Originally published at: Crypto6 Day 9: Ian Testifies And Provides a Proper Explanation Of Events | Free Keene
Ian Freeman, the government’s “kingpin” of the Crypto6 takes the stand
Crypto6 Day 9
The day’s finally here! The defense’s evidence and witnesses get to testify and be introduced.
Defense goes first
Name: Keith Murphy
Lives in Manchester
Owns a restaurant and bar, aka Murphy’s Taproom since 2007
Murphy’s been in the industry for 30 years.
Q Physically type of spot?
A Southern New Hampshire university, 60% alcoholic beverages, 40% food, types of crowds depend on what is happening accrsoss the street due to the arena.
Q Is the front of the establishment glass?
A Yes, showroom style windows
Q Regulated by liquor commission?
A Yes, they come in from time to time
Q Law enforcement?
A Yes, but we never have any fights or problems
Q Do you take bitcoin?
A Yes, since 2013.
I was approached around 2013 and someone said they could put a machine in my lobby.
Q Do you know who?
A I believe it was Mr Freeman
I didn’t dabble in bitcoin yet
Q What decade?
A 2013 I think
Q How long have you had a machine in the business?
A 9 years
Mr Freeman’s machine was not the first machine though. The first one in had problems.
Q And Mr Freemans?
A No, very reliable.
After it’s initial placement I did not see Mr Freeman, but someone would come in and empty the machine monthly.
Q Where was it?
A In the lobby
Q Was it used frequently?
A Yes
Q Any issues or complaints?
A No
Q Anyone ever have an issue with the fees charged?
A No
Q Any complaints about errors in amounts given?
A No
Q Any regulators have an issue?
A No, not until the day it was taken away
Prosecutor’s turn:
Q What was the financial arrangement?
A We’d get a percentage of the fees to cover internet, space, etc
Q You didn’t have much interaction?
A I didn’t touch it
Q Do you know what this symbol is?
A No
Q Do you know what this sticker is covering?
A No
Q Did you have any conversation if it was regulated?
A No
Q No idea how it was operated?
A No
Q Did other people pick up monthly?
A Yes
Q Are you aware of a police compliant involving the machine?
A No
Q In 2019 did the manager tell you about a scam involving $5,000?
A No
Defense Redirect
Q Would I be right in saying you were not approached about the legitimacy of the machine?
A That is correct
Prosecutor asks some more questions:
Q Did you need permission from liquor commission to put the machine in?
A No
New witness
Name: Max Santanastaso
Q Where do you live?
A Winchester, NH
Q How long?
A 6 years
Q Education?
A MA and tech school
Q Were you in the military?
A Yea, Army
Q Do you know Ian?
A Yes
First heard of FTL, then met Ian at nightcap after moving to Keene
Q What is nightcap?
A Just a nighttime event. I just happened to walk by after getting some pizza.
Q Subject of crypto meetups?
A Once sold crypto to Ian
Q How experienced with bitcoin are you?
A Not very
I got some I didn’t really want and I offloaded it to Ian
Q Ian ever help you?
A No
Q Is Ian involved in church stuff?
A Yes, events, protests, etc
Q How well do you know Ian?
A Pretty well
I follow Ian because he had integrity
I find people with those qualities important to me
Q Reputation in community?
A Good
Prosecutor cross examines
Q When asked how many times you met up with him New years even and crypto meetup?
A Yea
Q Your knowledge comes from show?
A Both, but majority not in person
Q Did you make profit from sale of crypto to Ian?
A No
Q I got what I was given
New witness
Owner Of Little Zoes Testifies For Ian
Name: Edward Frster
Little Zoes Owner
Anthrum NH
Q You have had contact with Ian?
A Yes
Q What do you do?
A I own a pizza place
Q How long have you owned it?
A Since 2011
Business is good, it’s called Little Zoes, at the Center Of Keene
Q How did you meet Ian?
A I don’t recall exactly, but we went to Porcfest to sell Pizza and there were a # of people. Ian was one from Keene that I met. I learned about bitcoin at the event. Ian was extremely knowledgeable about a lot things like how to incorporate it into the business.
We have a system where money is printed and has no value.
I like the idea of crypto.
We use all kinds of money.
We exchange value in all kinds of ways.
Q Was his knowledge free of charge?
A Yes, in fact he felt bad that he gave me bad advice once when I lost a few hundred dollars and he replaced it. Lots of shady people out there in the world. He’s a good respectable guy.
Q How is his reputation?
A Nothing negative. Pro freedom.
Q Honesty? Trustworthy?
A Never heard anything bad
Prosecutor goes:
Q Did he approach you?
A No, others did ask me to take crypto at Porcfest.
I leaned a lot from Ian though.
Q Business a formal relationship?
A Yea, but when I did not understand. They held bitcoin meetings at my restaurant occasionally.
Q Didn’t tell you about bitcoin selling business?
A No
How does one sell bitcoin? I thought it was an exchange.
Defense
Q Did he provide you solid advice?
A Yes, he was out for everyone to be successful, but his own. I’m shocked we are even here.
New witness
Name: Adam Mosher
Lives in Newport
Small restraunt owner
Taco Beyondo
[best burritos in New Hampshire, hmm scratch that, the world]
Q When did you get to know Ian?
A Last 4 years
Q A bunch of people came in who were super respectful
We accept crypto
Q When did you start?
A 2018 or 2019 maybe
Q Did that come to your attention through Ian?
A Yes it did
We got a tablet that was provided and crypto went to phones wallet
Q If you had problems?
A I’d call Ian and he’d help out
Q Any charge?
A No charge
Always seemed like a straight up kinda guy
Prosecutor asks some questions:
Q Your business successful?
A Yes
Q Ever have bank accounts shut down?
A No
Q He was customer?
A Yes
Q Professional?
A Yea, I mean outside too
Defense asks some more Qs:
Q Your interest is money mainly?
A Yes
Q Ian open’d door?
A yea
Q Did he teach you?
A My staff more, but yea
Q He charge you?
A no
Q He pay with crypto?
A He has, but I don’t know what he usually does as I work behind the scenes in the kitchen
New Witness
Elderly Lady Who Was Kind And Testified On Behalf Of Ian After Receiving Crypto Assistance From Him For Years
Name: Dale Chapman
Lives in Amherst, MA
Retired Spanish teacher
75 years old!!!
[she looks really good for 75, I know her through crypto meetups, but didn’t know her age, and I didn’t realize she was elderly]
Q Do you know Ian?
A yes
Q How did you get to know Ian?
A In 2012 I could not find anyone who knew anything about bitcoin and at some point someone recommended I check out a meetup in Keene. There were different people, but a few regulars.
Q Who did you get most advice from?
A I asked everyone. Ian taught me how to use a vending machine.
Q How many meetups?
A Since 2016 or 2017 every 2 months except in the winter. 5 times a year maybe.
Q Who had most advice or knowledge?
A Ian had the most knowledge, but did not push his knowledge on me.
He is the guy I would want to go with when I had questions because he would always go out of his way to figure out my macbook which no one else knew either.
Q Did he charge you?
A No, and funny you should ask because others offered to help for $150 / hour
Q Was it good advice?
A Yes, but since this case started he hasn’t been able to help so I’m still stuck.
Q What is his reputation in the community?
A Well, I’m not from Keene, but he is respectful and civil.
Prosecutor asks questions:
Q Ever deal with localbitcoin?
A No
Q Ever buy from him on Telegram?
A No
People helped me setup Telegram
Q Did you pay fee?
A I don’t know
I don’t use it for money, but because I wanted to learn the technology
Q Anyone help at home?
A There are a few, but the Keene group is way more helpful
Defense goes:
Q Any complaints about the vending machine you used?
A No
Prosecutor asks some more questions:
Q Do you know if regulated with government?
A No, don’t know if it is required
Carylin Urbanski, Owner Of Kirby’s Qs in Alstead NH Testifies
New witness
Name: Carylin Urbanski
Langdon NH
Software Consultant
Barque Business in Alstead
6 years
Q Do you know Ian?
A Yes, socially
He’s a good customer and we have friends in common
Ian would bring a lot of business to our restaurant and he helped get us on the map for bitcoin.
Q Is he someone you relied on for advice?
A Yes, and it was not his product
Q Was he knowledgeable?
A Yes
Customers would come in because we took cryptocurrency
Q Did he ever charge you?
A No, super generous too, he’d even give people free crypto
Q Is he charitable?
A Yes
Helping move, get established, other charities
There was a case after my husband died where he offered to help if I needed anything
Prosecutor asks some questions:
Q Do you know what he did for business?
A No, just that he promotes bitcoin
Q He had resources?
A Yes, correct
Q you don’t know where his money came from?
A I’d be uncomfortable asking anyone that
Q How much time did he spend helping you?
A 5-10 hours
100 Nights Director in Keene Testifies About Donations From Shire Free Church
New witness
Name: Linda Cambiar
Lives in Keene, NH
How long? Since 1976
What do you do? Executive director of a homeless shelter
Q Busiest week of the year?
A Yes, very
Q 100 nights?
A Founder setup to be open during 100 coldest nights of the year
It’s now 365 nights, but the name 100 nights is hard to change
Q You know Ian?
A Yes
Q When did you first meet?
A I started in 2013 he had been donor since the shelter was first started. One of the original donors in fact. Little help in the early days so I got to know Ian.
Q What is this?
A It’s a little app called Little Green Light that shows donators contributions. This is Ian’s history.
Q Giving for over a decade?
A Yes
Q Last contribution taken out just a few days ago in fact
A Right
Q So this is a regular donation from church?
A Yes
Q Info on shelter?
Permanently 36 beds
Provide a resource center
Laundry, showers, transport, case manager for those who we might be able to help get back to a normal life
Q Big deal?
A Yes, all over
Q How well do you know Ian?
A Not very well, but know of church
Q Those are straight gifts, the church gets nothing back?
A Right
Prosecutor asks some questions
Q Regulated in New Hampshire?
A Yes
Q Do you make sure you comply with the law?
A yes
[this prosecutor as all prosecutors are is a manipulative piece of shit as he’s suggesting that because the church isn’t registered as 501(3)c and presumably the shelter is that the church is somehow breaking the law when it’s not as churches are not obligated to register even though they can under the IRS’s own rules]
Q You file forms with the IRS?
A Yes
Q Charitable trust with state?
A Yes
Church donating since 2014 shown on screen
Things to note: Church sponsored masquerade ball put on by the shelter to raise money for the shelter for $1000 in 2014. The church also donated a substantial amount via a partial bitcoin which was auctioned off.
[that is the founding of 100 nights, but the church pre-dates this, but this is 2-years prior to any accusation of the church or Ian selling crypto- yet the church was supposed setup to be a money laundering operation for scammers according to the prosecution, it makes no sense, and had buildings and assets donated to it and started donating and doing good work in the community prior to 2016, including advocating bitcoin not bombs]
Q Asking $10 in may, in aug… repeats
[appears to be trying to suggest donations are insignificant which is sort of true if this was the only thing the church was donating to or doing relative to the revenues being generated from the sale of crypto but it wasn’t]
A yes, yes, yes, yest repeats
Q $120 in 2018?
A Yes
[this goes on for a bit going through each $10 donation for the entire length of time the church donated, which is insulting because the church made other larger donations at various points to the shelter, but because most of them are $10 / month it comes off as if almost nothing has been donated by comparison to what the church brings in from the sale of crypto]
Q Do you disclose donors?
A Only if over $5,000 yr
Q Did you get 5 million?
A No, we just got over 1 million this year for the first time
[the prosecutor is asking this unfair question because the incoming amounts to bank accounts adds up to millions even though the fees from it doesn’t add up to this… so by implication the prosecutor is misleading the jury into thinking the church is donating some trivial amount and Ian is pocketing the money]
Defense asks some more questions
Q He’s given a total of $6,400?
A Yes, and he donated to auction too
Q What was that?
A It was part of a bitcoin
[which I don’t know what it was at the time of the donation, but it was probably not nothing]
Q Is it fair to say he has been a consistent donor?
A Yes, we appreciate every penny
Prosecutor
Q Since 2010 he has donated $6,400 right?
A Yes
Defense
Q That was the cash aspect, not the bitcoin?
A Yes
New witness
Name: Ian Freeman
Judge speaks
“no one can require you to testify”
Not even your lawer
Q Is it your decision?
A Yes
Q Have you consulted with your lawyer?
A Yes
Defense
Q Born?
A Flordia
Q How long in Florida?
A 26 years
Q Education?
A Mostly government school and a gifted school
Q When did you leave Florida?
A 2006
Q What did you do?
A Free Talk Live
It’s a show that today airs on 180 radio stations. It’s been on continuously since 2002.
Q Do you get sponsors?
A Some and grateful, not glamorous
Q What is your opinion of talk radio?
A In Florida shows didn’t allow people to talk who had a difference of opinion. I did not like that so my show is open to people to call in about anything they want.
Q When did you hear about bitcoin?
A I think it was 2011 and someone called into the program, we were a bit skeptical at first.
Then later we had a meeting with a guy Gavin and we went to a Taiwanese restaurant and he answered every question I had and I got it.
Q What is vision?
A Going back to history governments have been clipping edges off gold and silver coins to debase their money. The government does that today, but through other means. The government has been inflating our money. Satoshi created this thing that doesn’t rely on this. So when the government prints more dollars you have more dollars chasing for the same amount of goods.
A lot of us noticed this and Satoshi did something about it. No one had any idea it was going to take off. But someone bought pizza with it in maybe 2010 and that was the first time it had a value. At first it was worth zero up till this point.My show had an advertiser memory dealer who was probably a millionaire at this point. He wasn’t likely to sell to our listeners, but wanted to support us. He heard a call about bitcoin on the show. He then bought a large amount of coin.
He already pouring dollars into the show for adds, but he asked if he could pay in bitcoin, and I said well, we need dollars to pay bills, but how about we take 10 or 15 percent in bitcoin from you.
Q So what is it worth now?
A $16,000
Roger is still an advertiser to this day.
In 2013 we founded the shire free church because we were a show focused on a moral message. I donated everything I had to the church. Around this time I had opportunity to spread bitcoin and it met with the churches mission. We are not a profit seeking entity but when bitcoin is sold money is brought in. The dollar and euros and such is immoral. It is used to go to war. The Church mission is to foster peace through any means necessary.
Q When was first bitcoin machine?
A My friend was running a thrift store at the time the machines were not expensive maybe $1000 so we got one.
Q How do you stock it?
A Well, we already were getting lots of bitcoin, but we did start buying it when stocks got low. We operated a hot wallet which is our own bitcoin. It keeps things simple.
Q When you first started church how well off were you?
A At that point I was already pretty well off as the price of bitcoin had already gone up when we founded the church. I donated everything I owned including a $200,000 home I owned to the church.
Q Do you own a nice car?
A No, always used and no cars now. I drive church car.
Q Any foreign bank accounts?
A Yes, but only because US banks don’t like bitcoin
To me every account I opened was a church account.
Q Do you draw an income?
A No, the church sustains me. I have a parsonage. The church pays for car and gas. I do what god calls me to do which is peace. I’m sure people have heard of radio or TV ministries. That is what I do and lots of others.
Q What about Uganda?
A We tried to help a man start an orphanage by giving him a ton of money. The state department denied him a visa or we would have had him here.We did some ads with Monadnock Shopper which was a bit of an educational initiative. I would give $50 away to anyone who contacted me and entered them to a contest for $500 and donating to local charities.
Q Community service?
A Yea, we certified community service for people have done volunteer work for the court. A couple years after vending machine someone introduced me to localbitcoin and this matches with church mission. So I started doing it.
Q How did it work out?
A Other than the occasional scammer great
Bitcoin is irreversible. So if you encounter a scam artist you can’t claw back the money. Scammers were minority, but were a problem so have to have system to stop it.
At first you would see a car payment that obviously wasn’t the churches so I put in stronger security requirements. This included ID. But then people started doing man in the middle attacks where they’d get someone else do a deposit. We did stop some scammers from scamming older people. We make people write what they were buying to stop it.
Another scammer once deposited cash then verified with me, but after went back into bank and claimed they made a mistake and the bank then gave the person their money back. This was the banks error. It’s also what you call a social engineering.
Now no matter what security you put in place you can’t stop all scams.
Q If someone was scammed what would you do?
A Well, if we got wind of a scam we’d stop it.
Over time we started using a commercial product that let me look up phone numbers and verify the # I was given was in fact the buyer and this enabled me to catch most scammers.
Patrick Brown was a case where Patrick lied to me. He said there was no third person. Banks would never tell us why they closed accounts. But one bank did and that was Patrick Brown victim. Patrick Browns bank called my bank to try and get money back. I spoke for 30 minutes with agent to try and help. This was not the only time we helped law enforcement.
Another man in the middle scam we were able to detect and stop. At localbitcoin we got trade, did KYC, got government ID, she jumped through hoops, she went to bank and did the deed. When I got picture of receipt something was off. It was a scan of a copy of the receipt so I would not complete the transaction. Police got involved and between them and the attorney we got the victims money back.
There was another case with a romance scam detective Yip and there we provided what evidence we could.
Q Why name on account?
A So for Reneee she was an old friend who needed assistance so I trained her on selling bitcoin. She had her own acounts for that purpose. Aria had her own church and we lent her some funds to get started. She was not in bitcoin as long so we helped her get started. Sometimes she could not work so I helped with her account with her permission.
When an account was frozen we were not usually told why. 98% of the time we would be vindicated, but they still would not want to do business with us and would close the account. They would cut us a check because we had evidence we were right. We only lost one case and that was because multiple banks pulled the money back. There were about 6,000 transactions, not 6,000 users, but mostly because some buyers had more than one transactions with us.
Q What # of complaints?
A Very few.
50-75 suuposed victims out of about 6,000 according to the prosecution.
If someone believes they love someone they will lie. I have even said to people “have you ever met your husband”. Some scams are really hard to defeat.
Q How did you meet this guy?
A The guy did repeated transactions online.
A You did not know him?
A No
It seemed he was aware of crypto movement in New Hampshire and that was his basis for coming out. I met him at our meetups. He did good job of making himself appear as though he believed in liberty.
Q Up to then had he indicated any crime?
A No, not till a nightcap meetup.
He had said he was a used card dealer in Albany. I did not have a conversation with him about drugs, but I did overhear it. That was a red alert. He was a cop or a moron. Basically I was well aware that the government does these operations and that I was being investigated. I knew they would try this because they always do. I figured he was undercover even though in the chat I said I didn’t think he was because I wanted to see what he’d do next.
Q So you said no way?
A Right
I said knowingly because I knew the law and they do the same thing. What was unusual here is he was never able to meet me alone. In other cases he probably intimidated people into selling him crypto. He looks like a mob person so very intimidating to most people.
Q So he brings up thirsty owl vending machine after this?
A Yes, and I said Ok
Q So you had no idea that he was going to vending machine?
A Right
Q So he went without your knowledge?
A Right
I see reports of people buying, but not who is buying
Q There are no cameras?
A No
Q There was nothing you could do to stop him?
A What should I have done? Tackled him? We don’t have anybody there.
Q Did you agree to launder money?
A No, I didn’t and wouldn’t do that
Q Muslim community?
A Will Coley who is an imam asked if there would be space available to help with a muslim community. I said yes we had a building we could contribute. This was an actual mosque. We also had the bitcoin embacy and its hard to find classes in the real world so chris give classes.
Q What is a trade name?
A It is just another name for the same entity. So the NH Peace Church was just another name for the Shire Free Church.
Q Purpose of the trade name?
A Banking purpose
Q Church Of The Invisible Hand?
A Two seperate things. It has its own beliefs.
Q Reformed Satanic Church?
A Another thing.
It doesn’t mean believe in the devil.
It got to a point that I gave localbitcoin small stuff to help.
The Crypto Church is also the Shire Free Church and has a board of directors.
Churches are not corporations. In legal land you can get a tax ID even though you don’t pay taxes as a church.
And you get this because without it you can’t get a bank account.
The IRS has the #. The IRS did sent a letter in Spanish and it asked for updated address. I saw no reason to respond.
Vending
Q The ones church operated what was your understanding of obligations?
A We hired a lawyer, Seth Hipple, to tell us what we needed to do. It turned out nothing.
Q Is bitcoin transmitting?
A No
The words are used to communicate, but it’s not what is actually happening. You can’t cook the books is the one benefit. Unspent transactions output. When it is spent it doesn’t move at all. It stays in the same place.
Q The bitcoin in your machine were owned by the church?
A That is correct
Q So it’s not owned by a business, but a church?
A Right
Q You see the FinCEN letter?
A Yea, it came into a sort of catch all email account and it looked like a letter sent to all venders. I was suspisious of it because when a government agency wants to communicate with you they send you a physical letter or possibly certified mail even. I thought maybe it was even spam.
Q What age range?
A All ages. They probably skipped other folder because it had more people of all ages in it.
Q Any basis for government average age?
A Not at all, but it’s true older people tend to have more money.
Q Any bank unusual?
A Yes, one actually. There was one bank that a manager contact infor was included with a letter about closing an account. So I asked him why. What I learned from a meeting with him is that banks have to understand the nature of the activity.
I called every bank in Manchester and asked about bitcoin and every one said no.
Q Quotes for investment?
A Yes because it’s best investment
Q Rare coin?
A So what makes bitcoin value is its rarity. There will only ever be 21 million coins produced.
Q Donation?
A Everything we did was for the benefit of the mission of the church. The terms of trade said it and elsewhere and should have been known by all buyers.
ftl_ian feedback
I achieved pro level status at localbitcoin based on volume and was concerned about ratings.
church.shiresociety.com has the church’s mission statement and other information about the Shire Free Church I am a minister of.
Ian Reads off the mission statement of the church:
Declaration
The Shire Free Church offers a sanctuary for those seeking an escape from state churches. The Shire Free Church is an interfaith, diverse group of people who may not share identical theological beliefs. As a member in or minister of the Shire Free Church, you are a sovereign individual and may be the faith of your choice whether it be Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist, Jewish, Quaker, etc, or following your inner light. Monotheists, polytheists, pantheists, panentheists, and atheists are all welcome, as long as you are peaceful. The Shire Free Church was organized in Keene in the year 2013 and serves all of the Shire.
Mission
We don’t claim to have all the answers.
We are open to all peaceful people.
We want to learn from each other.
It is our mission, inspired by God, Allah, the Universe, and the inner light – to foster peace. We understand that in order to have peace in the world, one must have it inside oneself first – the “purification of the soul”, as our Muslim friends call it.
Unification in Diversity – A Statement of Beliefs
What unifies the Shire Free Church and its diverse members is peace, love, and liberty. There are many paths to God – one for every individual. The Shire Free Church does not define a specific path beyond those parameters that must be your foundation: peace as your way, love as your guide, and liberty as your light.
Maxim:
“Be the best you can be and harm no other in his person or property.”
Virtues:
| Compassion Forgiveness Empathy Humility |
Honesty Kindness Patience Personal Responsibility |
Productive Work Self-improvement Thinking |
Visiting and Joining the Shire Free Church
The only requirements to visit or join the Shire Free Church are that you are of peace and do not advocate the use of force to achieve social or political goals. In order to join the Shire Free Church, you must be a signer of the Shire Society Declaration. There are no requirements or induction rituals. You need not ask permission from anyone in the church – simply make the decision to be a part of the Shire Free Church for yourself. You may stay a member as long as your words and actions show you are of peace. To this end, each Shire Free Church member may decide the validity of any other claimed member based on their word and deed.
Ordination of Church Ministers
Shire Free Church ministers have full control over their churches, church projects, and parsonages. Our structure is non-hierarchical. The Shire Free Church is a private group that welcome interested people who meet the moral qualifications to join as stated above. To become ordained, you must be a signer of the Shire Society declaration as well as agree with the mission and statement of beliefs of the church. To receive your official Ordained Minister card, please reach out to existing ministry via the contact information below.
Contact a Minister
You can contact a minister by using the Shire Society forum.
Church Locations
You may be a member of the Shire Free Church regardless of your physical location, but it is recommended you move physically to the Shire in order to secure more of your liberty with like-minded brothers and sisters.
The Shire Free Church exists wherever its members gather. Currently, ministers have parsonages in the following locations:
- Keene: Click for blog posts from Keene ministers. Shire Free Church: Monadnock is also part of the Universal Life Church.
- Manchester
- Tilton
Special thanks to our friends at the Peaceful Assembly Church in Grafton. In memory of PAC’s pastor John Connell, whose inspiration was critical in forming the Shire Free Church. Thank you, John.
Q Is this common theme since inception?
A Yes
Q It lays out how to contact minister?
A Yes
Q When put out?
A 2013
[notice that this is ~3 years before the governments accused Ian or the church of committing any crime via the way of selling bitcoin, if the church was setup for the purpose of money laundering it’s insane to think that it was planned out 3 years in advance of the crime, before Ian even knew how to sell bitcoin, and likely before the first vending machine existed]
Q If anyone wanted to know about church they could have looked at website?
A Yes, or called radio program even
Q Awakened in early morning hours of March 16 of 2021. Agent said there is supposed to be a call out. Do you recall that?
A No, and my friend who was awake heard nothing either
First thought was teens threw a brick at the house because our peace flag has been ripped down a number of times over the years. What I found in my robe was a drone flying through my window. I requested my girlfriend could put on a robe cause she was completely naked.
Q 4 in home?
A Yes
Q Matt a gun owner?
A Yes, licenses gun owner
Everyone was detained
Q Why did they destroy cameras?
A It looked like they were up to no good and hiding what they were doing
Q Did anyone explain why?
A No
Tax evasion
Q You receieved no letters right?
A Nothing at all
Q Anyone ever call you?
A Not at all
Q File anything?
A No because under the IRS rules chuches don’t pay taxes or have to file anything
Q At any point were you trying to do anything illegal?
A No
Q Anything illegal?
A I may have smoked some canibis
Prosecutor
Q You call yourself a minister?
A That is correct
Q Did you write it?
A Yes, with some others
Q Banks research people?
A Yes, it would seem to be step 1
Q You have people call into your show?
A yes including undercover agents
Q You talk about current events?
A Yes, and theology and other topics
She lists topics on one nights show
Q Parsanage at 73 Leverett St?
A Yes
Q You bought and donated to church?
A Yes
Q You tried to get property tax exempt?
A Yes, it was rejected, and to try and sue was the only option. We didn’t have the funds at the time.
Q Does the church pay for gas and clothing?
A Yes, it does
Q And when you travel?
A Yes, but only a couple events
Q And the church is how you make money?
A No
Q It’s donations that make it possible to get food
A Of course
Q Did you give a substantial amount to chairty?
A That would depend on what you consider a lot, but yea
Showing building with Mosque inside
[at this point things stop and the government admits to monitoring the radio show and the judge says he would have too, as a former prosecutor]
[the prosecutor wants to play the Free Keene video of Will Coley incident with City Of Keene government, but the judge appears to deny it for reasons unknown, probably because it wasn’t provided to the defense correctly, see below for your pleasure]
Q Your church donated to a Uganda orphanage $35,000?
A Sounds about right
Q The percent commision of this sale is about what donated to the Uganda orphanage, right?
A About, yes
FinCEN letter
Prosecutor
Q You testified you got FinCEN email
A Yea
Q Prior you had your lawyer write a letter?
A Yes
Prosecutor brings up tax exemption for church document
Golden rule
“Do not tell our staff why you want to buy cryptocurrency”
Prosecutor going through photos and asking you think this person is legitimate customer?
[answer is yes for all]
Defense
Q Feedback are important?
A Very important
Q You had highest feedback rating on site?
A Yea
Q Did anyone complain?
A No
Q Any negatives?
A Yes, but from scammerss, “you require too much verification”
Q Did banks stop any transaction?
A No
Q What did you think of FinCEN letter?
A It was scam
Q Did any one follow up?
A No
Q What did you understand your status to be?
A Registering as a 501(3)c actually restricts what a church can do so the free church movement is a movement of churchs to can this status. Donations to any church can receieve tax free money even if they don’t register under 501(3)c status.
Q Why the sign?
A We didn’t want a store employee to be in an acwaked position if somone told them of a crime. It was to protect everyone because pivacy matters.