due to its founder falling on hard times due to some family difficulties. He reached out to me and the Shire Free Church took over the project in 2020, but by that time the software was essentially broken.

The first thing I wanted to do was open source Cell 411’s programming, which we have done. The project’s new head programmer, “Nobody”, is an old-school Cop Blocker and has spent the last few years – minus six months in jail when he was targeted by the feds for selling bitcoin – trying to refactor and improve the code. However, he needs help. It’s more than a one-man project and he’s getting burned out and needs some people with programming experience for Android and iOS who are willing to help make Cell 411 great again.

If you don’t know how to program, you can still help us test the app.

If you’re willing to help, please join our Matrix or Telegram support chats to get connected, and introduce yourself. You can also find our code at our Gitlab here.

Please share this story if you value Cell 411. Thank you.

My good friend and the High Priestess of the Reformed Satanic Church of Keene, Aria DiMezzo, has begun her 18 month federal prison sentence for the victimless “crime” of selling bitcoin without a government permission slip. You can find out how to write her letters, send her books, or money for her commissary on her blog post here. Today she sent me the following blog from jail, as originally posted to her website, AriaDiMezzo.com:

As observed masterfully in The Gulag Archipelago, everything changes after the arrest–rather, everything changes *during* the arrest. I had previously divided my life into “pre-New Hampshire” and after moving to the Granite State, but the arrest, the violence of the FBI threatening to shoot me, and the traumatic reality into which I was thrust that the illusion of safety had been ripped away became the new dividing point for me. While they searched my house for people and weapons, and as I stolld in only panties and a blanket as early morning wintry winds of New Hampshire swept through my house more efficiently than any strike team, I said nothing but held out hope that they were there for my roommate, not for me. This pipedream was soon smashed like my front door, as they escorted me into another part of my house, closed the doors, disconnected my cameras, and told me that I was under arrest.

There are a few subtle, but important ways that my raid and arrest differs from those recounted by Solzhenitsyn. The United States has watched the rise and fall fo empires and ideologies, and has learned from the mistakes of Hitler, Mao, and the USSR. It knows that Americans would never allow the secret arrests, lack of charges, and other silliness of the USSR. Like other Communist rulerships, the USSR wielded uncertainty and terror as its primary weapons, but Americans would never allow tyranny to approach in such a way. The “rule of law” is too critical to the propaganda of the U.S., and such behavior would undermine the one great conceit underpinning the entire monstrous system: because of Democracy, that blessed thing, we are the government, and we create the law, and, as such, we do these things to ourselves; they are not done to us, against our will, by an unaccountable terrorist regime, because we consent to this! Even if you or I don’t, *we* do, and somehow this illusory entity is able to act without our actual consent.

The weapons of the USSR have been replaced by the loaded gun that is the Democracy, “the majority!”, and as long as that illusion is allowed to persist, the Americans will do nothing. Anything so crass as the Soviet display where a captive audience was forced to clap for Stalin for fifteen and more minutes, and Americans would revolt. In the U.S., no leader is supreme, or above any other person, and yet *is* above every person, a priest in this religion called statism, this wretched cult, and any decree they make must present itself as separate from the flesh herald–the priest speaks, but only, we are assured, to relay to us the message from our god, the unimpeachable and unknown Majority. Any display of respect or adoration must be made to the institutions, to the Church, and to the god–to do otherwise, as Trump did (and, indeed, Trump partially shattered this American illusion for millions), is to threaten to derail the entire system, leaving us at the mercy not of a benevolent majority but a corrupt tyrant.

And how could Americans not fall for the ruse? Nearly all childrens’ cartoons and coloring books present the Friendly Policeman, only there to help old ladies cross the street and to protect the children. And really! Is there anything more absolutely absurd in our world than how closely linked in the cultural zeitgeist are police and firefighters? How might we react if firefighters searched around for problems to justify their existence, and campaigned to legislatures for new regulations to make fires more likely (and, thus, their need to exist, and, critically, their *budgets* ever greater)? But we learn as children that these thugs who exist solely to use violence against us, are still somehow our friends, and rare is the person who succumbs to this constant programming for 18 years, and then breaks free.

Liberty mom Shalon Spaulding was charged with “Child Endangerment” for the dastardly “crime” of leaving her two-year-old in her car with the AC on and the child strapped into the carseat. A busybody who happens to work for the Merrimack County Attorney, one Donna Barnett, was the one who called in the police. Shalon’s husband, Jay Noone, was given permission to be her “attorney-in-fact” and was able to get the police officer to admit that the child was not endangered. However, the robed man ended up finding her guilty days later.

The good news is, in New Hampshire, on a “Class A Misdemeanor” a guilty finding from a bench trial can be appealed “de novo”, and they start all over again in “Superior Court” with a full jury. Stay tuned to Free Keene for the latest on this ridiculous attack on parental freedoms, and enjoy this full video of Shalon’s arraignment and trial:

Frank “Footloose” Staples was wrongfully arrested on charges of “disorderly conduct” for sitting quietly at an executive council meeting in 2021. Last week his nearly two-month trial wrapped up, with Frank found not guilty of the initial “disorderly”, but guilty of the subsequent charge he received after he announced to the audience that he was being arrested in the back of the room. He intends to appeal.

In five days of court spread out over weeks, the state police’s prosecutors alleged Frank was disrupting the meeting and that’s why he was targeted. Frank’s multiple witnesses said he was never disruptive and that the state police were clearly looking to make arrests, as the chairs were zip tied together, multiple paddy wagons were on hand, and dozens of uniformed officers were present.

Ultimately the robed man decided the state had not met its burden of proof on the initial charge, but claimed, confusingly, that the police had probable cause to make the arrest. How can the police have probable cause to make an arrest for which the person is then found not guilty? They can’t. The judge is obviously covering for the police and trying to justify the second “disorderly” count that Frank received when he was taken behind the curtain and arrested, which is when he yelled that he was being arrested and to “shut it down!”.

The trial was very entertaining with Frank blowing up and yelling at the judge and the prosecutors many times. If you’ve seen him in court videos before, you know what to expect. I hope you enjoy this 13-hour trial video:

A few dozen of the ~50 supporters who turned out for Aria’s sentencing hearing

A judge in the Crypto6 case has sentenced Free State activist Aria DiMezzo to 18 months in federal prison on Tuesday for operating a cryptocurrency business without a government permission slip.

In September of 2022 Aria was coerced into taking a plea deal over a politically motivated attack on Ian Freeman, the Shire Free Church, and Free Talk live. Fraudulent charges were brought against Aria by the feds claiming that she operated an unlicensed money transmitting business. Ignorance in the courts as to what Bitcoin was unfortunately left Aria in a very difficult situation. Judge Joseph Laplante didn’t understand what Bitcoin was and after some effort to explain it failed he was left believing that the blockchain was a person. It isn’t. The blockchain is more akin to a database or a ledger of records.

https://www.freedomdecrypted.com/public_html/other-content/aria-crypto6-after-sentencing-speech.mp4

Aria Talks To Reporters After Sentencing Decision Is Handed Down Outside Court

 

Under the money transmitter statutes one is a money transmitter and requires a money transmitting license if one acts as an intermediary to move money from one location to another or from one person to another for profit. Examples of this include Western Union, Money Gram, and Walmart’s Walmart2Walmart money transfer service. Bitcoin isn’t money in the sense that the laws define it under the money transmission statutes- particularly those that were at play during the time that sales of Bitcoin by the two churches occurred.

Aria nor the Reformed Satanic Church had any obligation to register with the state or federal government according to the banking bureaucrats and lawyers. As such neither the Shire Free Church nor the Reformed Satanic Church were registered as money transmitting entities. Agents of the state made clear during state hearings that Bitcoin wasn’t regulated under these money transmission statutes saying that moving Bitcoin from ones own wallet to that of another is not regulated. It’s possible that in some states and countries Bitcoin is regulated or it is under other circumstances. However, according to the lawyers that wasn’t the case here as the churches crypto vending machines were not connected to an exchange and did not act as an intermediary. For this and other reasons including the lack of conducting such activities for profit registration at the state and federal levels were not required.

The prosecution has attempted to imply that the churches were fake through use of choice words such as “purported churches” while never providing any evidence (such as during Ian Freeman’s trial) that the churches were in fact fake. Rather what was revealed during Ian Freeman’s trial was that the churches were real. The Shire Free Church is an interfaith church founded in 2013 with the aim of promoting peace, love, and liberty and anyone of any belief with that as its foundation is welcome. It wasn’t until many years later that the Shire Free Church setup a Bitcoin outreach operation to promote and raise funds for charitable causes. To that end the church did setup a DBA called the Crypto Church Of New Hampshire for the those outreach efforts, but this was merely one outreach effort involving crypto, not a church unto itself. Other non-crypto outreach efforts occurred as well such as helping the homeless, orphans in Africa, and locally persecuted religious minority: A minority Muslim community in Keene. The Shire Free Church has for over a decade helped low income families and others with drug addictions. The church has raised funds to build orphanages in Africa and helped minority religious groups in Keene by providing space and covering costs to renovate said space to be a mosque. During the cleaning and renovation period parishioners of the Shire Free Church got together and cleaned the space that would become the mosque. While the Reformed Satanic Church was at the time of the raid a young church the church and its parishioners had participated in fundraising activities to help kids with cancer. DiMezzo’s church sold about ~$3,178,895 of Bitcoin between June of 2020 and January of 2021 with about $30,000 being raised for charity according to prosecutors (though they would not call it charity, but profit despite no evidence to that end).

The prosecution claimed DiMezzo worked closely with Freeman, and discussion during her sentencing hearing hinged largely on this connection. This connection was manipulative in that the Shire Free Church had been around and selling crypto for many years prior to the Reformed Satanic Churches founding. As a result the church had one of the best ratings and demand from those wanting to purchase cryptocurrency. The Shire Free Churches operation couldn’t handle it and as a result Ian started referring people to the Reformed Satanic Church. As both churches were going above and beyond what was required by law each did what is required of money transmitters- that is they did something called “know your customer” even though they didn’t have to. Know your customer is basically a system for deterring criminals from utilizing money transmitting services in their criminal operations by requiring banks and money transmitters to identify customers and ask questions. It’s an imperfect if not entirely broken system- but the idea is that if you identify your customer by requiring ID and ask appropriate questions you can thwart some scammers and criminal activity. In that process the churches would require people to submit paperwork including copies of IDs or passports, pictures of notes stating that they understood what they were buying was Bitcoin, and in many instances calls would be made to those purchasing Bitcoin. Questions would be asked in an attempt to weed out potential victims. In one case Ian was quoted as having asked a women if she had ever met her husband just to make sure that she wasn’t being manipulated. Unfortunately the reality is victims of scams will often say anything that they are told by scammers in order to get around KYC efforts. Of interesting note is that not a single bank even bothered to call any of the 7-8 victims regarding these transactions that the state put up on the stand to testify. A credit union employee who testified for the prosecution and was the credit unions expert on know your customer even testified that financial institutions aren’t required to stop suspicious transactions as this is why the credit union didn’t cut off the Shire Free Church until numerous transactions had occurred. No, the churches went above and beyond what was required and this is why Aria’s phone and Ian’s computer contained photos of which the prosecutor attempted to manipulate into being evidence of a connection. Out of 6,000 transactions a few victims had utilized both the Shire Free Church and the Reformed Satanic Church’s services. Even had such a connection existed there was no evidence of fraud presented during Ian’s trial, just mere implications that Ian should have been suspicious of some transactions because the persons were elderly. As if elderly persons aren’t interested in Bitcoin. Humorously the defense lawyer pointed out most of the victims were younger than he was. The victims even testified that Ian Freeman was not part of the scams so to try and suggest Aria knew of the scam by way of Ian was just propitious given neither knew of the individualized scams at the time Bitcoin transactions were occurring.

In the sentencing memorandum, the defense requested three years of supervised release with one of those years to be home confinement. The prosecutors on the other hand demanded the maximum sentence that the plea agreement would allow for: 37 months in prison.

The defense won their argument that bringing in Ian Freeman’s trial was inappropriate and the judge stated in his decision on the sentence “I’m considering not a shred of evidence from the Freeman trial”. Aria will have to pay a $2,500 fine, $100 special assessment, serve 18 months in a cage, and serve one year of supervised release following her release from prison.

The hearing brought out around ~50 supporters, mostly Free Staters who understood that this was a case of political persecution and attempt to take out Ian Freeman and Free Talk Live. One FBI agent Phil Christiana in particular has been at the core of these attacks. FBI agent Phil Christiana has had his sight on Ian Freeman and other Free Staters for over a decade. The FBI targeted Ian Freeman in at least 2012, 2016, and 2021. The 2012 incident involved an arrest of Rich Paul over small time drug dealing (Mr Nobody of the Crypto6 case) for the purposes of blackmailing him into wearing a wire into the Keene activist center (of which were connected to Ian Freeman). The 2016 case involved a smear campaign and a false affidavit where a warrant was obtained for a search over a despicable crime that hadn’t occurred in an effort to ruin Ian’s reputation and undermine the ability of Free Talk Live to continue. It was also an attempt at dividing the Free Sate Project community in two and undermining its effectiveness at bringing like-minded pro-freedom pro-peace individuals to New Hampshire. The Free State Project can be summarized as a migration effort to build a community of peaceful people in one state that can achieve real freedom somewhere. No evidence was ever found on any of more than two dozen devices seized in 2016 and no charges were ever filed. Then in 2021 the Crypto6 case was brought despite the individuals targeted being excessively compliant with the law.

Aria’s sentence will begin June 27 and give her time to officiate a wedding.

After the sentencing hearing Aria was greeted by about ~50 supporters and when asked about her thoughts on the sentence she said she believed “having a license wouldn’t have achieved anything”. Another cryptocurrency vending machine operator in the audience with over 20 machines agreed with her assessment calling the sentence unfair. Others thought this case to be yet another travesty of the so called justice system and yet another fraud on the public. What happens in court doesn’t matter so long as the prosecution tells a good story and judges and juries continue to be carefully crafted to favor prosecutors. Most prosecutors including judge La Plante in this case are former prosecutors. Out of 36 members (after eliminating others from the pool) the prosecutor removed the only juror who had ever touched Bitcoin.

 

For more detailed updates, video, and more regarding the ongoing Crypto6 case and Ian Freeman’s appeal of his conviction check out TheCrypto6.com

 

A detailed run down of what happened during Aria’s sentencing hearing

Prosecutor

Aframe & Kennedy

Aria elects to continue despite lawyer’s motion to delay as a result of freemans trial

Judge talks about sentencing guidelines and not having to obey them

Defense

Objections to PSR (pre-sentcing report done by the probation department) do not directly involve freeman case and are not connected to Aria

Judge

Offense level is 19

Criminal History Level 1

This is the bottom of the scale

30-37 months is the range according to the sentencing guideline

Fine is $10-100k + $100 special assessment fee

Aria is requesting a downward variance from these guidelines

The prosecutor is not requesting anything different from the guidelines

Justice here requires a more lenient sentence than the guidelines state

Prosecutor

Makes a point of the importance of the offense and argues it’s not just a mere regulatory offense as the defense argues

This is an oversimplification and selling crypto is dangerous if done outside of regulatory controls

DiMezzo operated over several months without controls

[ this is actually false in that both Aria and Ian complied with the regulations, and thus this is only a sentence for not being registered as a money transmitter, Aria did more KYC, or followed the know your customer procedures than did the banks of which were actually involved in transmitting money unlike that of Aria ]

This is more significant just not having a license

[ Aria didn’t please guilty to more than not being registered and the government is trying to bring in things that had nothing to do with Aria’s plea agreement, potentially violating the very agreement which would open the doors to her being able to back out of said plea agreement and take the case to trial ]

She kept photos of victims

[ the humorous part of this is that by following the law and performing KYC you are required to keep copies of the drivers licenses and passports which means the government is claiming that by following the law Aria broke the law as they are trying to twist KYC documents like copies of drivers licenses and signed contracts by the ‘victims’ stating that they understand that they are buying Bitcoin alongside a picture of the document and themselves, thus trying to argue these folks are victims, particularly of Aria is absurd, the victims lied to Aria when questions were asked as part of the KYC process to try and stop third party scammers from taking advantage of vulnerable folks, but when vulnerable folks partake in the scams themselves there is little a seller of crypto or a bank can do to stop it ]

Photos from Ian’s computer and Aria’s phone had some of the same photos

[ this is largely correct because the Shire Free Church had more sales than it could keep up with and thus referred smaller customers over to the Reformed Satanic Temple that Aria was selling crypto on behalf of ]

She was a conduit

[ yea, and on that logic so was the bank, but you aren’t prosecuting the bank, of which none did KYC according to your own witnesses, KYC may not work in all cases, and it did not work in a handful of cases here, but this is also out of 6,000 transactions that the FBI found 7-8 victims between 2 different organizations, that isn’t a bad track record, it’s an unbelievably impressive track record ]

“intentional local blindness”

[ intentional or willful blindness is a concept where you ignore evidence that a crime is being committed by a third party and sell to them anyway- this didn’t happen and the evidence presented during Ian’s trial actually showed that at least Ian refused to sell to an undercover FBI agent pretending to a drug dealer … but actually following the law doesn’t matter.. the scummy eastern european federal agent just got up on the stand and said, something to the effect of he may not have said he would sell to be, but he gave me a wink and a nod, now that was despite when questioned admitting no such wink and a nod occurred, nor was there any evidence of such a wink and nod occuring in a figurative manor as the undercover agent went around Ian to one of the Shire Free Churches vending machines and it wasn’t until the trial that Ian learned that the guy purchased what I believe was about $20,000 of cryptocurrency through the vending machine, this is the undercover agent never told Ian he was going to purchase Bitcoin from the vending machine, and Ian had no means of stopping him even if he had said he was going to do this… the vending machines are not Ians and they are the Shire Free Church.. even had he known what could he have done? Call up the business where the church rented space and ask them to tackle a man who looked like a big eastern european gang member? The jury completely ignored the knowing requirement in the law given Ian didn’t knowingly sell to the man ]

She made prosecutions hard… she would not find out what people were using Bitcoin for

[ this is just false in that questions were asked where red flags existed and every one of the victims at Ian’s trial was called by Ian and the so called victims testified to that… and spoken with to ensure that there were no misunderstanding or risks such as there being coercion by a third party or romance situation where the significant other had never met … and as these KYC procedures were followed the government actually has the photos and IDs of the scammers yet refuses according to the victims to go after the fraudsters despite knowing who they are .. Ian and Aria did not make it difficult for the feds to investigate… they did their job for them… ]

“don’t ever sell to anyone who tells you their business”

[ this is more or less what Aria said in a presentation on selling Bitcoin she gave… it was taken out of context as Aria and Ian did do KYC and were doing more than they were required to under the law … and in context to the presentation it’s simply that if you sell crypto to someone that is committing a crime the government will argue you have broken the law… it’s not that Ian or Aria weren’t doing KYC, but didn’t want to deal with potentially problem customers, not that they didn’t do KYC or ask any questions as would be required had they actually been obligated to do KYC in the first place which they weren’t as the law also says that businesses for profit, not churches or charitable organizations must register and do KYC, but despite that the churches did do KYC even though they did not register, thus regulatory violation is what Aria pleaded guilty to, not anything else, particularly not fraud ]

She continues to not understand the callus way she operated her business

[ we should talk about the callus way in which you are prosecuting an innocent person… but no she was no callus in the way the church raised money for charitable causes by selling crypto and took more steps to ensure people didn’t become victims of scams even though it was NOT her business what anyone did with their crypto … I don’t ask my customers what they do with their computers that are purchased from my company and it’s not that different here .. they might use them in illegal ways but I’d only be obligated to do something if I had reason to believe they were committing a crime .. Bitcoin is not money as it was defined under the law at the time this fundraising was ongoing and it wasn’t until after the FBI raid in 2021 that the federal government changed the law which still probably doesn’t include Bitcoin ]

They play an audio clip of Free Talk Live, a show Aria co-hosts where she criticizes the federal government and the agents: “Moral of story is if you want to make money and not get in trouble you need to scam people. They want the scammers to exist.”

[ they are trying to take this out of context and make it out as if Aria is advocating people scam others rather than sell crypto ? ]

She put head in sand blaming the victim

[ this is an exaggeration, but the so-called victims DID actually participate in scamming others in that at least one person during Ian’s trail testified that he would receive money from others and send it onward to the scammer and another so-called victim stated that he was told he was engaged in money laundering as one bank split up with him.. despite this he continued doing it .. unlike what Aria was doing which was ONLY selling a product and not money transmission .. and despite that doing KYC when it wasn’t required under the law as it was written at the time ]

Her background is neither plus nor minus

[ basically her childhood upbringing wasn’t great and this is what defense lawyers do at sentencing as such things are mitigating factors at sentencing .. but of course the prosecutor wants the judge to ignore it ]

This was a way to make money

It’s a business crime, a financial crime

[ that wasn’t the case and as Ian’s case demonstrated 85% of the dollars that went into church accounts according to the governments own witnesses went back into purchasing bitcoin which makes sense if you are selling bitcoin for charity… and then there was other evidence that demonstrated that the money went to charitable causes like building orphanages in Africa and local causes such as converting a house into a mosque for a minority religious community in Keene .. and at no time did the prosecutor present any evidence as to what the money was used for which is pretty important if you are going to argue that it was a business venture of some kind as that is written in the law … doing it without charging a fee as a hobby is also not within the scope of the law as written just as doing it for charity is not in the scope of the law as written ]

Virtual currencies need to be used appropriately and we need to send that message

[ this is disgusting… the idea that they get to tell you and I what we can and can’t do with our own money… but it’s even more disgusting in that they want to treat bitcoin different than how we treat cash … have you ever been asked by a bank what you are going to do with the cash you withdraw from the ATM machine? Of course not.. yet this is what they’re claiming is required under KYC despite their own witness, a credit union lady, testifying that you DO NOT have to go over every transaction with a fine tooth comb which means the banks were not even failing in their KYC obligations when they allowed victims to be victimized … KYC doesn’t work … even when you go overboard as was the case with the Crypto6 cases ]

Defense

Prosecutor acknowledged acceptance of conviction

– no fraud on aria’s part
– aria didn’t cause any losses
– aria cooperated with government and provided the government access to devices with bitcoin worth $50-60k
– she recognizes that despite lack of knowledge of scams
– she wanted the money to compensate victims
– there was no violence involved here
– there were no drugs involved here

It’s a regulatory offense that involves no fraud

No money laundering charges exist here

It’s also not beyond dispute that it is regulated or not
[ aww yea, each state government and 3 letter agency claims it is something different ]

They try to connect Ian and Aria based on IDs

If you were engaged in fraud you wouldn’t keep this information and she preserved everything

As misguided as she was about licensing she was not out to defraud anyone

The guidelines are misleading because no losses occurred

Normally they are used when someone is unjustly enriched

This is not a case with a loss or restitution

36 transactions with no prior criminal record

She grew up in a very impoverished area and courts recognize experiences in childhood are mitigating circumstances as children do not control their surroundings

She lives in a rental unit, works at dominos, and not someone who stole 3 million dollars

She is no threat to the public

The only reason to incarcerate her is as a deterrence to others

Prosecutor

$30k Aria made from selling crypto

[ no evidence of this actually exists and was pointed out it’s entirely speculative, but not relevant either way ]

Defense

She did no knowingly facilitate scammers

[ keyword in the law here is knowingly, not all laws have a knowingly component, but this one does ]

With a straw purchase (gun sales where someone buys a gun for someone else who is a criminal) the straw purchaser knows they are facilitating gang members.

[ this is is important because the prosecution brought up straw purchases in gun cases to suggest it doesn’t matter if Aria knows or not, but it does actually matter and it’s not a proper analogy as she didn’t know about ANY sale that was going to enable scammers ]

Aria makes a statement:

I did not know or think it was suspicious
It’s not Ian’s fault

In regard to clip I was not trying to help criminals

I wanted to bring down the banking system as privacy is valuable

I don’t ask the person I have cut my grass what they intend to do with payment

[ this is important because it’s dependent on how Bitcoin is defined whether or not you have to comply with money transmission laws and the regulators don’t get to decide this.. the law is unclear… but what everyone agrees on is Bitcoin is not like anything that has come before suggesting it requires legislation if it is to be defined as money… this is almost certainly one of the things that are going to be appealed as this is a matter of law and the judge ruled on it before the trial without understanding what Bitcoin was… calling the blockchain a person… and then instructing the jury it is money when it has not been clearly established under the law as such… there may be other issues here in the the law is overly broad and that might be another issue upon which an appeal can be based ]

Judge

I am going to grant a downward variance, but the sentence will include incarceration.

18 months [cage time]

I will not take into consideration a shred of evidence from the Freeman trial

It was a regulatory crime

This crime is a crime to protect the integrity of the financial system

General deterrence makes sense

[ the judge is saying here that the only reason he is putting her in a cage is to send a message and not because of what she did ]

Judge says she can self report

Defense

Lawyer chimes up and reserves right to appeal

[ Judge is curious on the basis of that appeal ]

The sentence has a procedure and substances defect

It’s out of proportion to the crime committed

The court has been influences by allegations of fraud

Judge

18 months cage time + 1 year supervised release

$100 special assessment fee

$5,000 fine, which is half of the guideline range

[ this is positive as it means she gets a downward variance on the fine and the time served ]

Aria must post $2,500 within 60 days of sentencing

Aria must self report June 17th … something about so that Aria can attend a weeding it sounded like.

Judge will put in a recommendation for a Massachusetts or Connecticut federal prison per request by the defense

If you’ve got this far you’re probably a dedicated fan of the Crypto6 and the freedoms we’re all fighting for. Consider making a contribution to the independence filmmakers who are currently working on part 2 of a 2 part fundraiser to produce a documentary on the Crypto6. They’ve been actively filming and working on said documentary for a few years now. Check out sneak peaks and take the time to make a contribution at:

https://balladofthecrypto6.com/

Aria’s Sentencing Hearing

Prosecutor

Aframe & Kennedy

Aria elects to continue despite lawyer’s motion to delay as a result of freemans trial

Judge talks about sentencing guidelines and not having to obey them

Defense

Objections to PSR (pre-sentcing report done by the probation department) do not directly involve freeman case and are not connected to Aria

Judge

Offense level is 19

Criminal History Level 1

This is the bottom of the scale

30-37 months is the range according to the sentencing guideline

Fine is $10-100k + $100 special assessment fee

Aria is requesting a downward variance from these guidelines

The prosecutor is not requesting anything different from the guidelines

Justice here requires a more lenient sentence than the guidelines state

Prosecutor

Makes a point of the importance of the offense and argues it’s not just a mere regulatory offense as the defense argues

This is an oversimplification and selling crypto is dangerous if done outside of regulatory controls

DiMezzo operated over several months without controls

[ this is actually false in that both Aria and Ian complied with the regulations, and thus this is only a sentence for not being registered as a money transmitter, Aria did more KYC, or followed the know your customer procedures than did the banks of which were actually involved in transmitting money unlike that of Aria ]

This is more significant just not having a license

[ Aria didn’t please guilty to more than not being registered and the government is trying to bring in things that had nothing to do with Aria’s plea agreement, potentially violating the very agreement which would open the doors to her being able to back out of said plea agreement and take the case to trial ]

She kept photos of victims

[ the humorous part of this is that by following the law and performing KYC you are required to keep copies of the drivers licenses and passports which means the government is claiming that by following the law Aria broke the law as they are trying to twist KYC documents like copies of drivers licenses and signed contracts by the ‘victims’ stating that they understand that they are buying Bitcoin alongside a picture of the document and themselves, thus trying to argue these folks are victims, particularly of Aria is absurd, the victims lied to Aria when questions were asked as part of the KYC process to try and stop third party scammers from taking advantage of vulnerable folks, but when vulnerable folks partake in the scams themselves there is little a seller of crypto or a bank can do to stop it ]

Photos from Ian’s computer and Aria’s phone had some of the same photos

[ this is largely correct because the Shire Free Church had more sales than it could keep up with and thus referred smaller customers over to the Reformed Satanic Temple that Aria was selling crypto on behalf of ]

She was a conduit

[ yea, and on that logic so was the bank, but you aren’t prosecuting the bank, of which none did KYC according to your own witnesses, KYC may not work in all cases, and it did not work in a handful of cases here, but this is also out of 6,000 transactions that the FBI found 7-8 victims between 2 different organizations, that isn’t a bad track record, it’s an unbelievably impressive track record ]

“intentional local blindness”

[ intentional or willful blindness is a concept where you ignore evidence that a crime is being committed by a third party and sell to them anyway- this didn’t happen and the evidence presented during Ian’s trial actually showed that at least Ian refused to sell to an undercover FBI agent pretending to a drug dealer … but actually following the law doesn’t matter.. the scummy eastern european federal agent just got up on the stand and said, something to the effect of he may not have said he would sell to be, but he gave me a wink and a nod, now that was despite when questioned admitting no such wink and a nod occurred, nor was there any evidence of such a wink and nod occuring in a figurative manor as the undercover agent went around Ian to one of the Shire Free Churches vending machines and it wasn’t until the trial that Ian learned that the guy purchased what I believe was about $20,000 of cryptocurrency through the vending machine, this is the undercover agent never told Ian he was going to purchase Bitcoin from the vending machine, and Ian had no means of stopping him even if he had said he was going to do this… the vending machines are not Ians and they are the Shire Free Church.. even had he known what could he have done? Call up the business where the church rented space and ask them to tackle a man who looked like a big eastern european gang member? The jury completely ignored the knowing requirement in the law given Ian didn’t knowingly sell to the man ]

She made prosecutions hard… she would not find out what people were using Bitcoin for

[ this is just false in that questions were asked where red flags existed and every one of the victims at Ian’s trial was called by Ian and the so called victims testified to that… and spoken with to ensure that there were no misunderstanding or risks such as there being coercion by a third party or romance situation where the significant other had never met … and as these KYC procedures were followed the government actually has the photos and IDs of the scammers yet refuses according to the victims to go after the fraudsters despite knowing who they are .. Ian and Aria did not make it difficult for the feds to investigate… they did their job for them… ]

“don’t ever sell to anyone who tells you their business”

[ this is more or less what Aria said in a presentation on selling Bitcoin she gave… it was taken out of context as Aria and Ian did do KYC and were doing more than they were required to under the law … and in context to the presentation it’s simply that if you sell crypto to someone that is committing a crime the government will argue you have broken the law… it’s not that Ian or Aria weren’t doing KYC, but didn’t want to deal with potentially problem customers, not that they didn’t do KYC or ask any questions as would be required had they actually been obligated to do KYC in the first place which they weren’t as the law also says that businesses for profit, not churches or charitable organizations must register and do KYC, but despite that the churches did do KYC even though they did not register, thus regulatory violation is what Aria pleaded guilty to, not anything else, particularly not fraud ]

She continues to not understand the callus way she operated her business

[ we should talk about the callus way in which you are prosecuting an innocent person… but no she was no callus in the way the church raised money for charitable causes by selling crypto and took more steps to ensure people didn’t become victims of scams even though it was NOT her business what anyone did with their crypto … I don’t ask my customers what they do with their computers that are purchased from my company and it’s not that different here .. they might use them in illegal ways but I’d only be obligated to do something if I had reason to believe they were committing a crime .. Bitcoin is not money as it was defined under the law at the time this fundraising was ongoing and it wasn’t until after the FBI raid in 2021 that the federal government changed the law which still probably doesn’t include Bitcoin ]

They play an audio clip of Free Talk Live, a show Aria co-hosts where she criticizes the federal government and the agents: “Moral of story is if you want to make money and not get in trouble you need to scam people. They want the scammers to exist.”

[ they are trying to take this out of context and make it out as if Aria is advocating people scam others rather than sell crypto ? ]

She put head in sand blaming the victim

[ this is an exaggeration, but the so-called victims DID actually participate in scamming others in that at least one person during Ian’s trail testified that he would receive money from others and send it onward to the scammer and another so-called victim stated that he was told he was engaged in money laundering as one bank split up with him.. despite this he continued doing it .. unlike what Aria was doing which was ONLY selling a product and not money transmission .. and despite that doing KYC when it wasn’t required under the law as it was written at the time ]

Her background is neither plus nor minus

[ basically her childhood upbringing wasn’t great and this is what defense lawyers do at sentencing as such things are mitigating factors at sentencing .. but of course the prosecutor wants the judge to ignore it ]

This was a way to make money

It’s a business crime, a financial crime

[ that wasn’t the case and as Ian’s case demonstrated 85% of the dollars that went into church accounts according to the governments own witnesses went back into purchasing bitcoin which makes sense if you are selling bitcoin for charity… and then there was other evidence that demonstrated that the money went to charitable causes like building orphanages in Africa and local causes such as converting a house into a mosque for a minority religious community in Keene .. and at no time did the prosecutor present any evidence as to what the money was used for which is pretty important if you are going to argue that it was a business venture of some kind as that is written in the law … doing it without charging a fee as a hobby is also not within the scope of the law as written just as doing it for charity is not in the scope of the law as written ]

Virtual currencies need to be used appropriately and we need to send that message

[ this is disgusting… the idea that they get to tell you and I what we can and can’t do with our own money… but it’s even more disgusting in that they want to treat bitcoin different than how we treat cash … have you ever been asked by a bank what you are going to do with the cash you withdraw from the ATM machine? Of course not.. yet this is what they’re claiming is required under KYC despite their own witness, a credit union lady, testifying that you DO NOT have to go over every transaction with a fine tooth comb which means the banks were not even failing in their KYC obligations when they allowed victims to be victimized … KYC doesn’t work … even when you go overboard as was the case with the Crypto6 cases ]

Defense

Prosecutor acknowledged acceptance of conviction

– no fraud on aria’s part
– aria didn’t cause any losses
– aria cooperated with government and provided the government access to devices with bitcoin worth $50-60k
– she recognizes that despite lack of knowledge of scams
– she wanted the money to compensate victims
– there was no violence involved here
– there were no drugs involved here

It’s a regulatory offense that involves no fraud

No money laundering charges exist here

It’s also not beyond dispute that it is regulated or not
[ aww yea, each state government and 3 letter agency claims it is something different ]

They try to connect Ian and Aria based on IDs

If you were engaged in fraud you wouldn’t keep this information and she preserved everything

As misguided as she was about licensing she was not out to defraud anyone

The guidelines are misleading because no losses occurred

Normally they are used when someone is unjustly enriched

This is not a case with a loss or restitution

36 transactions with no prior criminal record

She grew up in a very impoverished area and courts recognize experiences in childhood are mitigating circumstances as children do not control their surroundings

She lives in a rental unit, works at dominos, and not someone who stole 3 million dollars

She is no threat to the public

The only reason to incarcerate her is as a deterrence to others

Prosecutor

$30k Aria made from selling crypto

[ no evidence of this actually exists and was pointed out it’s entirely speculative, but not relevant either way ]

Defense

She did no knowingly facilitate scammers

[ keyword in the law here is knowingly, not all laws have a knowingly component, but this one does ]

With a straw purchase (gun sales where someone buys a gun for someone else who is a criminal) the straw purchaser knows they are facilitating gang members.

[ this is is important because the prosecution brought up straw purchases in gun cases to suggest it doesn’t matter if Aria knows or not, but it does actually matter and it’s not a proper analogy as she didn’t know about ANY sale that was going to enable scammers ]

Aria makes a statement:

I did not know or think it was suspicious
It’s not Ian’s fault

In regard to clip I was not trying to help criminals

I wanted to bring down the banking system as privacy is valuable

I don’t ask the person I have cut my grass what they intend to do with payment

[ this is important because it’s dependent on how Bitcoin is defined whether or not you have to comply with money transmission laws and the regulators don’t get to decide this.. the law is unclear… but what everyone agrees on is Bitcoin is not like anything that has come before suggesting it requires legislation if it is to be defined as money… this is almost certainly one of the things that are going to be appealed as this is a matter of law and the judge ruled on it before the trial without understanding what Bitcoin was… calling the blockchain a person… and then instructing the jury it is money when it has not been clearly established under the law as such… there may be other issues here in the the law is overly broad and that might be another issue upon which an appeal can be based ]

Judge

I am going to grant a downward variance, but the sentence will include incarceration.

18 months [cage time]

I will not take into consideration a shred of evidence from the Freeman trial

It was a regulatory crime

This crime is a crime to protect the integrity of the financial system

General deterrence makes sense

[ the judge is saying here that the only reason he is putting her in a cage is to send a message and not because of what she did ]

Judge says she can self report

Defense

Lawyer chimes up and reserves right to appeal

[ Judge is curious on the basis of that appeal ]

The sentence has a procedure and substances defect

It’s out of proportion to the crime committed

The court has been influences by allegations of fraud

Judge

18 months cage time + 1 year supervised release

$100 special assessment fee

$5,000 fine, which is half of the guideline range

[ this is positive as it means she gets a downward variance on the fine and the time served ]

Aria must post $2,500 within 60 days of sentencing

Aria must self report June 17th … something about so that Aria can attend a weeding it sounded like.

Judge will put in a recommendation for a Massachusetts or Connecticut federal prison per request by the defense

If you’ve got this far you’re probably a dedicated fan of the Crypto6 and the freedoms we’re all fighting for. Consider making a contribution to the independence filmmakers who are currently working on part 2 of a 2 part fundraiser to produce a documentary on the Crypto6. They’ve been actively filming and working on said documentary for a few years now. Check out sneak peaks and take the time to make a contribution at:

https://balladofthecrypto6.com/

The Wearehouse recently hosted a well-attended debate featuring advocates for cryptocurrency, precious metals, and fiat currency. Jeremy Kauffman from LBRY represented crypto, Silver Dave from Local Silver Mint represented precious metals, and Jay Noone represented fiat currency with his tongue firmly planted in-cheek. Here’s the full video:

A couple of years ago, the New Hampshire Goldback was created after the original Utah Goldback proved incredibly popular at the 2020 Porcfest. A gorgeous, spendable, interchangeable type of gold money available in denominations as small 1/1000th of an ounce of 24 karat gold, the NH Goldback has taken the NH freedom community by storm – giving even cryptocurrency serious competition.

Now, the company behind the Goldback, Alpine Gold, has launched its first physical branch location and they chose Manchester, NH!

I decided I needed to see it for myself, so I set an appointment with Adam Van, the manager, and got him to answer all my questions about the services they provide the community, and the entire eastern portion of the United States. It’s pretty cool – watch the interview here:

Give them a call at (801) 770-2565 x1201 and stop in to see for yourself.

A few weeks ago, 70 state reps voted to end drug prohibition entirely and last week, 90 state reps voted to end prohibition on dimethyltryptamine (DMT)! Here’s the full video from the house floor featuring reps Jason Gerhard, Matt Santonastaso, and Jonah Wheeler speaking in favor of the bill, HB 216, which sadly lost 274-97. However, 26% is a good first try.

Clearly, younger state reps understand the urgency of ending the insane war on drugs and as the older prohibitionist reps die off and are replaced by free staters as our number and influence increases, we will be ever closer to ending the madness of drug prohibition in our lifetime.

Mr Bitcoin Tours NH Liberty Forum 2023

Did you miss New Hampshire Liberty Forum 2023- the premier liberty conference put on by free staters taking part in the largest migration of folks looking to create a freedom friendly environment somewhere in the world? Mr Bitcoin didn’t miss it and it was a blast. People from all over the US and some even from around the world attended New Hampshire Liberty Forum 2023. Free staters got to meet new movers and greet those working on moving. Mr Bitcoin did a tour of the exhibit hall before crashing a talk on, lets be honest, who remembers on what now. I guess that’s what happens when Mr Bitcoin enters a room!

 
 

http://freedomdecrypted.com/public_html/other-content/mr_bitcoin_tour_of_nh_liberty_forum_2023.mp4

Mr Bitcoin Tours NH Liberty Forum 2023
 
 

There were lots of vendors and exhibitors attending from around New Hampshire including the New Hampshire Independence PAC, Porcupine Real Estate, a bunch of porc vendors like freestate.app (a directory of porcupine businesses) which had a great set of porc-merchandise, ThinkPenguin (a free stater led computer retailer selling GNU/Linux systems that put you back in control), Goldback (not gold-backed, but an actual gold infused bill), a learning resource center (showing off awesome 3d printing tech), and many many others.

A short list of the many well known activists, reps, and leaders attending Liberty Forum in 2023:

Carla Gericke is an author, activist, and attorney. Born in South Africa, she immigrated to the United States in the 1990s after winning a green card in the Diversity Visa Lottery. She became a U.S. citizen in 2000. Gericke practiced law in South Africa, and California, working at Apple Computer, Borland, Logitech, and Scient Corporation. Gericke is President Emeritus of the Free State Project. In 2014, she won a landmark First Circuit Court of Appeals case that affirmed the First Amendment right to film police officers.

Jeremy Kauffman is an American entrepreneur and political activist known for founding and leading LBRY. LBRY is blockchain-based decentralized solution to file-sharing and payments. It’s a potential threat to censorship and a YouTube killing alternative that the SEC has been aiming to kill through civil litigation for the past ~5 years. Jeremy Kauffman also ran for US senate in 2022 with various humorous advertising campaigns such as corruption for the people, war is gay, and other similar slogans. He is a vocal supporter and activist within the Free State Project, a migration movement designed to move 20,000 libertarians to New Hampshire. Jeremy Kaufman is also on the board of the Free State Project.

Ian Freeman Is a leading activist in the greater libertarian migration movement to New Hampshire. He co-hosts the leading nationally syndicated libertarian ran radio show Free Talk Live. Ian Freeman is well known for his activism in New Hampshire and most recently cryptocurrency activism educating people on how peace can be achieved through undermining government fiat currencies and thereby violence around the world. He’s faced off against the governments on numerous occasions, but more recently been targeted by the feds for calling them out on recent atrocities on air. Ian was indirectly targeted through co-host and activist Nobody (formally Rich Paul) in a 2012 FBI led “drug” investigation, in 2016 via a smear campaign and FBI raid intended to allude to heinous crimes despite no charges or evidence, and then again Ian and Free Talk Live’s studio was raided in 2021 over the bastardly crime of selling crypto without a government permission slip (humorously legally according to the lawyers, after 20+ charges were dropped a several convictions are to be appealed).

Jason Sorens In July 2001, Sorens published an essay titled “Announcement: The Free State Project”, in which he proposed the idea of a political migration, where 20,000 libertarians would move to a single low-population state (New Hampshire was selected in 2003) to enable a stronghold for libertarian ideas to gain a foothold. Participants then signed statement of intents declaring that they would move to New Hampshire within five years of the drive reaching 20,000 participants. As of February 3, 2016, 20,000 people had signed this statement of intent—completing the original goal. As of the 2022-2023 term 50 free staters have been elected to the 400-member New Hampshire House of Representatives and each year more and more liberty-activists move strengthening free stater representation. Free staters are those people who moved for the Free State Project, but traditionally not including those who did not sign and those who already lived in the state. Another ~50 or so liberty or liberty-leaning representatives are also represented in the New Hampshire state house.

Mark Warden Mark has nearly 20 years of experience in the real estate industry and markets his business Porcupine Real Estate to free staters looking to move to New Hampshire. Mark not only donates a percent of all his commissions to the Free State Project and other liberty-oriented organizations, but he also is a property owner, investor and landlord with multi-family properties in New Hampshire and he invests in other small, New Hampshire-based businesses. Mark is also a liberty activist, working to bring “Liberty in Our Lifetime” to New Hampshire. Mark is on the board of the Free State Project and was a state representative from 2018-2022.

Matthew Santonastaso Matthew Santonastaso a free stater, state rep, and activist who sponsored House Bill CACR32- a bill that would let the people of New Hampshire vote on and declare independence from the United States and proceed as an independent nation. Matt is also the Political Director for the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance.

Jason Gerhard A man with one of the most inspirational stories. Jason moved to New Hampshire over a decade ago and for his support of tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown he served over a decade in a federal penitentiary. Upon release Jason moved back to New Hampshire to partake in the Free State Project and in 2022 got elected. Jason is well known for introducing bills that could help protect those in New Hampshire against violent gangs calling themselves the state.

Yury Polozov Yury grew up in Russia and came to the US legally, in search of the American Dream and earned citizenship. Having seen the devastating effects of socialism, Yury is dedicated to vigorously defending economic and civil liberties for all New Hampshire residents.

You can find many more leading activists, representatives, would be representatives, and other speakers at:

https://www.nhlibertyforum.com/speakers

Despite spending a dozen years in federal prison for helping tax freedom advocates Ed and Elaine Brown in 2006, Jason Gerhard is still taking on the evil IRS. Now a NH state representative, Gerhard filed a House Resolution, HR 16 that -if passed- would officially ask the IRS three tough questions:

1. Where is the word “income” defined in the Internal Revenue Code?
2. Where in the Internal Revenue Code is it written that the average American, who does not exercise a federal privilege but simply trades their time for money, is liable to pay the federal income tax?
3. Why have numerous Internal Revenue Service publications, directors, and members of the United States Congress, among others, stated that the income tax is “voluntary”?

Unfortunately, the state house voted 283-60 – full roll call here – to kill the resolution. Thanks though to the sixty reps who voted for it, including Keene’s Jodi Newell. Here’s the full video from the house floor discussion and vote:

Nearly 20% of those voting on HB581 yesterday in the full New Hampshire house session, voted for ending the insane war on drugs ENTIRELY! The bill came out of nowhere, filed by rep Matt Santonastaso with little fanfare or press attention, despite the epic attack on the War on Drugs it represents. The public hearing came-and-went with little support, or opposition.

Yesterday, at the full house session, the bill came up for a vote and reps Santonastaso and Jonah Wheeler made excellent speeches in favor of ending the failed war on drugs, while Terry Roy who positions himself as a incremental drug reformer used fearmongering language to scare the reps into voting to continue the destruction of our neighbors’ lives. They then voted 286-70 to kill the bill.

Here’s a link to the full roll call showing exactly how all the representatives voted. Kudos to the brave 35 Republicans and 35 Democrats who did the right thing. Sadly many “A+” rated “liberty reps” voted to continue the drug war. What were they thinking? Anyone with a “Yes” vote on the roll call voted to kill the bill, so feel free to reach out to them and ask why. You can watch the full hearing here:

We’re not happy about it, but the jury has spoken. I was found guilty of all eight non-violent, victimless charges I faced at trial in December. Though we are going to appeal all eight counts, I have to be sentenced before the appeal can be filed. The prosecution is asking for upwards of 20 years, however no charge has a minimum sentence, so in theory I could receive time served for the 69 days I’ve already done and then some amount of probation or home confinement in lieu of prison. It’s all up to the judge.

If I have had a positive effect on your life, perhaps you’d consider writing a letter to judge Laplante to explain why you think I should remain out of prison. What kind of benefit have I brought you and the community as a whole? Why does putting me behind bars cause more harm than leaving me out in productive society? These are some of the things you may want to focus on in your letter.

While you likely have strong feelings about the FBI, the prosecution, or the jury in this case, none of that will be relevant to the sentencing hearing, so leave out your opinions on the process, please. While I have my critiques of the prosecutors, I’ve said along the way that I was surprised at how fair Joseph Laplante was, so I’m optimistic. He’s been thoughtful, is capable of changing his mind, and played things fairly evenly during the process.

Please address your letter to “The Honorable Joseph Laplante” or “Judge Laplante”. You may want to talk a little about yourself and what you do for a living and what you have done, especially with regard to any military or government work.

You are welcome to send a draft to me via email at ian at freetalklive.com or if you are confident in what you’ve written, send a signed original via snail mail – include your contact info – to:
Ian Freeman
63 Emerald St. #610
Keene, NH 03431

Please don’t delay as we need these well in advance of the April 14th sentencing date. Thank you.

Last week at the state house, liberty activists spoke on various bills in front of the Criminal Justice Committee including:

• HB 581 – would end the entire War on Drugs by striking RSA 318-B completely.
• HB 360 – would end prohibition of possession and apparently also growing and selling of cannabis by anyone over 21.
• HB 328 – would legalize possession of possessing hallucinogens including LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and peyote for people over 21.
• HB 470 – would legalize possession of drug testing equipment.

HB 581 – Finally, after years of compromised legislation trying to slowly scrape away at drug prohibition, one brave state representative, Matt Santonastaso, has put forward a bill that would in one fell swoop, end the entire War on Drugs. Sadly, only Bonnie and I came out to support Rep. Santonastaso and testify in favor of this epic legislation. We need more reps willing to take a risk with their “political capital” and actually put forward principled bills like this. Sure, it has no chance of passing, but the conversation needs to happen, and it needs to keep coming back and growing in its support. We also need bills to do other principled things like end government schooling, abolish the liquor commission, and abolish the state police. Hopefully we’ll see more liberty reps step up to the level of Matt Santonastaso in the coming years. Here is full video of the hearing:

HB 360 – One of several cannabis-related bills in the session this year, HB 360 is probably the best one I’ve seen as it does not contain any provisions to tax or regulate cannabis. It simply removes it from being a prohibited substance, although only for those over 21. It’s overall a great bill and would be awesome if it passed, though another bill that has taxes and regulations has the support of the house minority and majority leaders, so don’t get your hopes up. That said, it’s good to see the ideas discussed. Here’s full video of the hearing:

HB 328 – This straightforward bill creates an exception for people over 21 to be able to possess “hallucinogenic drugs”, which the statute defines as, “psychodysleptic drugs which assert a confusional or disorganizing effect upon mental processes or behavior and mimic acute psychotic disturbances. Exemplary of such drugs are mescaline, peyote, psilocybin and d-lysergic acid diethylamide.” Derek Januszewski of the Pachamama Sanctuary came out to speak the truth about these substances. Here’s full video of the hearing:

HB 470 – Possession of drug testing equipment is currently a crime in New Hampshire, which means people cannot legally have their drugs tested for purity, to ensure they are getting what they think they are buying. Drug testing equipment is harm reduction as it reduces deaths and serious overdoses. Even New Futures, who normally opposes legalization efforts, supported the bill. This is a good bill from the left and should receive the support of the liberty reps. Here’s full video of the hearing:

If you want to help rate pending legislation, please join the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance. You do not need to be in New Hampshire to help with this important task.

Last week at the state house, liberty activists spoke on various bills in front of the Criminal Justice Committee including:

• HB 216 – would end prohibition of DMT, dimethyltryptamine
• HB 144 – would restore gun rights to non-violent ex-felons
• HB 31 – would end prohibition of blackjacks, slung shots, and metallic knuckles

HB 216 – would end the prohibition of dimethyltryptamine aka DMT – filed by heroic 100% liberty rep Matt Santonastaso of Rindge. Though last year the criminal justice committee recommended to kill the psilocybin decrim bill, we once again patiently explained to them the religious use of a different chemical, DMT. Derek Januszewski, founder of the Ayahuasca church based in NH, “Pachamama Sanctuary” spoke in detail about his experience administering the potent hallucinogenic tea to thousands of willing people on a spiritual journey. Other ministers from the Shire Free Church and Church of the Invisible Hand also weighed in. The only person opposing the bill was a goon from the State Police, who trotted out the usual fearmongering about driving while impaired. When questioned by a younger state rep named Wheeler, the statie couldn’t answer to what extent any hallucinogens were involved in traffic accidents. He instead claimed he’d look into it for the state rep. Full video of the hearing:

HB 144 – would restore gun rights to nonviolent ex-felons in NH – filed by newbie liberty rep Jason Gerhard of Northfield. Gerhard spent more than a dozen years in federal prison for bravely standing with tax freedom advocates Ed and Elaine Brown. He never harmed anyone and neither have a ton of people who have been saddled with the “felon” label for the rest of their lives. Gerhard’s bill would restore non-violent ex-felons’ right to bear arms in New Hampshire. Full video of the hearing:

HB 31 – would end prohibition on blackjacks, slung shots, and metallic knuckles – filed by multi-term liberty rep James Spillane of Deerfield. Though knives and guns are legal to openly or concealed carry in New Hampshire, for some reason it’s prohibited to carry or sell 19th century weapons like the blackjack, slung shot, or metallic knuckles. Spillane’s bill would end that ancient prohibition for greater weapons freedom in New Hampshire. Full video of the hearing:

Sisti Informs Us The Fight For Peace Will Continue After Today’s Guilty Verdict On All Counts In Crypto6 Trial

I have some unfortunate news to announce. It saddens me to no end. I don’t know how to continue, but I will. As we all know the state is pure evil and lied, deceived, and manipulated there way into achieving a guilty verdict in this case. It isn’t over yet though. Ian’s a fighter. Ian and attorney Sisti will be appealing each and every count.

If nothing else comes of this Ian’s sacrifice will hopefully still lead to something wonderful. A reinvigoration to keep fighting. Ian’s been working at bringing peace, freedom, and love to New Hampshire for a decade and we’re not that far from achieving victory.

The Free State Project and greater migration movement grows day by day, week by week, and year by year. We don’t win every battle, but every battle brings us a little closer to achieving liberty in our lifetime. It’s because of people like Ian Freeman that New Hampshire will be free one day. There will be a place for people who strive for peace to call home. It may not be achieved today, but it’ll be achieved none-the-less. It’ll be achieved in our lifetime if I have anything to say about it. We’re 8-10 years away from having real control over the state. Further out maybe even independence from the goons that call themselves the federal government.

The government may be able to take out Ian Freeman in physical form, but they’ve already lost the war for peace even if they don’t know it yet. Over the past several years we’ve seen this state go from 20 to 30 to 40 to 50 free stater state reps about every 2 years (not including another ~50 liberty friendly reps). Each and every year since I moved to New Hampshire in 2016 there have been a record numbers of new movers. Just a few short years ago it was so very hard to see a free state. I can’t say that any more and it’s in big part thanks to Ian Freeman. Thank you Ian.

http://freedomdecrypted.com/public_html/other-content/ian-verdict-guilty.mp4

Crypto6 Day 10: Closing Statements

~20 Crypto6 Supporters Out In Support

Name: Mohamed Aly

Q Do?

A Curry Indian Restaurant Owner & Operator

13 years

Prior to NH lived in NY

Moved from NY to NH

Q Do you know Ian?

A Yes

Problem in Keene no Mosque

Q Do you recall the year you met Ian?

A Yes, a couple

We were looking for prier and Ian also has a place that is church and that how I met him and he help us out

So he let us set up Mosque in Church

7-8 months there

Q That was through his church?

A Yes

I open’d restaurant and I was suffering and I mentioned to Ian and he helped me with bitcoin and get more business.

Q Did he charge you for this?

A No!

He gave free tablet and helped with setup. It brought in business.

Q Do you consider Ian a man whose got integrity?

A I don’t know but with me he got friends to help me

Prosecution cross examines

Q Preached there for 7-8 months, Will Coley was Imam?

A No Imam

He converted to Muslim

[the above was a little confusing because Will Coley was the Imam of the Mosque during that year in which the Mosque came to be and was operated, but had to leave and shut it down due to his family needing to take care of sick father far away, but he may mean they didn’t have a Imam at the time or that they don’t have a Imam now nor a Mosque, and this was never clarified by either side, but also doesn’t really matter that much as he did clearly testified to the church donating the space for a Mosque to the minority Muslim community, it could also be he just ?didn’t remember? as this was quite a few years ago now]

Q Was he selling bitcoin in name of Mosque?

A No no idea

He said he could help with bitcoin

New witness

Name: Paul Nigg

Q Where live?

A Newton MA

Former assistant dean

Q What was contact with Ian?

A At height of lock down freeman called about my mother

Q Topic?

A My mother had been defrauded and he was trying to return money

Q How many contacts?

A 2 times and 3 months

Even when we ran into blocks he tried to overcome them

Q How much did your mother lose?

A $11,000

The money was money to help a disabled aunt

Q Multiple texts and phone calls?

A Yes many many texts and a few calls

Q Was he capable of getting the money back?

A Yes

I told him he should deduct postage and associated costs. It was less than $100.

Q He charge you?

A No, no fee

Q What happened?

A Someone convinced my mother to transfer money and we don’t know that is and it ended up in Freeman’s business.

Prosecutor cross examines witness

Q Not personally involved?

A No

Q Based on what mother and freeman told you?

A Yes, but I had picture of drivers license

Q You don’t know his account was frozen?

A No, but a bank closed his account

Q Mr Freeman didn’t lose any money on this transaction?

A I don’t know

Q He didn’t send any bitcoin?

A Right

[this is kinda misleading because the guy doesn’t know if Ian sent any bitcoin to the scammer and it could be the case that he sent the churches bitcoin to the scammer]

Defense redirect

Q $11,000 sent?

A Yes

Q Freeman contacted you?

A Yes

[notice how it wasn’t the bank that contacted him or his mother, but freeman]

Q You got money back?

A Yes, minus what I told him to deduct for his costs was almost nothing

Defense rests

And the closing statements begin!

Prosecutor

Plenty of excuses from Ian Freeman, but most of all that he is somehow not responsible because the feds can’t find the scammers.

[it’s going to be hard to not comment on every other word here because every other word is a lie or a manipulation that comes out of the prosecutors mouth during his closing statements, lets start with word 3, Ian didn’t make excuses for his actions, but he did explain what was actually going on rather than just conjecture about it like the prosecution and allude to wrongdoing of one kind or another, and why would Ian Freeman be responsible for the crimes of another individual who he had NOTHING to do with???? He never used the feds not being able to find the scammers as an excuse to his own behavior, but rather to point out the immoral behavior of the feds and the lack of integrity those who were persecuting hold]

You know it is hard to find scammers

[or maybe you’re just lazy and incompetent because Ian Freeman and the church recorded IDs of the scammers so you DO have something to go on if ever even bothered to ask, and other law enforcement actually DID ask and Ian Freeman DID assist them in tracking down the scammers in those incidents]

Freeman charged high fees

[no he didn’t, the church charged market rate or below market rate even, and the thing that increased those rates over time was the governments crackdown on bitcoin, so it’s actually you ass holes who are to blame for the “high fees” among non-high-volume non-exchange sellers of crypto]

and scammers wouldn’t want to pay that but they did because anonymous bitcoin hides their tracks

[your own witnesses testified to the fact bitcoin isn’t anonymous and these scammers weren’t anonymous either and you know why? It’s because the church has a policy of doing KYC and has the IDs of the scammers and you introduced that evidence and so even if you can claim it’s pseudo anonymous it’s NOT in this case]

Freeman was offering an important service that scammers needed and they paid him a pretty penny for it

[not more than market rate they didn’t]

He is the one who makes the scammers hard to find.

[this is an outright lie because Ian recorded the IDs of all his customers so that in the event a scammer got through the KYC he could provide law enforcement or a private investigator with evidence and trail to go, the church was not the place to go to for anonymous bitcoin or pseudo anonymous bitcoin]

He intentionally setup the business to help scammers

[it’s NOT a business as was already proven, it was registered as a church with the state and the dbas are NOT churches in their own right, merely other names for the SAME entity, any other entity was run by another person that WAS NOT IAN you moron]

He paid less than 1% for his bitcoin

[again, not his bitcoin, it was the churches bitcoin, and the church had a board of directions which has had different people on it over the years]

He then sold it for big fees. 14% at kiosks and 10% on Telegram. Up to 21% on localbitcoin.

[these are NOT big fees and they’re higher than the rates in at least the vending machine than I paid in the early days of the machines before there was a crackdown on bitcoin, I was paying 8% from the churches machines, not that I bought bitcoin often, but I did at least a couple of times, the government regulated ATMs in nearby MA actually charge 20% hmmm now whose ripping people off… can we say GOVERNMENT, and as far as the 21%, that actually makes sense, and it was probably even higher than that in SOME instances if these #s are being pulled from the entire pool of folks you charged in this case, and the reason is because if you take money via credit card or paypal or similar you’ll lose that money and its super high risk, but it’s probably also the case that these people are buying relatively small amounts of crypto by comparison to people paying via a wire transfer or cash deposit at a bank so that actually makes a lot of sense, and remember that this is NOT the profit, as there are costs to this as high as 6%, because of things like credit card fees, paypal fees, venmo fees, etc which once you take that into consideration it’s close to 14%, not 21%]

“You won’t see freeman walk arm and arm with scammers” Sisti said, no he’s too smart for that, but he did with a wing and a nod:

“Do not tell our staff why you want to buy our crypto”

[that’s not a wink and a nod, that is a security issue because if someone is told that they’re dealing drugs you’re at risk of charges if you go through with the sale, but staff at a restaurant or similar place aren’t going to be able to stop the transaction from going through, potentially making them victims of government abuse just like you are doing in this very case ass hole]

No questions no matter how vulnerable the victim appeared to be.

[this outright false as was shown by the fact the church had a policy of calling people who appeared to be potential victims]

Not everyone was a criminal who bought bitcoin, but the big ones, the repeat ones absolutely.

[really? You showed us something 8-9 victims during this entire case and while it appeared there might have been a few who were scammers who used a few different people to deposit money it was also the case that the church only received a small amount of the overall amount lost by the victim meaning even had the church caught it the scam wouldn’t have stopped the victim from losing money]

Not a single witness testified they bought them for themselves.

[this is another outright lie, as Dale Chapman testified for the defense that Ian Freeman helped her buy bitcoin from the churches vending machines for herself, and while not for monetary reasons, but rather technical learnings she would have done well over the past 5 years that she’s been holding crypto]

At that midnight nightcap he spilled it. If you fall in love with a guy from Africa I can’t stop it ya gona do what ya gona do.

[really, this is “spilling it”, Ian was stated facts. Just like you can’t stop these scams from happening neither can Ian Freeman, neither can your precious regulated financial institutions which also let all these scams go through and unlike the church the banks actually are regulated]

1. Money transmitting business constantly transmitting bitcoin

[no, because bitcoin doesn’t move from one state to another or from one country to another, and it was the churches bitcoin, not someone elses, which is VERY different than walmart taking someone elses value and sending it to some other location or moving it to another person, the church isn’t moving anything on behalf of another, the church is only figuratively moving it’s own thing to you]

2. Business effective interstate commerce

Accepted money from out of state/country

3. Unlicensed

He did not register

[he had no obligation to register because part of the statute says it’s for people making a profit, not for those doing it for charity and your own witness testified that there are exceptions and one of those included an example of someone not making money off it doing it once]

Conspiracy

Involves more than one person.

Rietman knew he needed license and still helped Freeman.

[No he didn’t. He testified that he would need a license if he setup his vending machine business differently than that of the church.]

Money laundering conspiracy

Agreement to launder money

Wink and nod is all that is needed and freeman did that with undercover agent that told freeman he sold drugs and then sold undercover bitcoin.

[except that he didn’t, he explicitly told the undercover he couldn’t do business with him, that he wouldn’t do business with him, and the undercover than went around freeman to a vending machine without freemans permission and bought crypto at a rate higher than when freeman wanted his ‘business’]

Money laundering count

Sisti will tell you freeman “did not engage in transaction” with undercover but he did

[no, this is an outright lie, he didn’t, and the evidence proves it, he went to a VENDING machine, didn’t tell freeman he was doing it and freeman had no means of stopping him]

Tax evasion

He had income weather he likes it or not.

He blames everyone but himself

[what a crock of shit, under the IRS’s own website he owed nothing because he didn’t even have to file let alone pay taxes unless there was some other side gig that he was doing for money which wasn’t the case]

Defense closing statement

Good morning.

I have a bit to suggest: Be objective, rational, reasonable. Ian and I appreciate your service. It’s not the time to be hanging around a court there are a few services that are important most and jury service its a service we appreciate.

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the highest in the world. Presumption of innocence. Ian didn’t have to take the stand. He could be found not guilty just by lack of evidence.

He said I made absurd arguments.

[pretty sure he’s referencing the prosecutor above]

But one thing I ask you not to do is speculate.

You can’t go home wondering.

The prosecutor cherry picked.

Do you know how many transactions Ian has gone through?

6,000

Most folks we did not get to ask questions.

People over 65 are too old to be interested in bitcoin is just insulting.

You know what else is insulting is we didn’t see Aria.

She didn’t testify that she conspired with Ian.

The people we had up here had integrity.

Renee wanted to change plea.

Chris he said he wanted to start business, but it was different, and he said “I don’t have inventory so I would be a transmitter”

Saying it’s simple is a red flag and that is what the prosecutor said.

Innuendo from a podcast you can pick up on from anywhere in the world? Really?

What is he really doing?

He is warning people of scams because he knows of scammers.

You don’t have to bitcoin to be scammed. People use gift cards every day.

The church wasn’t an illusion to Mohammad.

That’s not a scam, not an illusion.

If they are going to paint that church is a scam they should bring in someone with an opinion.

Why not? Because they don’t want to face the fact.

No you don’t need a shrine, you don’t need bells.

It has a mission, it does community service, it does charitable giving.

In fact the church sometimes has higher ideals than others.

The innuendo was throughout the closing.

You will hear instructions from the judge and if you follow it you will make the right decision.

The reality is anyone and everybody knows Ian as a good guy.

He is not flamboyant, he doesn’t drive a fancy car.

He lives in an humble abode.

He knew the FBI knew about it for years.

He didn’t throw the computer in the river.

You know they have been observing him for years.

They know he was non-violent, they knew all of them were non-violent.

He had a peace flag hanging up.

That morning 5 people got a 6am wake-up.

Plays security video

[the below video is an edited version of the copy played, the music included in this below copy was NOT played for the jurors]

Thats the face of this investigation.

It’s exaggerated, jumps to conclusions, an over reaction.

And you know what, it just damn mean.

Two bearcats, battering rams smashing through property doors windows.

If you want to start calling names.

You can do that pretty easily.

That is not where Osama bin Laden lives.

That is not where some arms dealer lives.

Why would they do that?

Why would they target him?

Maybe they just don’t like him

Officer safety?

I bet in middle of night Bonnie doesn’t forget that.

I bet Nobody doesn’t forget that.

I know Ian doesn’t forget that.

I don’t want to bad mouth these agencies, but you saw it. It was just despicable. It was misguided. Just like this prosecution.

When we are done you are the boss.

There is a defense for each charge and you have to go back and figure out if there is guilt for each charge.

Unlicensed MSB its not.

What you heard is sub-accounting 101.

His gains haven’t been examined.

Ian says it’s a church.

Ian says it’s a reinvestment in the community.

When you re-buy bitcoin you aren’t making profit you are simply reinvesting the churches assets.

They don’t examine like a business.

They want you to go home wondering.

Money transmission means money transmission. One place to another, one person to another.

Ian the only one in the court probably said doesn’t move.

It’s complicated.

It is not an entity.

It is formed and destroyed.

But this isn’t our burden, this is their burden.

They didn’t bring in a blockchain expert.

If they didn’t do it then it’s their fault.

License requirement is for a business, it’s not a business, it’s not transmitting its not required.

Ian initially thought FinCEN document was a scam.

Did anyone take the stand and say yes we’re in the business to transmit funds? No. Did Renee? No. Did Rietman? No, he said he would if required.

There is no agreement there is no conspiracy.

They throw things up and hope something sticks.

There were thousands of positive feedbacks.

They want you to think they were all scammers.

They want to make it evil.

They are asking you to speculate.

They sure would like to have evidence but they don’t.

The innuendo that freeman sells at a higher rate, cute, but did they bring any other vendors selling on localbitcoin or Telegram in? No.

If they want to say he is selling at a higher rate bring someone in to prove it.

They want you to buy in.

But that isn’t your job, but to take what was said throw it into crucible, examine, and see what is true.

How many other people sell on telgram, on localbitcoin? thousands

It’s an open market dozen and dozens and hundreds of other vendors.

Buy they brought in none.

You are not going to bring in itbit with millions of users and compare it to Ian Freeman with mere thousands.

Real criminals if you will destroy computers if they want to continue, but Ian knew since 2018 and he didn’t.

He keeps his records, he has nothing to fear because he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

The banfoon of the undercover agent tried, but Ian still refused.

They want to say because he refused he is guilty.

How about because he refused he is innocent.

Yea it’s there I can’t tell you you can do that.

And the undercover says OK.

The machine is 30 miles away and goes and pumps in $20,000 of your money and Ian doesn’t know what he is doing.

If he was buddy buddy why didn’t he cut him a break? He did before.

They are telling you he can remotely control it, did he do it then? No

How many times does someone have to refuse business?

They are saying because he has invited the guy to a party months later he is guilty?

He didn’t get angry at the guy. He just couldn’t do business with him.

They got a wagon without a horse.

The money laundering charge is a joke.

Money laundering conspiracy.

Bring just one person in.

But people they bring in say no that didn’t happen.

Income tax evasion 2016-2019.

Kinda interesting.

Half hour and we come up with

How much does he owe and could he owe no taxes? Maybe not

How can this be tax evasion when they don’t even know if he owes taxes?

Unlike the rest of us Ian didn’t get a letter and an opportunity to explain he was a church that he does not owe anything.

Does he want to pay taxes? No. Does anyone? Hell no

But I betchas all others to explain

Here there is no invitation

Don’t give me a standard deduction

How much is he worth?

No one knows because they never asked him to come in

I don’t get to stand up again like the prosecutor.

I can’t get up and refute what he says but you do.

I’m asking you to stand up to mr a frame

Don’t rush it

Don’t do him a favor

no time to give the government a gift

Thank you very much for your service.

Prosecutor responds

Don’t do government a gift the government doesn’t get anything from convicting freeman.

Church, but entry to his house

It’s irrelevant, swat team doesn’t matter

mr freeman is anti government

He has weapons

People rents rooms in house

[you know what makes people anti-government, it’s people like you]

The weapons were there for anyone to use

[no they weren’t, they were Matt’s weapons in Matt’s room, and no one would have used those weapons for violence and you knew that going in]

He said we cherry picked

You saw every single photo in Telegram folder

[umm yea cherry picking because you didn’t take a random sampling of everything, you selectively picked a folder that happened to have for reasons unknown to everybody a group that leaned in one direction, which might have been because those were savings of people who were getting extra scrutiny]

He didn’t throw anything away

Well it was encrypted

[it was a weak password that you could crack in a matter of weeks don’t give me that crap, it’s not like you did a live forensics on it and extracted a strong password to gain access, it would have had to have been less than 8 characters non random]

And he didn’t save all Telegram chats

[I am really curious what the hell that even means, you can delete chats, but so can the other person… seems like an attempt to mislead the jury]

He says he is not transmitting

It’s not a fancy word

It goes up and it goes down its transmitting

[wow- that’s the worst definition or explanation of transmitting that I’ve ever heard, I don’t even know I’d try that with a 3 year old]

Ian said license requirement letter was a scam.

You heard his own words say

He said something interesting.

He said a word I’d never heard before called social engineering. He explained it.

We didn’t put it in any evidence about higher fee, but we did with kraken.

[except this is manipulative and misleading because you are comparing him to an f’ing exchange not other comparable vendors]

 

Ian Freeman, the government’s “kingpin” of the Crypto6 takes the stand

Crypto6 Day 9

The day’s finally here! The defense’s evidence and witnesses get to testify and be introduced.

Defense goes first

Name: Keith Murphy

Lives in Manchester

Owns a restaurant and bar, aka Murphy’s Taproom since 2007

Murphy’s been in the industry for 30 years.

Q Physically type of spot?

A Southern New Hampshire university, 60% alcoholic beverages, 40% food, types of crowds depend on what is happening accrsoss the street due to the arena.

Q Is the front of the establishment glass?

A Yes, showroom style windows

Q Regulated by liquor commission?

A Yes, they come in from time to time

Q Law enforcement?

A Yes, but we never have any fights or problems

Q Do you take bitcoin?

A Yes, since 2013.

I was approached around 2013 and someone said they could put a machine in my lobby.

Q Do you know who?

A I believe it was Mr Freeman

I didn’t dabble in bitcoin yet

Q What decade?

A 2013 I think

Q How long have you had a machine in the business?

A 9 years

Mr Freeman’s machine was not the first machine though. The first one in had problems.

Q And Mr Freemans?

A No, very reliable.

After it’s initial placement I did not see Mr Freeman, but someone would come in and empty the machine monthly.

Q Where was it?

A In the lobby

Q Was it used frequently?

A Yes

Q Any issues or complaints?

A No

Q Anyone ever have an issue with the fees charged?

A No

Q Any complaints about errors in amounts given?

A No

Q Any regulators have an issue?

A No, not until the day it was taken away

Prosecutor’s turn:

Q What was the financial arrangement?

A We’d get a percentage of the fees to cover internet, space, etc

Q You didn’t have much interaction?

A I didn’t touch it

Q Do you know what this symbol is?

A No

Q Do you know what this sticker is covering?

A No

Q Did you have any conversation if it was regulated?

A No

Q No idea how it was operated?

A No

Q Did other people pick up monthly?

A Yes

Q Are you aware of a police compliant involving the machine?

A No

Q In 2019 did the manager tell you about a scam involving $5,000?

A No

Defense Redirect

Q Would I be right in saying you were not approached about the legitimacy of the machine?

A That is correct

Prosecutor asks some more questions:

Q Did you need permission from liquor commission to put the machine in?

A No

New witness

Name: Max Santanastaso

Q Where do you live?

A Winchester, NH

Q How long?

A 6 years

Q Education?

A MA and tech school

Q Were you in the military?

A Yea, Army

Q Do you know Ian?

A Yes

First heard of FTL, then met Ian at nightcap after moving to Keene

Q What is nightcap?

A Just a nighttime event. I just happened to walk by after getting some pizza.

Q Subject of crypto meetups?

A Once sold crypto to Ian

Q How experienced with bitcoin are you?

A Not very

I got some I didn’t really want and I offloaded it to Ian

Q Ian ever help you?

A No

Q Is Ian involved in church stuff?

A Yes, events, protests, etc

Q How well do you know Ian?

A Pretty well

I follow Ian because he had integrity

I find people with those qualities important to me

Q Reputation in community?

A Good

Prosecutor cross examines

Q When asked how many times you met up with him New years even and crypto meetup?

A Yea

Q Your knowledge comes from show?

A Both, but majority not in person

Q Did you make profit from sale of crypto to Ian?

A No

Q I got what I was given

New witness

Owner Of Little Zoes Testifies For Ian

Name: Edward Frster

Little Zoes Owner

Anthrum NH

Q You have had contact with Ian?

A Yes

Q What do you do?

A I own a pizza place

Q How long have you owned it?

A Since 2011

Business is good, it’s called Little Zoes, at the Center Of Keene

Q How did you meet Ian?

A I don’t recall exactly, but we went to Porcfest to sell Pizza and there were a # of people. Ian was one from Keene that I met. I learned about bitcoin at the event. Ian was extremely knowledgeable about a lot things like how to incorporate it into the business.

We have a system where money is printed and has no value.

I like the idea of crypto.

We use all kinds of money.

We exchange value in all kinds of ways.

Q Was his knowledge free of charge?

A Yes, in fact he felt bad that he gave me bad advice once when I lost a few hundred dollars and he replaced it. Lots of shady people out there in the world. He’s a good respectable guy.

Q How is his reputation?

A Nothing negative. Pro freedom.

Q Honesty? Trustworthy?

A Never heard anything bad

Prosecutor goes:

Q Did he approach you?

A No, others did ask me to take crypto at Porcfest.

I leaned a lot from Ian though.

Q Business a formal relationship?

A Yea, but when I did not understand. They held bitcoin meetings at my restaurant occasionally.

Q Didn’t tell you about bitcoin selling business?

A No

How does one sell bitcoin? I thought it was an exchange.

Defense

Q Did he provide you solid advice?

A Yes, he was out for everyone to be successful, but his own. I’m shocked we are even here.

New witness

Name: Adam Mosher

Lives in Newport

Small restraunt owner

Taco Beyondo

[best burritos in New Hampshire, hmm scratch that, the world]

Q When did you get to know Ian?

A Last 4 years

Q A bunch of people came in who were super respectful

We accept crypto

Q When did you start?

A 2018 or 2019 maybe

Q Did that come to your attention through Ian?

A Yes it did

We got a tablet that was provided and crypto went to phones wallet

Q If you had problems?

A I’d call Ian and he’d help out

Q Any charge?

A No charge

Always seemed like a straight up kinda guy

Prosecutor asks some questions:

Q Your business successful?

A Yes

Q Ever have bank accounts shut down?

A No

Q He was customer?

A Yes

Q Professional?

A Yea, I mean outside too

Defense asks some more Qs:

Q Your interest is money mainly?

A Yes

Q Ian open’d door?

A yea

Q Did he teach you?

A My staff more, but yea

Q He charge you?

A no

Q He pay with crypto?

A He has, but I don’t know what he usually does as I work behind the scenes in the kitchen

New Witness

Elderly Lady Who Was Kind And Testified On Behalf Of Ian After Receiving Crypto Assistance From Him For Years

Name: Dale Chapman

Lives in Amherst, MA

Retired Spanish teacher

75 years old!!!

[she looks really good for 75, I know her through crypto meetups, but didn’t know her age, and I didn’t realize she was elderly]

Q Do you know Ian?

A yes

Q How did you get to know Ian?

A In 2012 I could not find anyone who knew anything about bitcoin and at some point someone recommended I check out a meetup in Keene.  There were different people, but a few regulars.

Q Who did you get most advice from?

A I asked everyone. Ian taught me how to use a vending machine.

Q How many meetups?

A Since 2016 or 2017 every 2 months except in the winter. 5 times a year maybe.

Q Who had most advice or knowledge?

A Ian had the most knowledge, but did not push his knowledge on me.

He is the guy I would want to go with when I had questions because he would always go out of his way to figure out my macbook which no one else knew either.

Q Did he charge you?

A No, and funny you should ask because others offered to help for $150 / hour

Q Was it good advice?

A Yes, but since this case started he hasn’t been able to help so I’m still stuck.

Q What is his reputation in the community?

A Well, I’m not from Keene, but he is respectful and civil.

Prosecutor asks questions:

Q Ever deal with localbitcoin?

A No

Q Ever buy from him on Telegram?

A No

People helped me setup Telegram

Q Did you pay fee?

A I don’t know

I don’t use it for money, but because I wanted to learn the technology

Q Anyone help at home?

A There are a few, but the Keene group is way more helpful

Defense goes:

Q Any complaints about the vending machine you used?

A No

Prosecutor asks some more questions:

Q Do you know if regulated with government?

A No, don’t know if it is required

Carylin Urbanski, Owner Of Kirby’s Qs in Alstead NH Testifies

New witness

Name: Carylin Urbanski

Langdon NH

Software Consultant

Barque Business in Alstead

6 years

Q Do you know Ian?

A Yes, socially

He’s a good customer and we have friends in common

Ian would bring a lot of business to our restaurant and he helped get us on the map for bitcoin.

Q Is he someone you relied on for advice?

A Yes, and it was not his product

Q Was he knowledgeable?

A Yes

Customers would come in because we took cryptocurrency

Q Did he ever charge you?

A No, super generous too, he’d even give people free crypto

Q Is he charitable?

A Yes

Helping move, get established, other charities

There was a case after my husband died where he offered to help if I needed anything

Prosecutor asks some questions:

Q Do you know what he did for business?

A No, just that he promotes bitcoin

Q He had resources?

A Yes, correct

Q you don’t know where his money came from?

A I’d be uncomfortable asking anyone that

Q How much time did he spend helping you?

A 5-10 hours

100 Nights Director in Keene Testifies About Donations From Shire Free Church

New witness

Name: Linda Cambiar

Lives in Keene, NH

How long? Since 1976

What do you do? Executive director of a homeless shelter

Q Busiest week of the year?

A Yes, very

Q 100 nights?

A Founder setup to be open during 100 coldest nights of the year

It’s now 365 nights, but the name 100 nights is hard to change

Q You know Ian?

A Yes

Q When did you first meet?

A I started in 2013 he had been donor since the shelter was first started. One of the original donors in fact. Little help in the early days so I got to know Ian.

Q What is this?

A It’s a little app called Little Green Light that shows donators contributions. This is Ian’s history.

Q Giving for over a decade?

A Yes

Q Last contribution taken out just a few days ago in fact

A Right

Q So this is a regular donation from church?

A Yes

Q Info on shelter?

Permanently 36 beds

Provide a resource center

Laundry, showers, transport, case manager for those who we might be able to help get back to a normal life

Q Big deal?

A Yes, all over

Q How well do you know Ian?

A Not very well, but know of church

Q Those are straight gifts, the church gets nothing back?

A Right

Prosecutor asks some questions

Q Regulated in New Hampshire?

A Yes

Q Do you make sure you comply with the law?

A yes

[this prosecutor as all prosecutors are is a manipulative piece of shit as he’s suggesting that because the church isn’t registered as 501(3)c and presumably the shelter is that the church is somehow breaking the law when it’s not as churches are not obligated to register even though they can under the IRS’s own rules]

Q You file forms with the IRS?

A Yes

Q Charitable trust with state?

A Yes

Church donating since 2014 shown on screen

Things to note: Church sponsored masquerade ball put on by the shelter to raise money for the shelter for $1000 in 2014. The church also donated a substantial amount via a partial bitcoin which was auctioned off.

[that is the founding of 100 nights, but the church pre-dates this, but this is 2-years prior to any accusation of the church or Ian selling crypto- yet the church was supposed setup to be a money laundering operation for scammers according to the prosecution, it makes no sense, and had buildings and assets donated to it and started donating and doing good work in the community prior to 2016, including advocating bitcoin not bombs]

Q Asking $10 in may, in aug… repeats

[appears to be trying to suggest donations are insignificant which is sort of true if this was the only thing the church was donating to or doing relative to the revenues being generated from the sale of crypto but it wasn’t]

A yes, yes, yes, yest repeats

Q $120 in 2018?

A Yes

[this goes on for a bit going through each $10 donation for the entire length of time the church donated, which is insulting because the church made other larger donations at various points to the shelter, but because most of them are $10 / month it comes off as if almost nothing has been donated by comparison to what the church brings in from the sale of crypto]

Q Do you disclose donors?

A Only if over $5,000 yr

Q Did you get 5 million?

A No, we just got over 1 million this year for the first time

[the prosecutor  is asking this unfair question because the incoming amounts to bank accounts  adds up to millions even though the fees from it doesn’t add up to this… so by implication the prosecutor is misleading the jury into thinking the church is donating some trivial amount and Ian is pocketing the money]

Defense asks some more questions

Q He’s given a total of $6,400?

A Yes, and he donated to auction too

Q What was that?

A It was part of a bitcoin

[which I don’t know what it was at the time of the donation, but it was probably not nothing]

Q Is it fair to say he has been a consistent donor?

A Yes, we appreciate every penny

Prosecutor

Q Since 2010 he has donated $6,400 right?

A Yes

Defense

Q That was the cash aspect, not the bitcoin?

A Yes

New witness

Name: Ian Freeman

Judge speaks

“no one can require you to testify”

Not even your lawer

Q Is it your decision?

A Yes

Q Have you consulted with your lawyer?

A Yes

Defense

Q Born?

A Flordia

Q How long in Florida?

A 26 years

Q Education?

A Mostly government school and a gifted school

Q When did you leave Florida?

A 2006

Q What did you do?

A Free Talk Live

It’s a show that today airs on 180 radio stations. It’s been on continuously since 2002.

Q Do you get sponsors?

A Some and grateful, not glamorous

Q What is your opinion of talk radio?

A In Florida shows didn’t allow people to talk who had a difference of opinion. I did not like that so my show is open to people to call in about anything they want.

Q When did you hear about bitcoin?

A I think it was 2011 and someone called into the program, we were a bit skeptical at first.

Then later we had a meeting with a guy Gavin and we went to a Taiwanese restaurant and he answered every question I had and I got it.

Q What is vision?

A Going back to history governments have been clipping edges off gold and silver coins to debase their money. The government does that today, but through other means. The government has been inflating our money. Satoshi created this thing that doesn’t rely on this. So when the government prints more dollars you have more dollars chasing for the same amount of goods.

A lot of us noticed this and Satoshi did something about it. No one had any idea it was going to take off. But someone bought pizza with it in maybe 2010 and that was the first time it had a value. At first it was worth zero up till this point.My show had an advertiser memory dealer who was probably a millionaire at this point. He wasn’t likely to sell to our listeners, but wanted to support us. He heard a call about bitcoin on the show. He then bought a large amount of coin.

He already pouring dollars into the show for adds, but he asked if he could pay in bitcoin, and I said well, we need dollars to pay bills, but how about we take 10 or 15 percent in bitcoin from you.

Q So what is it worth now?

A $16,000

Roger is still an advertiser to this day.

In 2013 we founded the shire free church because we were a show focused on a moral message. I donated everything I had to the church. Around this time I had opportunity to spread bitcoin and it met with the churches mission. We are not a profit seeking entity but when bitcoin is sold money is brought in. The dollar and euros and such is immoral. It is used to go to war. The Church mission is to foster peace through any means necessary.

Q When was first bitcoin machine?

A My friend was running a thrift store at the time the machines were not expensive maybe $1000 so we got one.

Q How do you stock it?

A Well, we already were getting lots of bitcoin, but we did start buying it when stocks got low. We operated a hot wallet which is our own bitcoin. It keeps things simple.

Q When you first started church how well off were you?

A At that point I was already pretty well off as the price of bitcoin had already gone up when we founded the church. I donated everything I owned including a $200,000 home I owned to the church.

Q Do you own a nice car?

A No, always used and no cars now. I drive church car.

Q Any foreign bank accounts?

A Yes, but only because US banks don’t like bitcoin

To me every account I opened was a church account.

Q Do you draw an income?

A No, the church sustains me. I have a parsonage. The church pays for car and gas. I do what god calls me to do which is peace. I’m sure people have heard of radio or TV ministries. That is what I do and lots of others.

Q What about Uganda?

A We tried to help a man start an orphanage by giving him a ton of money. The state department denied him a visa or we would have had him here.We did some ads with Monadnock Shopper which was a bit of an educational initiative. I would give $50 away to anyone who contacted me and entered them to a contest for $500 and donating to local charities.

Q Community service?

A Yea, we certified community service for people have done volunteer work for the court. A couple years after vending machine someone introduced me to localbitcoin and this matches with church mission. So I started doing it.

Q How did it work out?

A Other than the occasional scammer great

Bitcoin is irreversible. So if you encounter a scam artist you can’t claw back the money. Scammers were minority, but were a problem so have to have system to stop it.

At first you would see a car payment that obviously wasn’t the churches so I put in stronger security requirements. This included ID. But then people started doing man in the middle attacks where they’d get someone else do a deposit. We did stop some scammers from scamming older people. We make people write what they were buying to stop it.

Another scammer once deposited cash then verified with me, but after went back into bank and claimed they made a mistake and the bank then gave the person their money back. This was the banks error. It’s also what you call a social engineering.

Now no matter what security you put in place you can’t stop all scams.

Q If someone was scammed what would you do?

A Well, if we got wind of a scam we’d stop it.

Over time we started using a commercial product that let me look up phone numbers and verify the # I was given was in fact the buyer and this enabled me to catch most scammers.

Patrick Brown was a case where Patrick lied to me. He said there was no third person. Banks would never tell us why they closed accounts. But one bank did and that was Patrick Brown victim. Patrick Browns bank called my bank to try and get money back. I spoke for 30 minutes with agent to try and help. This was not the only time we helped law enforcement.

Another man in the middle scam we were able to detect and stop. At localbitcoin we got trade, did KYC, got government ID, she jumped through hoops, she went to bank and did the deed. When I got picture of receipt something was off. It was a scan of a copy of the receipt so I would not complete the transaction. Police got involved and between them and the attorney we got the victims money back.

There was another case with a romance scam detective Yip and there we provided what evidence we could.

Q Why name on account?

A So for Reneee she was an old friend who needed assistance so I trained her on selling bitcoin. She had her own acounts for that purpose. Aria had her own church and we lent her some funds to get started. She was not in bitcoin as long so we helped her get started. Sometimes she could not work so I helped with her account with her permission.

When an account was frozen we were not usually told why. 98% of the time we would be vindicated, but they still would not want to do business with us and would close the account. They would cut us a check because we had evidence we were right. We only lost one case and that was because multiple banks pulled the money back. There were about 6,000 transactions, not 6,000 users, but mostly because some buyers had more than one transactions with us.

Q What # of complaints?

A Very few.

50-75 suuposed victims out of about 6,000 according to the prosecution.

If someone believes they love someone they will lie. I have even said to people “have you ever met your husband”. Some scams are really hard to defeat.

Q How did you meet this guy?

A The guy did repeated transactions online.

A You did not know him?

A No

It seemed he was aware of crypto movement in New Hampshire and that was his basis for coming out. I met him at our meetups. He did good job of making himself appear as though he believed in liberty.

Q Up to then had he indicated any crime?

A No, not till a nightcap meetup.

He had said he was a used card dealer in Albany. I did not have a conversation with him about drugs, but I did overhear it. That was a red alert. He was a cop or a moron. Basically I was well aware that the government does these operations and that I was being investigated. I knew they would try this because they always do. I figured he was undercover even though in the chat I said I didn’t think he was because I wanted to see what he’d do next.

Q So you said no way?

A Right

I said knowingly because I knew the law and they do the same thing. What was unusual here is he was never able to meet me alone. In other cases he probably intimidated people into selling him crypto. He looks like a mob person so very intimidating to most people.

Q So he brings up thirsty owl vending machine after this?

A Yes, and I said Ok

Q So you had no idea that he was going to vending machine?

A Right

Q So he went without your knowledge?

A Right

I see reports of people buying, but not who is buying

Q There are no cameras?

A No

Q There was nothing you could do to stop him?

A What should I have done? Tackled him? We don’t have anybody there.

Q Did you agree to launder money?

A No, I didn’t and wouldn’t do that

Q Muslim community?

A Will Coley who is an imam asked if there would be space available to help with a muslim community. I said yes we had a building we could contribute. This was an actual mosque.  We also had the bitcoin embacy and its hard to find classes in the real world so chris give classes.

Q What is a trade name?

A It is just another name for the same entity. So the NH Peace Church was just another name for the Shire Free Church.

Q Purpose of the trade name?

A Banking purpose

Q Church Of The Invisible Hand?

A Two seperate things. It has its own beliefs.

Q Reformed Satanic Church?

A Another thing.

It doesn’t mean believe in the devil.

It got to a point that I gave localbitcoin small stuff to help.

The Crypto Church is also the Shire Free Church and has a board of directors.

Churches are not corporations. In legal land you can get a tax ID even though you don’t pay taxes as a church.

And you get this because without it you can’t get a bank account.

The IRS has the #. The IRS did sent a letter in Spanish and it asked for updated address. I saw no reason to respond.

Vending

Q The ones church operated what was your understanding of obligations?

A We hired a lawyer, Seth Hipple, to tell us what we needed to do. It turned out nothing.

Q Is bitcoin transmitting?

A No

The words are used to communicate, but it’s not what is actually happening. You can’t cook the books is the one benefit. Unspent transactions output. When it is spent it doesn’t move at all. It stays in the same place.

Q The bitcoin in your machine were owned by the church?

A That is correct

Q So it’s not owned by a business, but a church?

A Right

Q You see the FinCEN letter?

A Yea, it came into a sort of catch all email account and it looked like a letter sent to all venders. I was suspisious of it because when a government agency wants to communicate with you they send you a physical letter or possibly certified mail even. I thought maybe it was even spam.

Q What age range?

A All ages. They probably skipped other folder because it had more people of all ages in it.

Q Any basis for government average age?

A Not at all, but it’s true older people tend to have more money.

Q Any bank unusual?

A Yes, one actually. There was one bank that a manager contact infor was included with a letter about closing an account. So I asked him why. What I learned from a meeting with him is that banks have to understand the nature of the activity.

I called every bank in Manchester and asked about bitcoin and every one said no.

Q Quotes for investment?

A Yes because it’s best investment

Q Rare coin?

A So what makes bitcoin value is its rarity. There will only ever be 21 million coins produced.

Q Donation?

A Everything we did was for the benefit of the mission of the church. The terms of trade said it and elsewhere and should have been known by all buyers.

ftl_ian feedback

I achieved pro level status at localbitcoin based on volume and was concerned about ratings.

church.shiresociety.com has the church’s mission statement and other information about the Shire Free Church I am a minister of.

Ian Reads off the mission statement of the church:

Declaration

The Shire Free Church offers a sanctuary for those seeking an escape from state churches. The Shire Free Church is an interfaith, diverse group of people who may not share identical theological beliefs. As a member in or minister of the Shire Free Church, you are a sovereign individual and may be the faith of your choice whether it be Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist, Jewish, Quaker, etc, or following your inner light. Monotheists, polytheists, pantheists, panentheists, and atheists are all welcome, as long as you are peaceful. The Shire Free Church was organized in Keene in the year 2013 and serves all of the Shire.

Mission

We don’t claim to have all the answers.
We are open to all peaceful people.
We want to learn from each other.

It is our mission, inspired by God, Allah, the Universe, and the inner light – to foster peace. We understand that in order to have peace in the world, one must have it inside oneself first – the “purification of the soul”, as our Muslim friends call it.

Unification in Diversity – A Statement of Beliefs

What unifies the Shire Free Church and its diverse members is peace, love, and liberty. There are many paths to God – one for every individual. The Shire Free Church does not define a specific path beyond those parameters that must be your foundation: peace as your way, love as your guide, and liberty as your light.

Maxim:

“Be the best you can be and harm no other in his person or property.”

Virtues:

Compassion Forgiveness Empathy Humility

Honesty Kindness Patience Personal Responsibility

Productive Work Self-improvement Thinking

Visiting and Joining the Shire Free Church

The only requirements to visit or join the Shire Free Church are that you are of peace and do not advocate the use of force to achieve social or political goals. In order to join the Shire Free Church, you must be a signer of the Shire Society Declaration. There are no requirements or induction rituals. You need not ask permission from anyone in the church – simply make the decision to be a part of the Shire Free Church for yourself. You may stay a member as long as your words and actions show you are of peace. To this end, each Shire Free Church member may decide the validity of any other claimed member based on their word and deed.

Ordination of Church Ministers

Shire Free Church ministers have full control over their churches, church projects, and parsonages. Our structure is non-hierarchical. The Shire Free Church is a private group that welcome interested people who meet the moral qualifications to join as stated above. To become ordained, you must be a signer of the Shire Society declaration as well as agree with the mission and statement of beliefs of the church. To receive your official Ordained Minister card, please reach out to existing ministry via the contact information below.

Contact a Minister

You can contact a minister by using the Shire Society forum.

Church Locations

You may be a member of the Shire Free Church regardless of your physical location, but it is recommended you move physically to the Shire in order to secure more of your liberty with like-minded brothers and sisters.

The Shire Free Church exists wherever its members gather. Currently, ministers have parsonages in the following locations:

• Keene: Click for blog posts from Keene ministers. Shire Free Church: Monadnock is also part of the Universal Life Church.
• Manchester
• Tilton

Special thanks to our friends at the Peaceful Assembly Church in Grafton. In memory of PAC’s pastor John Connell, whose inspiration was critical in forming the Shire Free Church. Thank you, John.

Q Is this common theme since inception?

A Yes

Q It lays out how to contact minister?

A Yes

Q When put out?

A 2013

[notice that this is ~3 years before the governments accused Ian or the church of committing any crime via the way of selling bitcoin, if the church was setup for the purpose of money laundering it’s insane to think that it was planned out 3 years in advance of the crime, before Ian even knew how to sell bitcoin, and likely before the first vending machine existed]

Q If anyone wanted to know about church they could have looked at website?

A Yes, or called radio program even

Q Awakened in early morning hours of March 16 of 2021. Agent said there is supposed to be a call out. Do you recall that?

A No, and my friend who was awake heard nothing either

First thought was teens threw a brick at the house because our peace flag has been ripped down a number of times over the years. What I found in my robe was a drone flying through my window. I requested my girlfriend could put on a robe cause she was completely naked.

Q 4 in home?

A Yes

Q Matt a gun owner?

A Yes, licenses gun owner

Everyone was detained

Q Why did they destroy cameras?

A It looked like they were up to no good and hiding what they were doing

Q Did anyone explain why?

A No

Tax evasion

Q You receieved no letters right?

A Nothing at all

Q Anyone ever call you?

A Not at all

Q File anything?

A No because under the IRS rules chuches don’t pay taxes or have to file anything

Q At any point were you trying to do anything illegal?

A No

Q Anything illegal?

A I may have smoked some canibis

Prosecutor

Q You call yourself a minister?

A That is correct

Q Did you write it?

A Yes, with some others

Q Banks research people?

A Yes, it would seem to be step 1

Q You have people call into your show?

A yes including undercover agents

Q You talk about current events?

A Yes, and theology and other topics

She lists topics on one nights show

Q Parsanage at 73 Leverett St?

A Yes

Q You bought and donated to church?

A Yes

Q You tried to get property tax exempt?

A Yes, it was rejected, and to try and sue was the only option. We didn’t have the funds at the time.

Q Does the church pay for gas and clothing?

A Yes, it does

Q And when you travel?

A Yes, but only a couple events

Q And the church is how you make money?

A No

Q It’s donations that make it possible to get food

A Of course

Q Did you give a substantial amount to chairty?

A That would depend on what you consider a lot, but yea

Showing building with Mosque inside

[at this point things stop and the government admits to monitoring the radio show and the judge says he would have too, as a former prosecutor]

[the prosecutor wants to play the Free Keene video of Will Coley incident with City Of Keene government, but the judge appears to deny it for reasons unknown, probably because it wasn’t provided to the defense correctly, see below for your pleasure]

 

 

Q Your church donated to a Uganda orphanage $35,000?

A Sounds about right

Q The percent commision of this sale is about what donated to the Uganda orphanage, right?

A About, yes

FinCEN letter

Prosecutor

Q You testified you got FinCEN email

A Yea

Q Prior you had your lawyer write a letter?

A Yes

Prosecutor brings up tax exemption for church document

Golden rule

“Do not tell our staff why you want to buy cryptocurrency”

Prosecutor going through photos and asking you think this person is legitimate customer?

[answer is yes for all]

Defense

Q Feedback are important?

A Very important

Q You had highest feedback rating on site?

A Yea

Q Did anyone complain?

A No

Q Any negatives?

A Yes, but from scammerss, “you require too much verification”

Q Did banks stop any transaction?

A No

Q What did you think of FinCEN letter?

A It was scam

Q Did any one follow up?

A No

Q What did you understand your status to be?

A Registering as a 501(3)c actually restricts what a church can do so the free church movement is a movement of churchs to can this status. Donations to any church can receieve tax free money even if they don’t register under 501(3)c status.

Q Why the sign?

A We didn’t want a store employee to be in an acwaked position if somone told them of a crime. It was to protect everyone because pivacy matters.

 

Ian, by Joa from Breaking The Flaw

Today was a short day with about a dozen crypto6 supporters making it to the trial, but not terribly unsurprising as people showing up late didn’t get to see anything and many can’t make an entire day due to work and other obligations. So over all a decent turnout. The complete summary of the days events are posted below in full.

The prosecution tried to undermine Ian’s credibility through a dirty joke involving Renee being a dominatrix taking money from boyfriends from all over the country. No, she didn’t do that, but that was the point the prosecutor was making. Keep in mind that other witnesses also testified that Ian consistently said never to lie to the banks.

There was some question as to whether or not Renee was pressured into taking a plea deal through threats of 8-10 years in prison should she not.

It is revealed by Renee that the reason for the church outreach was that bitcoin undermines the governments ability to to go to war or do evil stuff. The money was not raised for a profit, or business, but for charitable cause.

The most interesting thing that happened though was the defense brought up the fact that the prosecution couldn’t prove that a bitcoin transaction was money transmission. You can have a transaction without transmission occurring. I can buy land and there is a transaction involved, but that land can’t be transmitted.

Continuation Of Renee’s Testimony

Prosecutor

Communications from chat show Renee and Ian were discussing how to make a bank happy

The prosecutor is using  a joke about Renee getting cash deposits from boyfriends she’s got all over the country in an effort to undermine her/Ian’s credibility.

From a chat log they show “We’re not registered”

Q Did you understand that to relate to your operation?

A Yes

Audio from chat played talking about another case where someone is convicted of a similar crime for selling crypto even though they did register with FinCEN

Q Did Ian have ability to see money being put into the vending machine?

A Yes

Q What does ‘major wale’ mean (from chat)?

A Someone was filing the machine with money

From chat log: “26% of machine”

Q Is that the percentage of the vending machined filled with cash?

A Yes

Q At this time were you just doing CVM connections for Mr Freeman?

A I think so

Defense

Q This Murphys is Murphy’s bar in Manchester?

A Yes

Q Do you know how long it was there?

A A year maybe I think

Q How often did you pick up?

A It was a weekly thing

Q Was it open to the public to use?

A Yes

Q How big was the machine?

A It was a foot and a half by two feet

Sticker on the door said it was there

Q The owner knew it was there, right?

A Yea

Q Ever hear any complaints from the owner, law enforcement, or anyone?

A No

Q What did you do?

A Walk in and put cash from machine in bag and walk out

Q Anyone stop you and say what you were doing was illegal?

A No

Q Any police officer walking down the street could see it, right?

A Yes

Q Can you explain plea deal?

A 8-10 years in jail was the potential sentence I was told if I took it to trial so the logical thing to do was to take a plea deal and get no jail time, but would be a felon for the rest of my life.

Q Who said 8-10 years?

A The prosecution

Q Do you think you did anything illegal?

A No, neither that or anything wrong

Q Why then take a plea deal?

A I was just scared

Q Never conspired or did anything with Ian that was illegal?

A  Yes

Q Why buy and sell bitcoin? What was mission?

A To keep as much money as possible out of governments hands because they do evil stuff with it.

Q Was this a church mission?

A Yea

Q Was anyone being scammed?

A No

Q if you thought someone was being scammed what would you do?

A We wouldn’t sell to them

Q Did you purposely engage in money transmission or anything unlawful?

A No

My understanding is it was not a business

Q Did Ian force you to do any of this stuff?

A No

Q You could stay with Ian a do this money thing or not right?

A Correct

Q Can you tell people about Ian’s lifestyle?

A He lives a modest lifestyle, definitely not a life of the rich and famous

Q What does he drive?

A Rev 4

Q So an older used car?

A Yes

Q So you called him rich because he doesn’t have to beg and scrape for money?

A Yes

Q Do you know where church money went?

A Yes, homeless shelter and other stuff

Q Do you know what he preaches?

A Yea, always show people bitcoin wallet

Q Does he charge it?

A No

Redirect from prosecution

Q Was one of the questions at sentencing that you lied to banks?

A Yes, because I was compelled to do as part of plea deal

[Renee asks for her lawyer]

[testimony resumes w/o consultation with lawyer as you can’t talk to your lawyer during testimony]

[The prosecutor doesn’t like the truth and appear to be threatening her with perjury via intimidation for revealing the system is rigged]

Judge says:

You can’t consult with counsel while testifying, but council wasn’t properly “in” the court due to COVID and tech issue which is why we recessed to the jury.

Q Why did you tell the judge laplanet you were guilty was that a truthful answer?

A Yes

[effectively she is forced to lie because if she does not they can charge her with perjury which is messed up because you are required to perjure yourself to get a plea deal effectively]

Q Were you represented by a lawyer during the proffer?

A Yes

Q After consulting with your lawyer you accepted the plea deal?

A Right

Q you had agreed to open bank account and sell bitcoin for Mr Freeman? And that it was unregistered?

A Yes

Q You did it for church outreach?

A Yes

May 16, 2020 signal conversation

Renee:

So my option is limited work or have attention brought to myself

I’d like to make the most amount of money with the least amount of risk

Q So you did church outreach and you were paid for it?

A Yes, both things are true

Q You told…

A I don’t really trust Melanie Neighbours so I don’t know

Q You yourself said Mr Freeman was rich

A Yea

Cross defense

Q you don’t consider Ian a wealthy man?

A No

Q Not at all?

A Yea

Q Then you said he was only rich by comparison to you being really poor?

A Right

Q Was this a super pressure situation?

A Yes

[he’s referring to why she took the plea deal]

Q Why did you switch lawyer?

A I hope to change my plea

Q Your intent is now to withdraw?

A Yes, if I can

Q Did you conspire to do anything illegal?

A No

Q Did you take plans to make sure were legal?

A Yes

Prosecutor asks some more questions

Q Were you a dominatrix?

A No

Q Wasn’t true right?

A Yea

[they’re referencing the joke about her being a dominatrix and having men all over the internet depositing money into her account]

Defense goes again

Q Did any bank lose any money?

A No

Prosecutor again

Q How do you know that?

A I was told that by the prosecutor

[this was hilarious as they used their own words against them, and this was 100% true, the prosecutor in two difference sentencing hearings said that there were no financial losses by the banks and this was part of the reason for the sentence given]

Defense again

Q The banks gave you your money back when they closed your account, right?

A Yes

Q No restitution was ordered at your sentencing, right?

A Right

Judge Speaks

Prosecution rests it’s case.

Prosecution has the burden of proof.

Tomorrow the defense can, but doesn’t have to put on a defense.

Defense makes motions on money laundering charges

Refer to heroin dealer

Asks to dismiss

Interaction was rejected after Ian learned of illegal activity.

He said he could not agree to sell bitcoin to the undercover agent.

He did not aid or accompany or encourage in any shape or form and did not give discounted rate to the undercover.

Prior to knowing the undercover was a drug deal Ian gave a 10% rate to the agent. After refusal the agent got the normal 14% from the vending machine.

This is not circumstantial evidence, but direct direct evidence.

No control over that vending machine the undercover used.

There was no evidence presented that Ian even knew the guy bought crypt at the machine.

Prosecutor responds

Our view is that he is not refusing under all circumstances, but it has to be low key.

It was a wink and a nod situation.

Evidence is sufficient to get past rule 29.

[this is crazy because that was never said or clearly communicated, and he outright refused in actual words]

Judge speaks:

Can he even monitor from Keene, yes, but does he even know?

Prosecutor speaks

He is watching

[except he isn’t, he is only alerted when money is going into the machine and how much, not who, and even that depends on him paying attention to those alerts on his phone/his phone having connectivity and at the time he probably didn’t have connectivity as he was driving back from Taco Beyondo where the is poor cellular reception between Hillsboro and Keene, but even if he got an alert he wouldn’t have seen it because he was driving]

Judge speaks

Active and seeing watching getting cash is different than seeing undercover do it

Defense speaks

Agent didn’t say he was going to do it

Tax Evasion

Whether or not he even owes government taxes.

This is a joke.

He was never asked for documentation.

There was no exploration into profit or loss.

It was all speculation.

No falsifying documentation occurred.

He didn’t do anything.

The IRS agent just did a standard deduction.

No overhead, not take, not charitable deductions.

Nothing.

Or even that he is a non-profit.

It’s all a myth.

We don’t even know there is other money.

You can’t just make up it up and they did.

Prosecution speaks

She looked at locatbtc records and case for each trade over above standard costs.

Chat from localbitcoin

Judge speaks

Income proven, but was he required to file “not owe anything” is concerning.

I need law on this, not just testimony.

Defense speaks

Look at the actual exchange: “may not owe any taxes at all”

It would also have to be wilful and intentional.

It’s like a “gotcha game” here.

Never sent letter or even tried to get contact like they normally do for everyone else.

[remember the IRS agent testified that they were out to get him and didn’t follow standard procedure because of it]

Judge talks

The evasion charges seem unusual giving no prior contact occurred based on my experience as a judge and former prosecutor.

Money transmission

Defense speaks:

They didn’t show any evidence of transition.

No blockchain evidence was shown.

Does it even transfer?

Is it actually a transfer?

Devoid of transfer evidence.

I hope we are not leaving it to the imagination of the jury.

They are not in money transmission business.

They didn’t claim to be a business.

They claim to be a church.

But transmission itself is a bigger issue.

No testimony as to what transmission even means in relation to this case.

They are worried as to what a wallet is and that hasn’t even been defined.

Prosecution speaks

Money transmission someone explained it.

What wallets were.

FinCEN testified transmission of crypto is money transmission.

And evidence those transactions happened.

Judge speaks

What we didn’t get

What evidence do we have tying his wallet to anyone in this case?

Defense speaks

Proved transactions not transmissions.

It is the act of transmitting that is in question.

Judge speaks

Ok, it is the understanding of it that is the problem

I’ll take it under advisement

End of Day 8

Attorney Sisti Cross Examines Government Witnesses

[Day 7 below has been updated, you can skip to the part where we left off if you’ve already read the first part of the story]

We learned today that Erin Montgomery the supposed leading blockchain analysis expert for the FBI who was disqualified as an expert wouldn’t be testifying at all, not even as a non-expert ‘witness’!

We also learned that the FBI misled the jury about the average age of people the church sold bitcoin to via selectively picking out older folks from a Telegram folder on the church’s computer that was seized and getting an ‘average age’ thereof from this selected pool.

We learned about some of the scams, the feds trying to paint Ian as having partaken in a scam against a bank where the bank lost no money and was in fact authorized to speak on behalf of Nobody in the effort to recover money for the Church Of The Invisible Hand.

We discovered the government was very uncomfortable about talking about the misdeeds they committed the day of the March 2021 raid as they damaged cameras, failed to comply with warrant requirements that they announce themselves before entering, and so forth. They were not authorized to conduct a no knock raid like we had all assumed originally based on the mere fact the didn’t and no knock raids have become the norm despite that they’re only supposed to be utilized selectively in particularly dangerous circumstances.

We learned the FBI is trying to claim that they had to seize Ian’s computer in order to get photos to investigate scammers when in fact they could have just asked for them, like OTHER law enforcement agencies did.

It is shown that Ian and the church have a policy of investigating transactions that might involve people being scammed and that he called one such victim. It’s the case other victims were called, but that’s for another day. Ultimately we learned no amount of procedure will ever fully stop a determined scammer. As neither the church’s own efforts nor the banks stopped any of these victims from getting scammed.

Day 7

~10+ supports turned out

FBI agent from other day continues…

Cross examination by defense

Q You went through 1% of transactions?

A I don’t know

[it was wayyyy less than 1%, it was more something like less than 0.013333333 based on further testimony]

Q You only went through Telegram photos?

A Yes, that is where the 59 were from

Q Your job was to jut select specific photos?

A Yes

Q For ages, you skipped out on people?

A Yes

Q You didn’t go through and testify to all of them and for some reason you skipped over some, why?

A I don’t know

[isn’t this a big red flag that the government is up to no good? remember that they are trying to get the jury to believe Ian worked with scammers to launder money and preyed on elderly folks in the process despite every one of the governments witnesses testifying to the fact he didn’t know the scammers and there was no reason to believe he worked with anyone on anything in this regard]

Q In your limited sample there was an active investigation in regard to one person, what was going on?

A We can follow up with info from computer

Q The info came from Ian’s computer right?

A Yes

Q That is where you got the ID right?

A Yea

[so they’re admitting here that if it was not for Ian doing know your customer the government would be able to ID and identify the scammers at all]

Q You would not have that if not for Ian right?

A Correct

Q Were you able to follow up with general fellow?

A Jeremy Harmon, no

Q Wasn’t he a scammer?

A Yes

Q Is there any info Jeremy Harmon ever met with Ian?

A I don’t know

[aww did you even investigate this case? how can someone be so incompetent or ignorant? ohh that’s right, they work for government]

Q Fredrick Dryer claimed to be in oil?

A Yea

[Fredrick Dryer is the scammer]

Q She lost a lot money and was in contract for a long time right?

A Yea

Q Any contact with Ian?

A No

[ok, so there is confirmation that the scammer has had NO contact with Ian in person or otherwise]

Q He is still in contact with victim, right?

A Yea

[they are talking about the victim I believe still being in contact with the scammer, yes, you heard that right]

Q Was it you who said you didn’t want to follow up with the scammer?

A Not exactly what I said, but in a manor of speaking

[trying to wiggle out of it because it makes ya case look bad, you don’t really care about the victim at all]

With info recently provided we are going to follow up

[what he means is because they were called out the prior day on this they did some immediate ‘deciding’ to do something or to claim to be planning to do something now that the public gets to know they never intended to investigate any of the scammers, remember the FBI had Ian’s computer for many years, so they had plenty of time to investigate the scammers]

Q Dryer is guy who took money?

A Right

Q Ian is not the scammer, right?

A Correct

[and case begins to fall apart even more]

Q Are you pursuing William Millers?

A No

Q In Miller case are you investigating scammer who of which there was ID for?

A No

[remember, all of these scammers can be ID’d explicitly because Ian and the churches policy of doing KYC and then retaining that information for YEARS, this was done because it was warranted and reduced risks like this while still being as respective of peoples privacy as feasible for the types of transactions occurring]

Q Scamming happens with and without crypto right?

A Yea

Q None of the investigation appears to have cut off scam, right?

A I think banks stopped some scams

[aww ok, that isn’t the result of the investigation you’re doing though, but ok]

Q Some banks let 4 transactions go through right?

A Yea

[ie even red flags don’t stop banks from cutting off a customers ability to do the transactions, but it’s not even clear these were red flags as the only basis is a customers age effectively, and some old people aren’t mentally incapable of making their own decisions, which was pretty much what appeared to be the cases here even if they ended up making poor choices]

Q She transacted business for $240,000 and $210,000 and nobody raised a concern, is that normal?

A I’ve seen various actions

Q Nobody questions on Jerry transaction either right?

A Yea

Q The only one who questioned it was Ian, right?

A I can’t recall

[how convenient, the banks didn’t question any of the transactions, but Ian did, and took steps to try and stop it if it appeared to be fraud, failing to defeat fraud happens because scammers are often good at what they do]

Q None of the banks checked, but Ian did, you aware of that?

A I did not sit in on her testimony

Next the government plays some audio of a recorded phone call.

Freeman on Nobody call to Bank Of America call and Ian on Bank Of America Call $350,000 return thereof

Freeman made first call, audio played out of order

Nobody made 2nd call

Q Do you know if nobody authorized Ian to speak on his behalf of nobody?

A No

[they are trying to suggest that Ian’s committing fraud when talking to the bank because he gives Nobody’s name when he calls in the assistance of Nobody in the recovery of church money]

Q Did you know the bank did return the $350,000 on that account?

A No idea

[did the FBI even investigate this case?]

Q 2nd call was in pursuit of additional $40,000

A No idea

Q Do you know no bank lost any money on this?

A I don’t know

Q After 5 years you would think you would know, right?

A It was handled by another employee

[how convenient, they just have so many agents that you can’t actually question them about anything]

Q You watched swat team film?

A First time I saw it was in court

[might be a good time to direct people to watch the security footage video themselves]

 

 

Q Special swat gear, you use cameras right?

A Just started using them

Q Where are cameras supposed to be used?

A I don’t know

Q Will you be surprised to hear cameras were attached to helmets in raid of Ian’s residence?

A I don’t know

Q Is there a reason they would not want to record?

A No

Q Any videos of swat team we can show jury?

A Not that I know of

[again how convenient of it for the government to lose footage like that, fortunately there is some video from security camera footage prior to the government conveniently ‘disabling’ the camera, or maybe I should I more accurately describe it as physically destroying the cameras]

Q What is that in the video?

A Bearcat

Q What is that?

A 2nd Bearcat

Q What is guy doing?

A Throwing something, in my experience a flash bang grenade

Q Did you see any one warning people in house?

A I can’t speak to that

Q Did you see people hiding?

A I wouldn’t say that

Q You did not see anyone approach, right?

A No, I didn’t

Q Flash bang grenade, right?

A Yes, based on my experience

Before someone enters the house there should be a knock and announce

Q Do you see Bearcat with battering ram and broken window attached?

A Yes

Q Beatcat obviously entered house right?

A Yes

Q What is that on the helmets?

A Goggles

Q What is mounted on top?

A Night vision goggles

Q Any cameras?

A I can’t tell from that frame

Not the case agent at the time so I don’t know

[he knows, he just doesn’t want to answer, he’s watching the video remember]

Q Any inquiry into means of entry when you became case agent?

A No

Q What is that?

A An aerial drone like thing, it is used for clearing spaces to avoid agents being harmed

Q for surveilling right?

A Right

Q Someone saw it right?

[he’s referring to the video as it’s being piloted from afar]

It wouldn’t be useful if no one was watching it right?

A No

Q Who is that guy?

A Nobody

Q This fella?

A Mathew Roach

Q Was he charged with anything?

A No

Q Of course that is Ian

A Yea

Q Did anyone resist?

A No to my knowledge

Q Who’s this?

A Bonnie

Q Bonnie is married to Ian?

A I believe so

Q She charged?

A No

[#2 has a body cam according to state rep who came out to support Ian in the Crypto6 trial]

Q What is this?

A He appears to be taking camera down

[pretty sure this is where he’s physically destroying the camera, not carefully taking it down as it might sound from his wording]

Q He doesn’t want people to know what he is doing?

A It’s for officer safety

[of course it is, everything is for officer safety, why didn’t you just drop a bomb on the place, wouldn’t that have been safer than risk officer safety by going in? ohh I remember why they don’t do that now… in the 1980s they actually did drop a bomb on a black activists house and the public was absolutely outraged that they haven’t done it since as far as I’m aware]

Q Did you ever replace it?

A I can’t speak to that

[I can speak to this, the answer is no, WE replaced the windows and the doors and cleaned up the multiple buildings that the government destroyed and damaged, though I’ll admit now that it appears that one person who helped with cleanup may have been an informant or deep undercover gent… maybe more on that to come… maybe not… haven’t yet decided given they are still deep undercover and sometimes it’s best to keep your enemy’s closer]

Q What is this?

A End of Bearcat

Q Do you know what it is approaching?

A Porch

Q What is it doing now?

A I can’t see

[liar, it is ripping out a window clear as day, see video above, you’d have to be blind not to see what the bearcat is doing]

Q Did you know how many agents were there having taken over the case?

A I don’t

Q So the only reason we know anything was because of Ian’s security footage right?

A yea, this was recorded by Ian’s security cameras

Q Lots of money coming into church accounts, right?

A Yes, money went into different accounts

Q Money came into and out of accounts, right?

A Yes

Q When you raise money have to exchange right?

A yes

Q You aware he purchased bitcoin, right?

A I’m not aware of that

[how can the case agent not be aware that the main target in his case purchased bitcoin???? in a case that surrounded bitcoin and of which other agents have testified to????]

Q They were purchased by Ian or the church right?

A Right

it was his property

[ohh now he amazingly remembers all of a sudden what this case was about]

Prosecutor cross examines

Q Freeman used money to buy bitcoin to and then sell it?

A Right

Q Did we show records from Kraken?

A Yea

Q $280,000?

A Yes

Q How much?

A $240,000

Q Under 1% fee?

A Yea

[they are trying to show here that the fees the church charged were excessive and only possible because of some sort of criminal activity even though they were in line with market rates the entire time or a bit below them even, an actual exchange is going to have the volume and so the fees are going to be low, a vending operator is going to have higher costs because they maintain the machines, collect physical case, have employees, need to rent space from business owners for each machine, etc, and the same applies to sellers online for a various of other reasons, like banks not wanting to do business with you because they perceive you as a competitor or being too risky, and that doesn’t mean crime, as some banks can and probably do specialize in high risk clients, but they also charge more for providing such services, and in fact most banks charge a fee simply for having a cash deposit account and receiving large amounts of cash or cash over a certain amount for any account for that matter]

Q What did Ian charge?

A 10% fee

[it’s humorous that they are trying to make Ian out to be a criminal over what is literally just regular capitalism, or in this case really a charitable project]

Q Search, what did you testify about?

A Interviews, cell phone, computer

Q Most on?

A Cell and PC

Q Where was PC found?

A Mr Freeman’s residence

[pretty sure it was found in the studio, but ok lets go with that]

Q Did Sisti ask a single question about interviews?

A No

Q You have background in swat?

A Yes

Q Point?

A Officer safety

Q Always use same tactics?

A No, it depends on the situation like if there are weapons inside

[that’s curious considering you raided in 2016 and didn’t take similar action then]

Q As far as swat tactics are concerned what is the purpose?

A Just amount of force to ensure you are in control

[that is funny considering they testify at some point it is to use an overwhelming amount of force]

Q Any shots fired?

A No

Q Any one hurt?

A No, not to my knowledge

[liars, there broken window injured Bonnie in the raid and she ended up with bloodied feet because they made her put on shoes with glass in them]

Q Were objectives obtained?

A Yes

A picture of matts room is shown on screen

Q What is this?

A High powered weapons and several types of riffle

3 pistils, ballistic helmet, vest

Q Where did picture come from?

A Matt Roach’s room

Q On day of search?

A Yes

Q Does room matter?

A No

They could be used by anybody

[note: if only Matt has access to Matt’s room which I’m 99.99% sure is the case here how does anybody get access to these weapons?]

Q Sisti asked you about banks stopping transactions?

A Yes

Q Was the bank ever told it was to buy bitcoin?

A No

Q Would he tell buyers what to tell banks?

A Yes

Q Did he say for bitcoin?

A No

Q Did he say for something else?

A Yes, church donation, investment, or rare coin

Q Do you know if defense told truth about Nobody authorized right to speak on his behalf

A No

[yea, except the problem is the burden of proof is on you guys to prove that something illegal was happening and you’re not providing any such evidence, but are trying to imply through deceit and lying that people were up to no good]

Q Did banks close many accounts?

A Yes

[and did they ever tell Ian or the church or anybody why? because ian later testifies only 1 bank ever told him why and it wasn’t because he was committing a crime]

Q Did banks say he was money service business?

A Yes

[this is false, the only financial institution that said  they thought he may be a money service business was a small credit union and when he protested with a legal letter and other evidence responded to him with their belief was he had strong evidence to show the MSB rules didn’t apply to him even though they still did close his account]

Q Did they say he has to register?

A Yes

[this is misleading because they didn’t really say what he had to do, but said more like what he probably needed to do, and that was without having more knowledge or full knowledge of everything, aka the Seth Hiiple letter saying his church wasn’t required to register under MSB laws, etc]

Q Did Mr Freeman provide passport for fraudster?

A No, we had to seize it

[they didn’t ask for it! How would freeman have ever even known they were investigating when they didn’t ask or say they were and were in fact NOT investigating until the defense called out the FBI for NOT investigating the scammers during the trial??? if anyone wonders why we call these FBI guys liars and thieves this is a perfect example of why that is]

Q What was break in case?

A A victim got a screenshot

[Remember that if they had contacted the seller of the bitcoin, aka Ian/the church they could have had access to the IDs of the scammers, but it’s because they were NOT investigating the scammers EVER till the trial started and the feds got called out for not investigating the scammers that they purportedly started investigating the scammers. Rather what they were investigating for the past decade was Ian, the church, Free Talk Live, for the reason of political persecution. The feds don’t like the Free State Project and have numerous active open investigations on Free Staters of which 2 out of 8-9 that exist are more publicly known and disclosed to exist, but evidence of other investigations exist, aka the main known ones include the LBRY case with Jeremy Kauffman and the Crypto6 case, but of course the main thing they don’t like is being called out 365 days a year on nationally syndicated radio for doing really terrible stuff like distributing pictures of children being raped, encouraging distribution, and increasing server capacity thereof, for calling that out the feds raided FTL studio in March of 2016, just two weeks post a show where Mark Edge called them out on it in what was known as the playpen case, and that raid of FTL in 2016 there were no charges because the objective was to smear Ian and undermine FTL. The supposed connection made no sense as the suppose connection to playpen was a year old case where they had already sanctimoniously raided because that is STANDARD protocol, else those who actually committed crimes would be able to destroy evidence, so it made no sense to raid a year AFTER that unless the real objective was to silence a nationally syndicated radio show of which was the only mainstream non-technical outlet to cover the case where the FBI f’d up at all.]

Q What is challenge to investigate?

A Fake names, overseas, fake phone #s

Q Following the money is a challenge?

A Yes

Q Why?

A Bitcoin is hard to trace

[it’s a public blockchain- tracing it isn’t the problem like it might be with privacy coins, it may not be evidence usable at trial, but it is usable to investigate and get warrants to conduct raids]

Q Who changed money to bitcoin?

A Mr Freeman

Just so we don’t have any misunderstanding we will go over photos we missed again.

Q Average age?

A 59

[this is again misleading because they selectively picked out pictures of older folks to get an older average age]

[the prosecutor goes through the folder showing the younger people now that were skipped over given they were called out by the defense for skipping over those young people]

[we should also remember here that banks didn’t stop or even red flag these transactions, but even if they red flag a transaction it doesn’t mean they have to stop the transaction from going through as the governments own witnesses evidenced via the credit union fraud department testimony]

Defense cross examines

Q All were under 59 right?

A Yes

Q They were the ones left out yesterday?

A Right

Q Kraken $280,000 purchase, fee attached right?

A Yes

Q When buying always trying to buy at lowest price?

A Yes

Q Nothing illegal about buying?

A Right

Q Do you know where money goes?

A Fostering peace

Q Do you know about homeless, orphanages, etc?

A I heard about that in testimony

Q In regard to excess money you don’t know where it goes?

A No

[ok, so they can’t claim this given that they’re seizing the money and freezing the accounts, they have the bank records, etc. they do know where the money goes because if they didn’t they couldn’t seize what they did]

Q Regarding swat factors include

– bars on windows

– history of violence

– whether or not know of advocating overthrow of country

None of this is true in regards to Freeman, right?

A I was not part of any of that

[again, how convenient that they can’t provide FBI agents that can testify to everything, but only that of what benefits the prosecution]

Q Anyone give you a memo why they had to be violent with a peace church?

A No

Q Don’t you think anyone there had the hell scared out of them that night?

A I can’t say

[really????]

Q Did anyone ever know if he had violent background before search?

A I don’t know

Q No one ever resisted, right?

A No

Q You guys were investigators right?

A Yes

Q In regard to Nobody you didn’t ask Nobody?

[I believe he is referencing the call to the bank were Ian Freeman provided the name Nobody when asked about the account he was calling about that they tried to make it sound like it was some sort of fraud in play by Freeman, when in fact it was authorized by Nobody that Freeman could speak on his behalf]

A No

Q No money was lost to bank with Freeman speaking for Nobody?

A No

Prosecutor questions agent

Brings up conversation where Renee says Ian is rich

[not much actually said, they’re just trying to re-iterate that Ian is “rich”]

Defense cross examines agent again

Q What does Freeman drive?

A I don’t know

Q Does he live in a mansion?

A I don’t know

[really? come on, you investigated this guy didn’t you??? Freeman has a parsonage and lives in one room of a duplex with the first floor containing a ministry radio studio, and one of the rooms on this side of the duplex is rented out, and the other side is also rented out by the church, as is are other church properties, but there is one church property where a portion of it is also used for church activities as well elsewhere though]

New witeness

Name: Rebecca

Kentucky- lived there for 20 years

59 years old

Employed school cafeteria worker

She worked at walmart prior

Not maried

Previously was married for 38 years

Has 1 child

Why not married? Divorced after physical and mental abuse

Q You join match.com?

A Yes

Jerry Flowers

Q How did that start?

A He reached out and then I

Q Then?

A He asked me to join Telegram

Q Did you know what it was at the time?

A No

Q What is it?

A Like text messaging

Q How often?

A Every other day

Q Talked about what?

A Kids, life

He lived in Mobile, Alabama and traveled a lot

Q What was intent?

A Companion

Q What happened?

A He got sick and needed money for doctor

Q He needed you to send him money?

A Yes

Q Why?

A I was vulnerable

Q How?

A Go to bank and wire money

Q How did you know where to send it?

A He would tell me

Then he went in hospital

Then I got nervous

Q How long?

A Weeks

Q You got nervous?

A It scared me, I never did that before

[I think the gist of this testimony here is she was thinking twice about having had sent a large sum of money to what is a complete stranger]

Q Was it sent to flowers?

A No, different people

Q What way?

A Bitcoin

Q How did you know how to do that?

A Via phone calls from flowers

Q How did you know who to send it to?

A First time it was to freeman

Q Did you know what freeman did?

A Yea, bitcoin

Q Did you sent photos to flowers?

A Yes

Q Is this your drivers license?

A Yes

Q Did you know what ftl_ian was?

A No

Q You sent to flowers?

A I did

Q Did you have bank account at US bank?

A Yes I did

Q Can you see amount of wire?

A Yes, $20,000

Q is this your handwriting?

A Yes

What was written:

“I Rebecca authorized and completed a wire transfer in the amount of $20,000 for purchase of bitcoin from ftl_ian on Telegram. I understand this transaction is non-refundable”

Signed and dated by Rebecca

Q When you were doing wires were you communicating with flowers?

A Yes

Q Did Mr Freeman ever call you?

A Yes, he called and confirmed I wanted to do transaction

Q Did he ask what bitcoin was?

A No

Q Before today had you been to New Hampshire?

A No

[this is referring to wire to NH Peace church ian b feeman dba nh peace church , where dba stands for doing business as]

Q Ever get any of your money back?

A No

[aww you signed that you understood the transaction was non-refundable why would anyone think they’d get their money back???]

Q How did this effect you?

A It ruined my life

[I ran out of time to finish typing up the summary of day 7 initially, so it was previously half published. It’s not complete and here is the rest of the story below:]

Defense asks questions

Q Born in Kentucky?

A Yes

Q Ever see Mr Flowers

A Tried, but didn’t work out

Q But some Telephone conversations?

A Yea

Q How long?

A Aug 2020 to 2021- quite a while

Q You did this from your bank?

A Yes

Q Of 25 years?

A Yes

[I think they mean they had a banking relation for 25 years]

Q How many wires?

A 8-10

Q Any teller ever say anything about you authorizing this kinda money going to Mr Flowers?

A Yes

Q What did they say?

A “Are you sure about this?”

Q And you did it anyway?

A Yes

Q Ian actually called you right?

A Yea

Q Ian didn’t know you either right?

A Right

Q Ian had to make an affirmative act, right?

A Yea

Q He didn’t do anything with transaction until you authorized him right?

A Yes

[basically this confirms that the banks and Ian / Shire Free Church was doing the same thing as the banks as far as KYC was concerned and in reality more than what the banks were doing because the church had a policy of actually asking several questions to weed out suspect scam transactions]

New Witness

Name: kate Eyeryan

Employed paso trust company

compliance officer

regulatory watching infrastructure company and exchange for crypto

users to buy and sell crypto

example bitcoin, litecoin, etc

Q Any other name?

A itbit

Q Open to public?

A Yes

Q Types of customers? individual & businesses?

A Yes

Q Create account on exchange?

A Yes

Q Charge fee?

A Yes

Q Structure?

A Fee when you buy bitcoin and dependent on if you are exchanging larger amounts we have lower fee amount. Highest fee amount? 35 bips or 1/100 %

[what they aren’t clear on is this doesn’t include withdraw fees as they cater to traders, not people who want to spend their crypto so they make money on different things than the sellers of crypto, not to mention volume]

Q Is paxos regulated?

A Yes

MSB

Q Who with?

A FinCEN

Q Bank secrecy act apply?

A Yes

Q Types of regulations?

A Program to ID and report suspicious activity

[remember that the church isn’t a MSB, it’s not required to follow these rules, but you also need to remember that the church is reliant on a regulated financial institution to receive funds from customers and that entity does have to follow these rules, but the church despite this is taking steps to stop scammers and in the process doing KYC, requiring IDs from all parties that are part of a transaction, so the church also has a program to ID and deal with suspicious activity of its own and the government even showed the policies of the church as evidence on screen]

Q Collect?

A ID in line with KYC, nature of activity, then if we have reason to suspect scam/fraud we red flag it

Q What is an example of activity outside of a users profile?

A Spending more money than expected

Q How do you create accounts?

A Log on to site and provide ID and personal info

Q Risk ratings?

A based on a variety of factors

Q Example of low risk user?

A Individual operated in low risk, in a country with firmly established AM2

Q AM2?

A Anti-money laundering laws

Q High risk?

A Working in high risk business

Q MSB aka money service business high risk?

A Yes

Q Does Paxos offer accounts to unregulated MSBs?

A No

[remember that the church isn’t a MSB under the governments on laws on defines a MSB]

We will reach out with supplemental questions if unsure

Q Do you ask questions over life time of account holder?

A Yes

A refresh is done based on a users risk rating. This is to make sure profile has not changed over time. If we have questions we ask clarifying questions since last inquiry.

Q Does volume matter?

A Yes, we may ask for more information from the user

Q When you reach out every time do you use the same script?

A Don’t know, but standard template and tailored questions

[the church has a policy of calling customers too when a customer is conducting higher trade volumes and asks more questions not unlike what itbit is claiming they do for higher risk customers]

Q Third party transfers allowed?

A No

[this isn’t actually the same thing as as an agent being involved, but… not illegal anyway… rather it is merely higher risk…  and not something the church did except occasionally with good customers and they actually played an audio clip from FTL where Aria said her church didn’t do them and Ian said his didn’t do it that much either except for good customers on an occasion]

Q If a customer is too risky what do you do?

A Close account

[notice that this doesn’t mean the person is doing anything illegal, it’s just what the government is saying you have to do, if you are in a risky, but legal business good luck keeping a bank account, itbit account, or any financial account, and the government has effectively locked out or created a world of unbanked individuals and businesses through this … for example those employed in the sex industry currently or in the past even 20 years ago can’t open or maintain a bank account for long.. it doesn’t mean they committed any crimes as the prosecutor is trying to claim, but that said unbanked individuals include the poor, or people not making much money and it’s often because of fees charged when there is little or no account activity, such as there isn’t a regular paycheck going in and money coming out]

The prosecutor shows an itbit application for the Shire Free Church from 2013… although it’s signed in 2016.. probably actually 2016

[it looks like everything is honestly stated and correct on the application based on my first hand knowledge of the church]

Q In 2016 same general field?

A I worked for the US treasury?

Q What for?

A Office for terrorism

Q Were you familiar with field at time?

A Generally, not specifically

Q Do you know if size of business mattered in 2016?

A No, it does not

Q Part of account opening?

A Yes

Defense Cross Examination

Q Do you know how much went through pax in the last hour?

A No

Q Would you be surprised if I told you it was $8 million dollars?

A I couldn’t tell you, it’s all relative

[you couldn’t tell us if you’d be surprised? hmm]

Q Where would you place your company?

A We are growing but small company

[so the church isn’t even a company by your standard then…  hmmm]

Q You aren’t taking risk right?

A No

Q You can’t explain fee structure?

A Right

Q With regard to application it has the a real name, information, and purpose, etc right?

A I don’t know details of this application

Q Do you know if user immediately started using account?

A I don’t have information on that

Q What was the purpose of the follow up email?

A We needed more information

Q Date of follow up form?

A 2017

Q Did you examine documents?

A Yes, to prepare for testimony

Q Do you know of explanatory letter from Ian and the church?

A Yes

Q The Martin and Hipple letter?

A I’m unsure of the firm

The defense lawyer puts the letter up on screen which advises the church of its legal status

Q Have you seen this Martin and Hipple letter?

A Yes, in context of reviewing case

[prosecutor is trying to stop testimony as it makes his case look bad, real bad, the church was advised it was not a money services business and therefore NOT required to register with the federal government and it wasn’t regulated under the state law either]

Martin & Hipple Letter Advising Church That It’s Cryptocurrency Activities Aren’t Regulated By The Federal Government

The Hipple letter states the church is neither a money service business nor a money transmitter “under state or federal law”. It has no legal requirement to register. The letter concludes the church is NOT a MSB under federal law.

The letter references banking department testified organizations that are churches are not money transmitters.

It is not an ATM, but a vending machine. Though the activities are not specific to vending, but sale of crypto from ones own wallet.

Not all machines have the same software.

The machine holds it own bitcoin, and we don’t regulate that. This part is from the banking department of New Hampshire testimony prior to New Hampshire passing a law that removed the authority of the New Hampshire banking department from regulating cryptocurrency businesses. Despite for a short time it had the authority to regulate the state authorities never did.  To watch the video click the play button below. The most interesting part is in regard to the Shire Free Church’s vending machines and cryptocurrency sales. The state and federal law are nearly identical on this issue and would be the same. Start watching from 16:41 to get a good understanding of why the way the vending machines are setup and the way in which the church sells its crypto is not regulated at the state or federal level.

 

 

The main take away from the testimony was that not all the machines have the same software or setup and in the example the machine holds its own bitcoin, and the state doesn’t regulate that. It’s no different than buying a kitkat from a vending machine.

If it holds anothers bitcoin or connects to an exchange then it is a money transmitter. If it does not sell that of others bitcoin then it need not be registered under New Hampshire law. And remember this is the same or very similar to the federal law’s wording.

Q Did itbit follow up with Seth Hipple?

A I don’t know

Judge Speaks

#1 not a case on advice defense

#2 federal law not NH state law

[keep in mind that while #1 is correct it does evidence that the lawyers don’t all agree on what the law is, and #2 the letter refers to both state and federal law, so it’s relevant even though the part about state law is not]

 

New Witness

Name: Nancy triestrl

Lives in Indiana

Lived in Michigan

Widow

Children 4 + 4 step children

Semi retired

Mariot Hotel

Home Caregiver

70 years old

[remember that this is now, not the age at the time of the scams occurring, a number of years have passed so these individuals are older than they were at the time of these incidents, maybe still not young, but not as old either, and they were selectively chosen for the sake of arguing the case, in this case it appears she was 66 at the time of the scam]

Q In 2017 you met someone online

A Couldn’t leave house for 6 weeks

Q You met man online?

A Yes, Mr Gray

Q Text back and forth 3-4 years

Q Ever meet in person?

A No

Q What did he do?

A Oil rig boss

Q Ever explain why he never met?

A Always had a reason

Q He asked for money?

A Yea, first it was a gift card for netflix

[yea, bitcoin isn’t the #1 way people get scammed, gift cards are frequently used, and prepaid visa cards are another example, and all of these scams used other methods exclusively before bitcoin even existed]

Q How much did you send?

A $16,000

Q Did he ask you to use bank account?

A Yes

Q Did he ask you to open back account for him?

A He may have

Q He asked you to buy bitcoin?

A Yes

Q Did you know what bitcoin was at the time?

A No

[yup- this was not uncommon at the time and why terms like rare coin actually make a lot of sense]

Q Require photo?

A Yes, when transferring money to Mr Freeman

Q Do you know what Telegram is?

A Yes, a wire transfer

[this was funny because a telegram was never a wire transfer, it is an instant messaging application, but prior to that it was a messaging service before computers existed, the reliability of these witnesses is less than stellar]

Q Do you know Ian Freeman?

A No

Only spoke 1 time

Q What did he ask on phone?

[these individuals don’t generally have an accurate recollection of what was said in these conversations because they happened years ago while Ian knows because the church has different scripts on the types of questions it would ask and multiple questions to weed out scams]

A Asked my name and said he was Ian Freeman and then asked if I was buying bitcoin and said he was just calling to make sure.

Q Why did you stop sending money to Gray?

A I was tired of the bullshit

If I didn’t fill out the form he’d make me do it again.

Q Did you ever get paid for this?

A No, I don’t even know what they are

[then why did you freaking write you were buying bitcoin from ftl_ian on the receipt???? talk about being willfully blind]

Defense Cross Examination

Q Dealt with this Anthony for how long?

A 5 years

Q Did you have picture?

A Yes

Q You don’t know if it was him?

A No

Q This whole thing was an absolute disaster?

A Yes

Q How much did you lose?

A $16,000 personally

Q Quite a few transactions right?

A $20,000 or more

Q These transactions happened at same bank right?

A Yea, most anyway

Q Quite a few transactions at Chase bank?

A Yes

Q They knew you well?

A Yea, they knew my husband died

[that is far more than Ian would typically know or be able to reasonably know]

Q Did they ever have a concern?

A No, they just shut my account down

Q You don’t know Ian, but someone saying they were Ian wanted to confirm you were sending money?

A Yes

Q He was the only one who called you and was concerned?

A Yes

New Witness

Name: Darlene Lacac

Supervisory accountant for FBI

1 yr in position

30 years prior forensic accountant

Q What is it?

A Review and analyze financial records

Q Education?

A BA, Masters certified public accountant

Q How many cases?

A ~200

Q You do Ian’s case?

A Yes

Q Role in it?

A Review financial records

Q How did you obtain those records?

A Through a legal proccess

Q How many accounts did you review in this case?

A 50

[these weren’t all Ian’s accounts despite the claim because the prosecutor is mixing accounts of different entities together and calling them all Ians when they’re not, only some of them are directly connected the Shire Free Church and others are not, imagine if they took your entire family and added up all those accounts and claimed they were yours just because you had some checks between family members? well, that is what they did here, or churches or people with associations to each other]

Q In this case did you review bank accounts in the name of Ian Freeman?

A Yes

Q And others?

A Yes

James baker (this is Aria, she’s trans and this is her legal name, not the name she goes by)

Shire Free Church

etc

Q Did you put this information into a spreadsheet?

A Yes

They now show the spreadhseet

It has a total of 50 accounts with account #, bank, holder, period, credits, debits shown

A summary of deposit sources is shown on screen

Oct 2016 to May 2017

Deposit Source, count, total deposited, percent of total

Summary of Payee Summary

Payee, count, total pd, percent of total

[Basically what we’re seeing is the churches and individuals thereof bought a lot of crypto]

[interesting note: the city of Keene got their cut]

[also interesting is that Robin Hood good a donation from this account which makes a lot of sense given the church must have donated to that peace outreach effort]

91% of money went to buy crypto church

Q Is this personal or business account?

A Personal

[this is a misleading question as personal accounts are often used for business, and most sole proprietors use personal accounts, business accounts simply have different features, and it’s not lying or misleading to have an account like this, and in fact you only have the options of a personal or business account typically so no church is going to have a church account, they’d likely have a business account even though they aren’t a business, same as would a non-profit, but again it’s not always the case as just depends on the need]

[this is where we lean they opened a personal account for a sole proprietor doing business as NH peace church, or really a church in this case doing business as NH peace church]

[one other thing to notice is all these spreadsheets show the banks made money off the churches transactions, yet the church profited not a penny as a non-for-profit charitable organization]

Q What are the locations from which deposits to church account were made?

A From all over the country

[b/c of 8 people getting scammed out of 4000 transactions through no fault of Ian they want bitcoin banned… and this # we later learn is actually 6000 transactions, not just the ~ 4000 Ian did because the other two did another 2000 between them of their own they are trying to merge all together]

Defense cross examination

Q # of bank accounts a lot of money went to churches and Ian Freeman?

A Yes

Q Money goes out seems to go to crypto currency exchanges right about the same % as in

A Right, they go to the exchanges

Q Money was not going to the purchase of real estate or yachts or anything like that?

A Right

Q Only 1 account out of country?

A Yea

Q It still exists do you know that?

A I don’t

[the humorous thing is the banks never lost a dime and Ian and the churches won every case when an investigation did occur because they were taking the proper precautions and doing KYC and so forth and taking every reasonable step even more so than the banks were doing]

New Witness

Name: Thomas Konlly

Employee assistant secretary of state of New Hampshire

Responsible of all business in New Hampshire

Q How do I start non-profit?

A Two proccesses

Articles of agreement states name purpose conditions for membership

[this is misleading because a church doesn’t have any obligation to register as a non-profit under the law, but many do, but if you do not you are still exempt for taxes, and if you do you are exempt, but have more paperwork to file]

Q Fee to state?

A Yes

Q Purpose?

A Determine if name is available, document is complete

Q Do they investigate?

A No, not at all

Q What else might I file?

A Non-profit report once every 5 years

Q Certificate for crypto church of NH?

A Yes

Q What generates secretary of state of this individual

A Online

Q Does any investigation occur as to what entity does?

A No

Q What does this trade doc represent?

A Church can file a trade name too

Defense Cross Examination

Q They weren’t hiding from state, right?

A Correct

Q They did exactly what they were suppose to do, right?

A Correct

New Witness

Name: Colleene Rahahau

Work: IRS, taxes

Revenue Special Agent

Compliance with tax law

How long in program?

8 years

BA in Forensic Account

Before this was a revenue agent

Q Audit of tax payers?

A 100s

Q Ever do those who did not file?

A Yes

Q Familiar with revenue code?

A Yes

Q What years did Ian owe?

A 2016-2019

Q What did you determine?

A No filing in those years

Q What did you review?

A Records from localbitcoin

Q You calculated how much money was made?

A Yes

Q You used that to figure out a schedule of taxes?

A I did

Taxes Due

2016: $19,182.65

2017: $66,033.55

2018: $56,174.30

2019: $140,198.28

The total amount came to: $281,588.78

[I made sure to copy these #s perfectly]

Q Based on how many trades?

A Near 4,000

[kinda funny considering they claimed he did more like ~6000 in total based on the merging of the churches into “Ian Freeman”]

[they also used excel which is a proprietary software program from Microsoft which has bugs in it and doesn’t always calculate the right answer, where is the source code for this??? If it has to meet the governments own definition like that of bitcoin then it should be thrown out just like the blockchain forensic ‘expert’ who couldn’t qualify because of the proprietary tools she was also dependent on, and while she can do it by hand she obviously isn’t. she should be forced to hand calculate everything and show us her work!]

Q You gave him benefit of doubt?

A Yes

Correctable taxable income

2016: $54,303.06

2017: $184,872.30

2018: $165,243.09

2019: $387,993.61

Defense

Q You audited 100s of cases?

A We don’t start off with people owing anything, we schedule a time to meet with someone

Q So it doesn’t usually start in federal court?

A For civil purpose correct

Q No letter for 2016

A Correct, in general program

Q And that holds true for all the years right?

A Yes

Q 2018 didn’t send out letter about taxes, right?

A Not to my knowledge

Q In fact you never told him in 2020 or 2021 either?

A No to my knowledge

Q All you did is come up sales

A Correct

Q He could owe nothing even, right?

A Right

[gotcha, if he could owe nothing than how could he have evaded taxes that he didn’t owe???]

Judge announced he is suspending trial by 1 day

Wrapping up before holiday

Likely off Friday too

This was down to Renee and lawyer coming down with COVID humorously.

[ I also got sick, so it was good that they killed enough time for me to recover so I could report it all !  But let me explain the humorous part, so some of us were objecting to having to wear masks that don’t work against COVID, and they wouldn’t allow the witnesses to wear masks, so the very people the government relied upon ended up with COVID resulting in a delay… not that the mask would have changed any of this… I did wear a mask and I still got COVID remember… and so did the lawyer… I don’t think anyone else got sick mask or no mask]