PurpleLotus sentenced to 41 months in prison

http://deepdot35wvmeyd5.onion/2016/01/16/silk-road-counterfeit-vendor-purplelotus-sentenced
CLEARNET: https://www.deepdotweb.com/2016/01/16/silk-road-counterfeit-vendor-purplelotus-sentenced

CLEARNET Court document: http://www.justice.gov/opa/file/450556/download

Beau Wattigney (30), (AKA. PurpleLotus, GoldenLotus, CouponKing) a New Orleans man, has been sentenced to 41 months for manufacturing and selling more than $1 million in counterfeit coupons on Silk Road. Wattigney previously pleaded guilty to the charge of "conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit trademark counterfeiting". After the plea, Judge Lemelle sentenced the man and immediately put him into custody.

In addition to that, the counterfeiter admitted that in the time frame between May 2012 and November 2014, he sold counterfeit coupons for several products and services on Silk Road under the pseudo names of PurpleLotus, GoldenLotus and CouponKing. Wattigney admitted the act of creating and manufacturing fraudulent coupons with the assistance of co-conspirators who designed the vouchers to look like original print-at-home manufacturers' coupons by using the original companies' trademarks on them. The plea agreement states that Wattigney sold over $1 million worth of counterfeit coupons and victimized more than 50 businesses residing in the United States.

The case was investigated by the Philadelphia Division of the FBI, with the assistance from the FBI's New Orleans Field Office. The prosecutors of the case were Senior Counsel Marie-Flore Johnson and Robert Wallace of the Criminal Division's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Ginsberg of the Eastern District of Louisiana.


Comments


[35 Points] jss_mstr:

Wait what sort of coupons could possibly warrant such an offence?

Edit: don't worry guy I found out that they were $50 Visa cards etc for like 1 cent


[25 Points] krokodiltear:

In my humble opinion, this guy was a complete cockbag whose "product" was a slightly less blatant form of shoplifting that people then decided to praise as a victory for the common man. His customers also seemed to turn him into something far more annoying, with their "Lotus fan club" threads consisting of yes-men proudly listing all the stuff they didn't pay for on their latest trip to the grocery store. Praise be to the followers of the coupon prophet, for whom helped Lotus' narcissism grow three sizes that day.

It's clear that with time, he began to believe that his coupons were making a net positive impact on the world and weren't even immoral at all! If you disagreed with this foolproof logic, you were fucking retarded scum. After countless months of buying into the Lotus brand of bullshit, he decided that he needn't conceal his actual identity to many of his customers, making his arrest akin to shooting fish in a barrel.

In a sea of assholes with no incentive to play nice, a fucking coupon vendor of all people somehow managed to be one of the most annoying and aggravating that I ever met, and I never even had a slight interest in buying his fake coupons. Just something about that smug sense of superiority they all collectively shared when fucking over their local grocery stores, all while being incapable of listening to light criticism.... Whatever, use fake coupons if you want, I'm not your mother, but don't be an egotistical holier-than-thou douchebag about it, which is what made these people so fucking unlikable to me.

RIP Lotus, you beautiful douche canoe. May the smell of your own shit emanate into your nostrils from your cell block, so that it might help you remember your reign as a modern-day Peter Pan "acquiring" items from rich faceless corporations that are clearly evil in order to help poor drug addicts, so long as they buy the coupon starter pack. Who dares question a payment system amounting to fraud in the form of deluxe 4chan coupon booklets?!

tl;dr: I wasn't a fan of this guy.


[3 Points] Molly-Cyrus:

This was a nice man like Jonnie Appleseed but with coupons..free Purple Lotus! Oops Edit: Joni Appleseed Author, fashion blogger, political debatist, and most importantly, punk rock mom. (and amateur counterfeiter ;) https://twitter.com/joniknowsbest


[2 Points] greasythug:

If you were capable of pulling this off why sell them? Why not just use them yourself in such a way not to get detected? Seems like the guy had some head issues needing to be important/praised by his clients - Has access to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of coupons, sells them for a fraction of the price whilst putting own head in noose..


[2 Points] throwaway:

Where are the court documents for his case? Curious how he was caught.


[2 Points] obsidianchao:

RIP PurpleLotus. You were a fucking legend.

Been wondering what happened to the dude... sad to see this is how it went down. So many unique SR vendors who sold products I've never seen again are gone to the wind.

This one goes out to the innovators of crime. Pourin' one out for my homie Ross.


[1 Points] None:

I have to say this doesn't surprise me. I used to talk to this guy very often. He once bragged he made a counterfeit so well that he could have used it to win a car. He really was a nice guy but when I seen his name I almost flipped. Many years ago when SR was around I cashed out a small amount of money for this cat and sent it to an address in Louisiana.

I used to talk to dude on a everyday basis and as you can see his name BEAU WATTIGNEY is a very odd name and was easy for me to remember. He helped me get a ton of groceries many times walking out of the store owing me money haha!

THE CRAZY THING IS----- He used his actual name to receive his pack and from what I could tell had it sent to his business. This was 2 years ago but I assume he was still flaunting his name and if I would guess he had LE wire him money for his BTC which is what led to this charge.


[0 Points] AmbienSleepwalker:

He taunted the Secret Service a few times on his own forum. I liked his coupons though, they saved me a lot of money. Stores caught on eventually at the tail end of his stint unfortunately.