Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: NorthernStar on October 11, 2013, 11:18 am
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Living With DPR:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/10/09/living-with-ross-ulbricht-housemates-say-they-saw-no-clues-of-silk-road-or-the-dread-pirate-roberts/
Living With Ross Ulbricht: Housemates Say They Saw No Clues Of Silk Road Or The Dread Pirate Roberts.
The hundreds of thousands of online users of the Silk Road narcotics marketplace, he may have been known by the swashbuckling alias, the Dread Pirate Roberts. To the FBI, he was known as Ross Ulbricht, a 29-year-old former physics student turned criminal mastermind.
To his housemates, he was simply “Josh,” a quiet guy who joined them through Craigslist, kept to himself and spent full days buried in his laptop.
that all ended last Thursday morning, when 30-year-old San Francisco resident Brandon picked up a copy of the San Francisco Examiner on his way to work. There, on the front page, was his former housemate’s face under the headline “Online Drug Market Closed.” Snapping a photo, he texted it to another housemate Drew along with a message: “Funny. Looks kinda like our subletter.”
For seven weeks this summer, Brandon had been living with a man who identified himself to be Joshua Terrey, a subletter who claimed to be a freelance currency trader that had just come back from Australia. Last Tuesday, the FBI arrested “Josh,” identifying him as Ross Ulbricht and charging him with money laundering, narcotics trafficking conspiracy and computer hacking as the alleged head of an internet drug bazaar that generated about $1.2 billion in revenue since early 2011. According to the FBI, Josh, Ulbricht and the Dread Pirate Roberts—the online name of the leader of Silk Road—were the same person.
“He seemed like a normal guy,” says Brandon. “Obviously he had a dark side, but he never showed any of that.”
In the nearly two months he lived with Brandon and a third unnamed housemate in San Francisco’s family-oriented West Portal neighborhood, Ulbricht was “friendly” and “polite.” Unlike the criminal complaint, which portrayed an online life of alleged hit jobs and drug dealing that read like a Vince Gilligan television script, the stories provided by the individuals who lived with Ulbricht paint a rather vanilla picture of daily monotony.
Both Brandon and Drew–who subletted Ulbricht his room while he and his wife traveled for work–asked that their last names be withheld because of privacy concerns, but did allow FORBES to meet with them at their current home where they have been living for more than seven years. They also asked that their address remain anonymous and that any distinguishing features of their home remain unpublished.
From their living room, the pair recounted their interactions with a man who was pursued by the FBI, and who, according to criminal complaints, amassed more than $80 million in commissions from operating an illicit website. Yet, however wealthy he supposedly was, Ulbricht shared a temporary home and had few possessions, hiding in a residential San Francisco community far away from the bustle and bright lights of downtown. He kept to himself, says Brandon. Despite the occasional walks around the neighborhood or trips to the local Safeway, he mainly stayed in his room, hunched over his black laptop and doing things beyond the scope of his housemates’ understanding.
Ulbricht first connected with his future housemates via Craigslist in late June 2013, responding to an online ad for a “Furnished Summer Sublet” at 15th Avenue that was available for $1,200 a month. A criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York originally identified the home at 15th Street, however an FBI spokesperson confirmed to FORBES that that was “a typo.” In an anonymized email (Craigslist often anonymizes its users’ emails to prevent fraud), Ulbricht said he had recently moved to the area and needed to find a place soon, identifying himself as a “29 yo [sic] Texan man, good natured and clean/tidy.”
“I am a currency trader and do some freelance IT work as well,” he wrote. “I mostly keep to myself, spending most of my time working, but enjoy going out and socializing from time to time.”
In corresponding with Drew’s wife, he revealed more details. He didn’t have a cell phone, said he was temporarily staying in a hotel in Redwood City, Calif.–a Bay Area suburb 45 minutes away–and wanted to pay all in cash. Drew, a 31-year-old professional musician who was leaving with his wife to play at an opera festival at the time, noted that he wasn’t suspicious at the time.
“He told us he had just come from Sydney and had been in Australia, which is whatever,” he recalled. “It’s like: ‘Ok you’re back from abroad, so you don’t have a cellphone yet and you’re staying at a hotel in Redwood City. That’s near the airport. O.K.’”
Ulbricht, according to the criminal complaint, had been living in San Francisco prior to contacting the house on 15th Avenue. A video on YouTube that has since been removed showed him discussing his move to the city around fall 2012 to stay with a friend René Pinnell, who has denied any knowledge of Ulbricht’s alleged association with Silk Road. Ulbricht reportedly moved out of his friend’s home because Pinnell had moved in with a fiancee,
Information found on Facebook does seem to verify that Ulbricht was in Australia sometime around late 2011. Multiple images posted of him by his sister Cally Ulbricht on the social network show the pair being photographed Down Under, with one photograph hinting that the two were around Sydney for the holidays. One paper in Australia reported that Ulbricht lived in a house on Sydney’s Bondi Beach for six months.
In screening “Josh,” though, Drew says he had little time to focus on what seemed like small talk at the time. He was leaving in a matter of days and wanted to make sure that he found an occupant that could cover the rent while he and his wife were gone. After a short tour where he met the roommates, Ulbricht paid $2,026 dollars up front in cash and moved into the master bedroom of the three-bedroom home on June 21, 2013. He had next to nothing–just a computer and three or four changes of clothing, says Brandon.
Ulbricht’s stay at the house was utterly, even studiously, unremarkable, say his housemates. Rarely showing emotion, the man they knew as “Josh” shared little about his life, once noting that he had friends in Texas but had since cut off ties. Never once did he mention his family, which, based on FORBES’ conversations with relatives, he was fairly close to.
Strictly implying he did currency trading, Ulbricht worked from his laptop for about eight hours a day and claimed he did “four transactions a week” says Brandon. There was no talk of Silk Road or the anonymous currency, Bitcoin. A third housemate curious as to what Josh was doing on his computer once noticed the laptop was left open and wandered into Josh’s room to take a look. After watching lines of green text scrolling and updating across a screen without being able to decipher what exactly was going on, he walked away.
“We were perfect for him,” says Brandon. “We didn’t ask a lot of questions. I mean it was like: ‘How’s it going?’”
Occasionally watching Netflix with Brandon or sharing a beer in the living room, Ulbricht was more often seen curled up in a living roof sofa reading—possibly sci-fi novels from the local library–when not at his computer. There were never conflicts with “Josh,” whose only memorable oddity, according to his housemates, is that he often walked around without a shirt. One neighbor, a former policeman, later recalled seeing Ulbricht topless one day to Drew, noting that he made small talk with him about the sunshine: “Don’t get used to that weather!”
Barring the occasional polite conversation, Ulbricht, was a loner in his time at the 15th Avenue house . He cooked steak dinners for one and never had anyone over. He rarely ventured out at night. He spent July 4 at home, recalls Brandon.
The Dread Pirate Roberts spent the Fourth corresponding with FORBES. Refusing to do an interview in person or reveal any personal details including a real name, the Silk Road head was on the other side of an anonymous chatroom for the better part of five hours, answering questions about the website’s past, present and future. That conversation would later form the bulk of the first published magazine interview with the criminal mastermind, in which he revealed personal details like “smoking a bowl of sticky indica buds at the end of a long day.”
Josh was never seen with any type of drug, says Brandon. Ulbricht’s room, which was kept clean with the bed made every day, showed no signs of narcotics use, according to the housemates. Moreover, there were never any packages coming and going from the home.
One package that had been deceitfully addressed to Drew but intended for Ulbricht, however, never made it. In the criminal complaint, an FBI agent notes that U.S. Customs seized a package at the Canadian border around July 10 that contained “nine counterfeit identity documents.” All the documents had the same photograph of Ulbricht.
Ulbricht was visited two weeks later at the 15th Avenue home where he was questioned by a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent about the documents. “Ulbricht volunteered that ‘hypothetically’ anyone could go onto a website named ‘Silk Road’ on ‘Tor’ and purchase any drugs or fake identity documents the person wanted,” reads the complaint. It’s unclear how customs actually homed in on finding those counterfeit documents or whether the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was aware of the FBI’s concurrent investigation. The public affairs office for the DHS, did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the FBI told FORBES only that “this was a multi-agency investigation to include FBI, DEA and HSI.”
To Drew, who was eventually contacted by the HSI agent, it didn’t initially seem like the agency was interested in Ulbricht for any activity related to Silk Road. The agent seemed more interested in the quantity of fake IDs, he says, as well as tracking down the counterfeit ID provider. To date, Drew says the FBI has yet to contact him or his housemates.
Ulbricht wasn’t immediately bothered by the agent’s visit either. Coming up toward the end of his sublet, he continued to stay at the house more than a week after the initial visit from the HSI agent. Brandon notes that he was often leaving the home around this time to supposedly search for another sublet, and at one point, borrowed his phone to make a call to a friend whom he said was getting married. That phone number, which was left in Brandon’s call history, belonged to Pinnell.
For unknown reasons and without notice, Ulbricht left the home more than a week before his sublet was officially over. According to Brandon, who had left the city during the first weekend of August, Josh had left by Aug. 2, returning two days before the end of his rental term on Aug. 11 to return the keys. He entered the house without being seen, left the keys on the dresser of his room and left.
The next time the housemates saw Josh, his photo was on the front page of the Examiner.
On Wednesday, Ulbricht, through a public defender, denied all charges in a San Francisco federal court but did verify his real identity. Unshackled and wearing a red Alameda County prison jumpsuit, he constantly looked over the crowd for the few minutes he was in the courtroom before his representative agreed for him to be transferred to New York. Ulbricht can make a request for bail from New York.
For Drew, it’s unclear why a man with the supposed amount of money he had never left the country.
“I don’t entirely understand what his motivation was,” he says. “[He was] talking a little bit about maybe starting a family in the next few years and getting to know San Francisco and live life more and he’s got all this money and he just sits in a not-particularly nice rental house in the Sunset [District] and just f***s around on the computer all day until he gets sent to prison.”
Brandon, who says he initially felt a little weird about sharing his home with Ulbricht, doesn’t seem to have lost any sleep.
“We’re probably an afterthought to him now,” he says. “We’re just the place of where he was for a couple of months. We never pissed him off or anything—that I know of. Drank all his milk or something. I don’t know.”
The pair of housemates, both avid Breaking Bad fans, likened their situation to the main character’s son, who remained unaware of his father’s narcotics involvement on the show.
Says Drew," think of us like Walter Junior"
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I wonder if the personal computers of the housemates were taken away by LE.
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Very interesting read. Why did the LE not interview his housemates? Seems a bit strange doesn't it.
I honestly get the impression that if Ross was DPR then he was in this for his beliefs and not so much money. Yeah sure, he was delighted to have the money, it would mean an amazing life (if he could get it exchanged), but from what his housemates say he wasn't bothered about having anything luxurious. He pretty much only had a laptop and some clothes. It seems to me he was more interested in fighting for the cause rather than making money.
Good article though, can't get enough of this story since it broke!
Stay safe friends
ProEvo
P.S. Where do I see the picture of his fit sister NorthernStar ;)
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Good point pro-evo. In fact it says in the article that one housemate is un-named. Maybe he's this witness. Me too mate I've trawled and devoured every article.
Evo, it's on first page m8, she's fit for a Texan like!
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Homeland finds a guy who was trying to receive 9 counterfeit IDs and they don't arrest him?
Ross then continues to stay at the house and San Fran...WHAT?!?!?! WHY in the world would he not take the first bus/train out of town? Absolutely insane.
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That article paints him out to be a pretty average guy who is very dedicated to making a change in the world or maybe that's just how I perceived it. I'm not sure but either way it was a nice read and it makes me realize how important he was and the time he spent making this possible for us is truly appreciated.
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I swear I hooked up with that girl before!
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Well if you truly admire the person formerly known as DPR (maybe we can give him a symbol like Prince?), that is, of course, if this is even the right guy.
As I was saying, if you truly admire/respect the guy, you'd show a little respect for the alleged sister, and keep your geeky nerd masturbatory fantasies to yourselves.
Take it from a guy with sisters. The last thing you want to hear is how hot a dude thinks your sister is. Especially someone you'd thought of up until that moment, as a friend. I can count the A+B charges on two hands for 'friends' that felt compelled to share that info.
Anyway, it really is like a spinoff to BB, isn't it? It must all be true of course, right? I mean it's Forbes, and why would they lie? It's not like theiy're connected to the whole shadow world gov't bankster cabal, is it?
Don't believe everything you read.
We live in a corrupt world, and atm seem to be approaching the zenith of evil, as is evident by the mere apathy towards the fraud being perpetrating upon US Citizens, by the most corrupt administration in United States history.
Rome is burning.
Will you keep fiddling?
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Well if you truly admire the person formerly known as DPR (maybe we can give him a symbol like Prince?), that is, of course, if this is even the right guy.
As I was saying, if you truly admire/respect the guy, you'd show a little respect for the alleged sister, and keep your geeky nerd masturbatory fantasies to yourselves.
Take it from a guy with sisters. The last thing you want to hear is how hot a dude thinks your sister is. Especially someone you'd thought of up until that moment, as a friend. I can count the A+B charges on two hands for 'friends' that felt compelled to share that info.
Anyway, it really is like a spinoff to BB, isn't it? It must all be true of course, right? I mean it's Forbes, and why would they lie? It's not like theiy're connected to the whole shadow world gov't bankster cabal, is it?
Don't believe everything you read.
We live in a corrupt world, and atm seem to be approaching the zenith of evil, as is evident by the mere apathy towards the fraud being perpetrating upon US Citizens, by the most corrupt administration in United States history.
Rome is burning.
Will you keep fiddling?
Excuse me? who do you think you're talking to? Since when did paying his sister a compliment i.e, she's fit, turn into geeky nerd masturbating fantasies?? I don't need masturbation, I have a stunning fiancee thank you. DPR's sis is fit, . by the way DPR is talented but not as much as to be able to read ( what I think of his sister) from Prison.