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Experts cracked laptop of crypto CEO who died with $137M, but the money was gone

businessinsider.com

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Re: Experts cracked laptop of crypto CEO who died with $137M, but the money was gone

#41

Post by ljm »

covercash wrote: post #32
whoisjuan wrote: post #16

This guy is alive (or dead, but not due to Crohn's Disease complications, as stated initially). This is not a conspiracy theory anymore. It's clear there's a massive fraud behind all these events.

As a mod for r/CrohnsDisease, it really sucks that this is how most people are first hearing about the disease. Those with IBD already have a difficult time with people not believing they’re sick or that symptoms aren’t that bad since they’re not visible. Now Crohn’s will be associated with this fool using it as an excuse to steal a bunch of money... such a huge disappointment.

I can empathise with this. I dated someone with IBD and had many sleepless nights when I found out the ambulance was on its way.

Invisible illness is terrible.

Re: Experts cracked laptop of crypto CEO who died with $137M, but the money was gone

#42

Post by chelmzy »

omouse wrote: post #7
a_bouncing_bean wrote: post #6

Maybe I don't know much about bitcoin, but can't you track the address where the bitcoins were being transferred to? Seems like it would be difficult to launder that volume of bitcoin all anonymously where it can be tracked, to a certain extent, through the public blockchain?

There are bitcoin tumblers , essentially the idea is to split up the transaction into multiple transactions of varying sizes to various addresses and to keep doing that in such a way that it doesn't look weird... Basically they try to hide the transaction among the huge volume of transactions going on, kinda like a VPN or Tor?

The FBI/private companies have specialized tools for tracking Bitcoins throughout their lifespan. All the data is out in the open so there is no hiding unless he converted to Monero anonymously.

Re: Experts cracked laptop of crypto CEO who died with $137M, but the money was gone

#43

Post by pureliquidhw »

jacquesm wrote: post #27

I think it might pay off to spread the mugshot of this character far and wide. There is a non zero chance that he's not dead at all.

Surely plastic surgery and contacts are cheaper than $137MM. I'd guess a new identity with valid (enough) passport is less than $137MM as well!

Re: Experts cracked laptop of crypto CEO who died with $137M, but the money was gone

#44

Post by TecoAndJix »

hmhrex wrote: post #31
cwmma wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like maybe a distributed ledger of some sort?

That is publicly available for everyone to read?

That points to a tumble service address where it disappears forever in Monero land?

Re: Experts cracked laptop of crypto CEO who died with $137M, but the money was gone

#45

Post by bredren »

rchaud wrote: post #13
uberman wrote: post #3

For some reason this sounds like the plot of a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. CEO of Crypto Company... 1) Takes time off to build orphanage in region noted for fake deaths. 2) Subsequently dies unexpectedly. 3) Is immediately cremated. 4) Wife waits a month before saying "oh by the way he is dead" 5) Wife claims all keys on encrypted laptop 6) World watches as wallets mysteriously empty 7) Experts crack laptop 8)…

DiCaprio? This whole affair has been at best a Weekend at Bernie's-level plot. The accounts were emptied 8 months before the death, and yet QCX pretended they were solvent the whole time so they could keep the party going.

This is an unnecessary takedown of Weekend at Bernie's.

Re: Experts cracked laptop of crypto CEO who died with $137M, but the money was gone

#46

Post by Scoundreller »

markjenkinswpg wrote: post #23

I'm not convinced of the first half of the headline re laptop cracking. The article cites the latest monitor report, but the only paragraph I can find with the word laptop just implies the monitor has possession and success with some devices. """ As noted in the First Report, known devices of Mr. Gerry Cotten have been secured by the Monitor including, Mr. Cotten’s laptops, cellphones, USB keys and home computer. The…

It may not matter much.

There’s no evidence that a cold wallet with much of anything even exists.

But the devices may hold some records of external accounts (eg: deposits on other exchanges).

Re: Experts cracked laptop of crypto CEO who died with $137M, but the money was gone

#47

Post by stuntkite »

rchaud wrote: post #13
uberman wrote: post #3

For some reason this sounds like the plot of a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. CEO of Crypto Company... 1) Takes time off to build orphanage in region noted for fake deaths. 2) Subsequently dies unexpectedly. 3) Is immediately cremated. 4) Wife waits a month before saying "oh by the way he is dead" 5) Wife claims all keys on encrypted laptop 6) World watches as wallets mysteriously empty 7) Experts crack laptop 8)…

DiCaprio? This whole affair has been at best a Weekend at Bernie's-level plot. The accounts were emptied 8 months before the death, and yet QCX pretended they were solvent the whole time so they could keep the party going.

In the sequel his ghost solves blocks when you play a latin rhythm and two young/broke computer enthusiasts who moved to Puerto Rico to make it big are the only ones who can see him because they smoked weed that grew in soil mixed with his ashes.

Re: Experts cracked laptop of crypto CEO who died with $137M, but the money was gone

#48

Post by LeonM »

My take on this is that they probably were insolvent for a long time already due to previous hacks/theft. The CEO just decided to lie about the supposedly 137M in funds 'safely' stored on his laptop.

This is also what happened at MtGox, except that at MtGox they 'lost' wel over a million BTC.

Edit: relevant listening: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/9/

Re: Experts cracked laptop of crypto CEO who died with $137M, but the money was gone

#49

Post by godelski »

EthanHeilman wrote: post #28
omouse wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are bitcoin tumblers , essentially the idea is to split up the transaction into multiple transactions of varying sizes to various addresses and to keep doing that in such a way that it doesn't look weird... Basically they try to hide the transaction among the huge volume of transactions going on, kinda like a VPN or Tor?

1. If the coins were moved through tumblers that would be detectable and highly suspicious. 2. Safely tumbling large quantities of coins is especially difficult. At this scale I would wager twenty dollars that blockchain analysis should be able to trace at least some of the coins with high confidence. 3. It is rumored that many tumblers are run by law enforcement.

Outside the sphere of crypto, this is called "washing" or "laundering" ("cleaned", etc. Anything along this line). "Laundering" is the legal term). Such acts are typically traceable, but generally fly under the radar. Once someone is aware that the money is being washed it is usually uncovered (AFAIK).

Washing crypto would seem even more difficult because transactions are all accounted for. So I'd assume a cleaner would need to have random time variance in redistribution so collisions aren't found. But also, money has to be spent or converted, so that's a big way you could uncover it. Money is harder because cash is still a thing.

1) See that money is transferred from account to washer (instant flag)

2) Search for accounts associated with initial fraud and watch for extraction.

Re: Experts cracked laptop of crypto CEO who died with $137M, but the money was gone

#50

Post by solarkraft »

bootloop wrote: post #22
msherry wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TFA says that Ernst and Young was the company to crack the laptop. Ernst and Young would not burn a zero-day exploit on an auditing job.

Applying a zero-day exploit without making it public doesn't burn anything. After all, no one knows how they did it.

But would they even risk raising suspicion?
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