Bitcoin news orgnaizations starting to weigh in
National press also:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-hampshire/articles/2021-03-16/6-accused-of-running-unlicensed-money-transmitting-business
Something is on NBC as well, but I haven’t seen any other mainstream national articles yet.
NH: FBI Bitcoin raid update recorded by Dave Ridley 3/18/2021…Winchester, NH
Local residents arrested in federal virtual-currency probe Shows police tape blocking a road in a residential neighborhood, presumably near Leverett St. in Keene.
“Prosecutors say Freeman committed money laundering by conducting a financial transaction in August 2020 with proceeds he knew were from unlawful activity involving the distribution of controlled substances. The indictment states that Freeman exchanged $19,900 for approximately 1.54 Bitcoin.”
They’re listing Bitcoin as a controlled substance??? I’ve never heard of that before.
Keene Sentinel reports Ian Freeman is in custody at Merrimack County Jail, or at least his attorney Sisti told them that. A detention hearing is scheduled for Friday. Need help spreading the word.
I’ve scheduled a demonstration/protest outside Keene Police Department to protest their collaboration with Washington in this raid. Need help spreading the word,
1:15p Saturday, March 20. Details:
john mcafee was charged Thursday 3-18-21 , along with alleged co conspirator Jimmy Gale Watson Jr. of fraud and money-laundering conspiracy charges:
You’re misreading the sentence Dave. They’re saying he knowingly accepted fiat drug money in exchange for BTC. Likely a result of selling to the undercover agent.
Hey Dave,
Wouldn’t mind coordinating with you.
jake [dot] leonard [at] heartlandnewsfeed [dot] com
Might as well do my part to help out, since there’s only so much I can do about my Internet radio network, with FTL not live and the LRN stream being down.
Thanks all. I’m posting a todo list here: Possible action items related to the FBI Bitcoin raids in New Hampshire
I’ll try to update it to make it more useful.
I’ll try to take a day of rest during Sunday 3/21; would one or more of you be willing to carry out some of the action items listed there?
According to Free Talk Live Raided Again a young lady was forced to leave the house on Leverett St. partially clothed during the raid, says the temp was 20 degrees. Also claims the authorities used a drone for initial entry into the house. So now is our drama is a sci fi drama?
Yeah, there was a first-hand description of this on Tuesday night’s FTL broadcast (although it wasn’t actually live). The individual was a co-host on Tuesday, Wednesday, and I believe Thursday night as well. Could be wrong, but I believe it was Ian’s girlfriend?
Live feed of our protest at KPD today:
" FREE THE CRYPTO 6! PROTEST AT KEENE PD! #FREEIAN #FREENOBODY - YouTube "
Turnout was about 15 plus a reporter from the Union Leader and one from the Keene Sentinel. Thanks to all who attended and spread the word! This was more turnout than I would have expected with just 36 hours to work with.
My ridleos will trickle out much more slowly but meanwhile Ian’s girlfriend Bonnie confirms the account mentioned above, that KPD was in the house at Leverett St. Also it appears that activists did a good job getting video , within 10 minutes of the beginning of the raid at that spot. If that video had been uploaded within 48 hours of the raid, it would have had an electrical effect on the news coverage, but now the news cycle is over.
It will still be invaluable as file video and for the purpose of helping to keep this issue on the front page. it presumably took some courage to film and we should be thankful to any and all who did so.
Looks like the free talk live shows have been appearing every night at Free Talk Live | Free Listening on SoundCloud
Matt Roach is now clarifying that all the armored vehicles involved may have been completely Federal, and that KPD may be correct when it says “their” Bearcat was not involved.
They are now saying not to donate at LRN.FM. for fear it (or the address there) may be compromised. A new option I keep hearing, and have heard from one of the hosts, is captainkickass@edge . Whatever that means (someone elaborate please.) What do you think is the best place to go for donating?
This was a lie. I know first hand that Ian Freeman never accepted drug money in exchange for crypto. He had a clear policy against selling to ANYBODY who indicated that they were involved in criminal activity. On a number of occasions he turned down money from people who indicated that they were involved in some sort of criminal activity and the vending machines were clear as day that you should NOT inform anybody of the reason you were acquiring crypto. On numerous occasions people who appeared to be victims of fraud were turned away and asked to leave the premises without having acquired the crypto they sought. This would have been identified not by what they were using it for, since nobody ever asked that question, but rather in cases where there was a lack of an understanding of what Bitcoin was or what they were doing. If it appeared that somebody might be getting scammed that person was asked to leave.
More coverage from the Keene PD protest Keene activists protest arrests of ‘Crypto Six’
" # Keene activists protest arrests of ‘Crypto Six’
Freeman, Aria DiMezzo, and Nobody, formerly known as Rich Paul, and others were arrested last week on federal money laundering charges. Freeman’s Leverett Street home was raided along with his Bitcoin operation, known as an “embassy,” on Marlborough Street.
“The government stole my boyfriend, and the Keene Police Department should not have agreed to work with the FBI on trumped-up, dumb-ass charges,” said Bonnie Kruse.
Kruse was sleeping in the Leverett Street home when Keene police, FBI agents and agents with the United State Treasury Department busted in to arrest Freeman and the others. Kruse, who was not charged, said she was handcuffed and detained for more than an hour during the raid.
“The Keene Police Department should have stayed out of it,” Kruse said. “I woke up to my roommate yelling and lots and lots of noise and I’m naked.”
She and Freeman grabbed robes as police and federal agents broke glass and broke in, shouting at them and terrifying her, she said.
“They made me walk in glass and they made me put shoes on with glass in them,” she said.
Kruse said Bitcoin is not a crime, and the charges are bogus.
The Leverett Street duplex is also headquarters for many of Freeman’s Free Keene organizations, including the Shire Free Church Monadnock.
Freeman is charged with laundering money using his churches and DiMezzo’s Reformed Satanic Temple as part of a multi-million scheme.
Freeman had $180,000 in cash in his home, according to authorities, who found a room filled with 26 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. The home is close to a charter middle school.
Jason Gerhard from Northfield showed up at the protest to make his voice heard against what he sees as government overreach. The Keene Police Department’s cooperation with federal law enforcement is a step too far, Gerhard said.
“The government has just grown so humongous,” Gerhard said. “We don’t want the federal government in our lives.”
Freeman, 40, is charged with operating a multi-million dollar bitcoin exchange business that facilitated laundering money from scammers across the country.
Also arrested with Freeman, DiMezzo, 34, and Nobody, 52, were Colleen Fordham, 60, of Alstead, who operates the Mighty Moose Mart, adjacent to Freeman’s Bitcoin embassy, Renee Spinella, 23, of Derry, and Andrew Spinella, 35, also of Derry.
DiMezzo, Fordham and the Spinellas are free on their own recognizance. Nobody waived his right to a detention hearing and will remain in jail pending trial. Freeman is seeking to be released, and is awaiting an order from federal Judge Andrea Johnstone on his request to be released.
Chris Wade, a Free Keene blogger, said Freeman’s Bitcoin embassy will be reopening soon, though he declined to get into details. He said the charges against Freeman and the others don’t make sense.
“They’re bogus,” Wade said. “There was at least one part of it that was entirely fabricated.”
In 2014, Freeman’s home was raided and his computers seized by FBI as part of a child sex abuse images investigation. He was never charged in that investigation.
The Free Keene group was initially part of the Free State Project, an effort to get libertarian-leaning individuals around the country to move to New Hampshire and become embedded in the state’s political, economic and social structures.
The Free State Project disassociated itself from Freeman in 2014, citing his advocacy for lowering the age of consent laws. "
Liberty activist Garret Ean and at least one friend chalk the sidewalks with “free the crypto 6” type messages outside Federal court at Concord. Marhiya Tucker - Chalkings in support of federally caged... | Facebook
Thanks for that video. I’m going to borrow it to show other people the support we have in New Hampshire. It’s a great demonstration of why people should move. Alone we parish, but together we thrive.
Edited ridleo with interview:
FTL co-host Chris Wade (sp?) shot video of the raid from almost its beginning, and it has now been uploaded!
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmTRrWj8kWVgNj6HPu7uP7GHqK86odfxLmcQGG5ZRkVg8g