Quote from: theymos on October 06, 2012, 12:00:57 AM

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Since Nefario refuses to give complete details about his legal concerns and he has been acting strangely, I feel that it is somewhat possible that Nefario is working under some sort of plea bargain and is gathering IDs for future prosecution.

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Though I highly doubt that it has been the intent, I sense the Bitcoin has evolved into a highly efficient (relatively speaking) honeypot for 'marking up' individuals with interesting things going on...both in the past and probably more importantly, in the future.

AML-grade data for as many participants in the economy as possible is probably a pretty high-value item. I suspect it could act as a 'get out of jail' card in the case of the OP, and likely that it acts as a 'stay in business' card for other entities (e.g., Mt. Gox.) As others have pointed out, having the data does not mean that it is being given up to the authorities in quantity, but there is simply no way to know. It is a certainty, however, that it is being stored somewhere and Bitcoin related enterprises as a group have an abysmal security record.