Bitcoins

The U.S. Justice Department is self-funded and answers to no one. The U.S. Justice Department likes to target Bitcoin traders in order to seize their Bitcoins for its coffers.

The law enforcement agents and the federal prosecutors intentionally mislead judges and grand juries into believing Bitcoin traders are drug dealers. The law enforcement agents and the federal prosecutors intentionally fail to disclose that there are numerous legitimate uses for Bitcoins. They don't mention that Bitcoins are an investment vehicle or that the IRS has ruled that Bitcoins are property for taxation purposes.

Bitcoins have become mainstream to the point that there was a Bitcoin Bowl this past football season and more recently, a Dilbert comic strip talking about Bitcoins. Venture capitalists like Tim Draper invest in Bitcoins and in start-ups related to Bitcoins. Dell Computers, Overstock, and other companies accept Bitcoins for payments. Politicians accept Bitcoins as donations. Ignoring this reality, the federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents intentionally mislead judges and grand juries to believe that Bitcoins are used only in criminal activities.

The U.S. Postal Inspectors are instrumental in obtaining search warrants to search homes of Bitcoin traders and seize Bitcoins for the federal Asset Forfeiture Program. In fact, asset forfeiture is a stated purpose of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. See link. (Click on the blue font for the link.)

The evidentiary support for the search and seizures and for the grand jury indictments is the sworn testimony by U.S. Postal Inspectors that there are few legitimate reasons for Bitcoins; therefore, it follows that anyone with Bitcoins is mostly likely engaged in criminal activity and their houses must be searched to find evidence of the criminal activity.

The federal prosecutors never disclose FIN-2014-R002, which provides that a Company (and therefore an individual) who purchases and sells Bitcoins as investments for its own account is acting as a user of Bitcoins and does not need a money transmitting business license. The federal prosecutor ignores that FinCEN Ruling because it doesn't support the prosecutor's goal to use a Patriot Act provision that allows it to seize property first, ask questions later. The federal prosecutors cherry picked 18 U.S.C. 1960 to target Bitcoin traders largely because it's a Patriot Act provision that provides for immediate seizure and because it does not require intent on the part of the defendant.

The U.S. Justice Department and Homeland Security launch sting operations against Bitcoin communities to build a dark web of confidential witnesses and confidential informants to entrap more Bitcoin traders to steal more Bitcoins for its Asset Forfeiture Fund. They completely ignore the fact that Bitcoin investors do not need business licenses.

The U.S. Justice Department is clearly corrupt. Instead of enforcing the laws and fighting crimes, it is cherry picking statutes to target pockets of perceived wealth to steal for its Federal Asset Forfeiture Fund. The Bitcoin community needs to organize and lobby Congress to end this corruption.