SR1 trial: 2013 Ross Ulbricht journal

Courtesy of Vice: https://pdf.yt/d/Ey-HNHpkDP679QCO https://www.dropbox.com/s/mi6yc7jblr1t5vh/253456456-Silk-Road-exhibits-GX-241.pdf https://www.scribd.com/doc/253456456/Silk-Road-exhibits-GX-241

You will be amazed and not in a good way. Did you think the redandwhite/Tony76 hitman story was insane? Welcome to further down the rabbit hole...

03/24/2013

  • been slowly raising the cost of hedging
  • orgainzed local files and notes

03/25/2013

  • server was ddosed, meaning someone knew the real IP. I assumed they obtained it by becoming a guard node. So, I
  • migrated to a new server and set up private guard nodes. There was significant downtime and someone has mentioned
  • that they discovered the IP via a leak from lighttpd.

...03/28/2013

  • being blackmailed with user info. talking with large distributor (hell's angels).

03/29/2013

  • commissioned hit on blackmailer with angels

04/01/2013

  • got word that blackmailer was excuted
  • ...

...04/05/2013

  • a distributor of googleyed is publishing buyer info
  • mapped out the ordering process on the wiki.
  • gave angels access to chat server

04/06/2013

  • made sure backup crons are working
  • gave angels go ahead to find tony76
  • cleaned up unused libraries on server
  • added to forbidden username list to cover I <-> l scam

...04/08/2013

  • sent payment to angels for hit on tony76 and his 3 associates
  • began setting up hecho as standby
  • very high load (300/16), took site offline and refactored main and category pages to be more efficient

...04/10/2013

  • some vendors using the hedge in a falling market to profit off of me by buying from themselves. turned of access log pruning so I can investigate later. market crashed today.
  • being blackmailed again. someone says they have my ID, but hasn't proven it.

04/11/2013

  • set up tor relays
  • asked scout to go through all images on site looking for quickbuy scam remnants
  • cimon told me of a possible ddos attack through tor and how to mitigate against it.
  • guy blackmailing saying he has my id is bogus

...04/21 - 04/30/2013

  • market and forums under sever DoS attack. Gave 10k btc ransom but attack continued. Gave smed server access.
  • Switched to nginx on web/db server, added nginx reverse proxy running tor hs. reconfiged everything and eventually was able to absorb attack.

...05/02/2013

  • Attack continues. No word from attacker. Site is open, but occasionally tor crashes and has to be restarted.

05/03/2013

  • helping smed fight off attacker. site is mostly down. I'm sick.
  • Leaked IP of webserver to public and had to redeploy/shred
  • promoted gramgreen to mod, now named libertas

05/04/2013

  • attacker agreed to stop if I give him the first $100k of revenue and $50k per week thereafter. He stopped, but there appears to be another DoS attack still persisting.

...05/07/2013

  • paid $100k to attacker

...05/22/2013

  • paid the attacker $50k

...05/29/2013

  • rewrote orders page
  • paid attacker $50k weekly ransom
  • $2M was stolen from my mtgox account by DEA
  • added smed to payroll
  • rewrote cart page

... 05/31/2013

  • $50k xferred to cimon

06/01/2013

  • someone claiming to be LE trying to infiltrate forum mods

06/02/2013

  • loaning $500k to r&w to start vending on SR.

06/03/2013

  • put cimon in charge of LE counter intel

...06/05/2013 - 09/11/2013

  • ...[redacted] did an interview with andy greenberg from forbes where i said i wasn't the original DPR, went over well with community [redacted]...r&w flaked out and disappeared with my 1/2 mil...similarly cimon has been working on the mining and gambling projects, but no results forthcoming. created Anonymous Bitcoin Exchange (ABE) and have been trying to recruit tellers. the vendor "gold" is my best lead at the moment. nod is an H dealer on SR who says he has world class it skills and I am giving him a chance to show his stuff with ABE....

09/12/2013

  • Got a tip from oldamsterdam that supertrips has been busted. [redacted]

09/11 - 09/18/2013

  • could not confirm ST bust. [redacted] ...

09/19/2013

  • red pinged me and asked for meeting tomorrow.

09/19 - 09/25/2013

  • red got in a jam and needed $500k to get out. ultimately he convinced me to give it to him, but I got his ID first and had cimon send harry, his new soldier of fortune, to vancouver to get $800k in cash to cover it. red has been mainly out of communication, but i haven't lost hope. Atlantis shut down. I was messaged by one of their team who said they shut down because of an FBI doc leaked to them detailing vulnerabilities in Tor.

Many interesting points here:

EDIT: for the full unredacted journal, see the filing in https://www.reddit.com/r/SilkRoad/comments/312req/


Comments


[20 Points] CocaineNose:

<n/a>


[15 Points] ShulginsCat:

At what point does a person start thinking "maybe running a DNM isn't really for me?"


[5 Points] hackinmac:

why are some of the parts redacted? doesnt make sense. would the defese raise objections to any redaction? any morsel of information in that could potentially help the defense. what if redacted part has stuff like "need to ask Ross for help on how to secure escrow system"? how can something be redacted and not the defense/prosecution/journalists make any issue of it? can't be 'in the name of national security', its not like DPR was in cahoots with ISIS!

can any lawyer explain? or if someone was in court tell us if the redactions were brought up/explained/objected too? seems weird ......


[3 Points] AgoraMarket:

This is kind of off-topic, but I just thought of it, somewhat seriously:

Does anyone think Variety Jones ("Cimon") or "Smedley" could have been /u/the_avid ...?

Does anyone remember Avid? He had a reputation for being extremely well-versed in programming with regards to Tor hidden services. He claimed to have helped at least one DNM, possibly with DDOS mitigation issues. He started posting on that name shortly after SR1 collapsed, made a bunch of posts, and then vanished a few months later.


As far as the diary, Ross is doling out money to extortionists like it's candy on Halloween. And what the hell is this entry from late May: "$2M was stolen from my mtgox account by DEA". Unless "DEA" is the handle of yet another hacker/extortionist, what the hell is he talking about?


[4 Points] userrr69:

Ross should have retired but i think he was addicted to the site he was having the time of his life running it imo


[3 Points] ChaosUNLtd:

I have to say even though Ross spent some crazy $ amounts, it was all about the improvement of Silkroad in some form. The guy rarely spent any money on himself, when he could have had anything.


[2 Points] dilirio25:

If they can prove the link between Ross and Hells Angels, hes getting life. Nothing against the Angels, but a Jury will lose all sympathy they might have had for Ross if they can link him to their type of badassery.


[1 Points] ShulginsCat:

Amazing work, gwern.


[1 Points] throwyakunt:

Thanks gwern. Always enjoy reading your contributions.


[1 Points] thascarecro:

The smartest idiot ever?


[1 Points] None:

Anne Frank, you done fucked up this time...

Jesus Christ, a fucking diary! Prosecutors must've celebrated when they found this gem, this is too easy.


[1 Points] None:

[deleted]


[0 Points] bigassnug:

Wait, did everyone know he put a hit on Tony76? This is the first time I've heard of it


[0 Points] StampededByFlamingos:

I hadn't heard about the Hell's Angels and tony76 hit before. Any more info on that?