Quote from: bitserve on January 22, 2025, 09:25:58 PM

Quote from: d_eddie on January 22, 2025, 07:24:40 PM

His confiscated coins are legally, officially, lost (to him) forever.
The issue is: has he got some secret stash somewhere? Does he still hold the keys to it?
A Coinbase snoop is suggesting he located some coins that may be old Silk Road treasure.
It still remains to be seen if it's like he says - and if Ross manages to lay hands on them.
If I were Ross, I would only attempt that when safely far from the USA.

If I had to bet... There is a higher than 50% probability that he has some coins "here and there". And what was once considered "peanuts", more so by someone who was making millions of $ at the time, can have an astronomical value nowadays.

Maybe he could have some "anonymous" donations sent to him... but surely the origin of those coins would be very well scrutinized. Also I am not so sure it is so easy to be "safely far from the USA" (See Roger Ver and the "exit tax") but....

Doesn't the pardon apply to every and all things related to his case? If that was the case (I don't know) maybe he would just need to "produce" them now (or as he is gradually able to remember how to recover control of those coins) and pay his share of taxes and call it a day?

If they haven't already seized his coins from before the conviction, I'm sure they can still go after his stash, anywhere in the world:

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/no-free-pass-unintended-consequences-presidential-pardons

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But even if those pardoned avoid criminal charges, the U.S. government has robust mechanisms for recovering money or property obtained through illegal activities, such as bribery or fraud. These include civil remedies like claims of unjust enrichment, which allow the government or private parties to argue that an individual improperly benefited from unlawful actions and demand repayment.

For instance, under the legal doctrine of unjust enrichment, courts can compel individuals to repay funds acquired through unlawful means, ensuring that financial accountability can still be pursued despite the absence of criminal penalties.

Another potent tool at the government’s disposal is civil asset forfeiture. Unlike criminal forfeiture, which requires a criminal conviction, civil forfeiture targets the assets themselves rather than the individual. Moreover, unlike criminal law, where the government must prove its case “beyond a reasonable doubt,” civil forfeiture requires only a “preponderance of the evidence” to establish that the assets are connected to illegal activity. As a result, even individuals who have been pardoned can still have their assets seized if they are linked to the offences for which they were pardoned.

Civil forfeiture has been used extensively in cases involving bribery, fraud, and other financial crimes. For instance, if an individual received bribes to secure a government contract, the funds or property obtained through those bribes could be subject to forfeiture, even if the individual is no longer criminally liable.