A few days back I posted this on BitconTalk.org:

WARNING – a little off topic, but tangentially related. 

Can someone tell me, still very much a tech noob, what the significance is of the term “lion” or names containing “Lee” or “Leo” (including homophones like “Leigh” or parts of names (“Cleo,” as a made up example)).  In my sleuthing, I’m seeing an uncanny amount of usernames w/ Lee, Leo, etc. in the twitter followers (and other social media) of some of the most unscrupulous appearing individuals in digital currency. 

IMHO, this is not a coincidence (maybe it is, maybe its a figment of my imagination), but I haven’t been interested tech/computers in a substantial way but for a year and half or so and lack some of the foundational knowledge to know what’s going on. 

From the hacker dictionary: 

lion food /n./

[IBM] Middle management or HQ staff (or, by extension, administrative drones in general). From an old joke about two lions who, escaping from the zoo, split up to increase their chances but agree to meet after 2 months. When they finally meet, one is skinny and the other overweight. The thin one says: “How did you manage? I ate a human just once and they turned out a small army to chase me — guns, nets, it was terrible. Since then I’ve been reduced to eating mice, insects, even grass.” The fat one replies: “Well, I hid near an IBM office and ate a manager a day. And nobody even noticed!”

http://www.outpost9.com/reference/jargon/jargon_27.html#SEC34

Very interested to read what others think and whether there is something to this. 

EDIT – Very aware of seeing patterns where none may exist . . . .  I just don’t see the Lee/Lion thing in other areas, just tech/digital currency/[possible] scammers. 

I also posted a tongue-in-cheek (but still serious) thread on Reddit about a week and half ago about ISIS’ use of internet memes to recruit young girls. Possible evidence of this playing out has been in the news recently with reports about three young girls leaving the UK for Syria to join up in ISIS.

Where am I going with this?

Recently, there have been several news reports about ISIS using bitcoin for fundraising and money transmission purposes. We learned a few days ago that Jihadi John (of ISIS ilk) is a well-to-do young Londoner with a computer science degree.  From his picture, he looks like he could be any young, modern individual and not a fanatical, ostrich-mimicking bozo that destroys historical artifacts in Mosul that date back to the time of Abraham.

On February 6, 2015, a man from Utica, NY was arrested in Indiana for suspected ties to ISIS. The gentleman, like John in the previous paragraph, appears to look like he could be anybody.  His arrest came after he and few others had  been watched for two years by law enforcement. During that period, and though September 2014, Mr. Rosic and others, both males and females, allegedly sent funds and supplies to third parties with the intent of supporting ISIS and its affiliates. The amounts were not exactly large either: $300 here, $1500 there, ete. – more or less the cost of a bitcoin depending on the date.

The Justice Department has indicted the gentleman and said indictment was made available today. Of note from the indictment are these allegations:

Admittedly, this post appears a little paranoid and spastic.  However, I’ve now found some confirmation of a communication strategy I believe I see from time to time in the digital currency space and not other spaces (i.e., alias, references to Lions, etc.).  Incidentally, Lee, Leo, Leigh, Li – some of which share the same pronunciation – are used in literature and elsewhere to depict lions, etc. (Leo the Lion, for example). Some of the young women indicted depict themselves in anime-style drawings on Facebook (Jasminka Ramic) or other wise enjoy anime and like goofy pictures with cats – not all that uncommon from types that frequent the message boards, forums, and social media zones enjoyed by digital currency enthusiasts.

To be clear, I am not saying that what I’m seeing with regards to user names, lions, etc. in the digital currency space is ISIS or other terrorist group – I’m mainly discussing possible communication and chatter between some group of people – could be silly, harmless computer geeks for all I know.  Additionally, its important to note that today’s indictment potentially produces nothing more than more confirmation bias for my thinking about certain variables in the digital currency space.

Side note: it is interesting, however, PayPal and Western Union were specifically discussed whereas the “other means” are not.

The broader point, and why I’m sharing now, is to reiterate a need for internet users, especially bitcoiners and the like, to embrace due diligence, questioning, and critical thinking as part of their participation in the ecosystem.  Be observant in the digital currency social circles, in particular when using social media.  If you see something, say something. Report it to law enforcement.

 As it happens, this article is a good segue for revealing that WatchDoge has acquired the domain Moolah.ch.  You might recall, up until the middle of last spring, Ryan Kennedy (which may not even be his real name, more on that later) used the domain as the face of his business, MooPay Ltd.

[Typos ahead]

Updates from Syscoin

Dan (Syscoin) and I discussed the status of Syscoin’s insolvency case with MooPay LTD this evening on Twitter. I asked a number of specific questions about their case and a fair amount were answered. Syscoin was able to reveal some specific info that added credibility to their representations about the status of their insolvency case against MooPay Ltd., which is not to be confused with the criminal case against Kennedy and Hopkins. Some of those details include:

1. That Syscoin published their article two months to the day from the Publication of the Winding Up Order against Moolah

and,

2. No first creditor’s meeting has been set yet (they are between steps 7 and 8 on this chart, counting down from the top).

I did not learn much of anything about the status of the criminal case. Until I can summarize and digest further, read and evaluate the discussion for yourself on Twitter. Start with Dan’s tweet here. The tweet will take you to his longer summary (not actually 5 pages long) on CryptoCoins News.

Additional Questions

Despite Syscoin’s revelations tonight about the insolvency case, and as noted above, there are still questions questions about the status of the criminal case, CoinFire’s article, and the whereabouts of MintPal/Moolah customer funds.

Coinfire

Regarding CoinFire, and as you might recall, CoinFire’s article gave the impression that Kennedy had been arrested recently – possibly even yesterday, the day their article was published. In contrast, Syscoin’s blog entry didn’t imply anything about  “when” Kennedy was arrested because it was silent on the issue. Twitter discussions with Ferdous yesterday revealed the arrest was actually back in December and that Kennedy and Hopkins are out on bail currently.

Sidenote: I attempted to cross-check Syscoin’s announcement of Kennedy and Hopkins’ arrest by asking Bryce Weiner, whom I believe served as a blockchain expert witness in Syscoin’s insolvency case against MooPay, whether it was credible (see “Experience” in BW’s Linkedin profile). He indicated that it was credible (for whatever this cross-check is worth).

Looking back on the CoinFire article 36 hrs later, it still seems pretty out of character given their overt attempts to distinguish themselves as truth tellers recently in their coverage of GAW and Paycoin. What is the title of the authentic document they saw? Where did it come from? Who was the “contributor” that got access to it? Why’d they leave out the date of the arrest?

Yesterday I indicated that Syscoin and Ferdous lacked credibility and that CoinFIre had some stored up. Today, Syscoin and Ferdous moved up a few ticks in my book while CoinFire moved down.

Customer Funds

Regarding customer funds, I’m still curious about the Carlisho2 funds. You might recall Moolah had a fundraiser for the Dogecoinball artist alleged to have committed suicide (no proof of this, just press releases). Moolah donated almost 50 bitcoins, a bunch of litecoins, and millions of dogecoin to the fundraiser. This past November, I traced those donations as originating form the collapsed MintPal exchange.

The question, then, this this: if MooPay was enjoined from moving any assets during the insolvency proceeding, how was he able to release them to Dogecoiners who ultimately released them to the Mind Charity? Those funds needed to be examined to determine whether they belonged to MintPal/Moolah Customers. A court might of have allowed the release, but I’m unclear on these details at the moment.

Anybody consider the fact that the story here is that Coinfire made a mistake in reporting Ryan Kennedy had been arrested?

To recap yesterday’s events: Syscoin reported that Ryan Kennedy and Chelsea Hopkins of Moolah ilk had been arrested. CoinFire immediately published an article about the arrests, providing a long block quote from Ferdous S.  In case you don’t recall, Ferdous is a former owner of MintPal (maybe even current owner, although the Company House records still list Chelsea Hopkins as the sole Director of the Company).  In reality, and after a day of questioning people about the alleged facts in CoinFire’s article, Ferdous admitted that the arrest, if there was one, happened around Christmas 2014, and not recently.

CoinFire’s failure to report when the arrest happened is unusually sloppy given CoinFire’s Mike Johnson recently touting the publication’s strict editorial standards.  Also unusual were the vague references to a “document” evidencing the arrest, the convoluted chain of custody of said document, the non-disinterested sources confirming the story, and a nameless “contributor.”  Frankly, the story did not read did like a typical Coinfire story: pretty well thought out, inclusion of a step-by-step break down of how they know what they know, etc.

You might recall that Coinfire’s accounts have been hacked recently following their reporting about GAW facing various legal land mines (ahem…motive).

What? Fake/planted story?  Surely not . . .  But what about Syscoin’s blog and Ferd’s “confirmation” of this story?

Respectfully, Syscoin and Ferdous lack credibility – they believed Moolah the first time when there were obvious signs of trouble (not to mention legal baggage associated with their own initial coin offering – would they really want to create a record of this in court?). Another possibility is that Syscoin and Ferdous collaborated with Moolah to invent a fake lawsuit to exit the chaos from Moolah and Mintpal’s collapse.  It is notable that Syscoin and Ferdous are adverse parties to one another in the moo bankruptcy and civil matter, yet supposedly have the same attorney (ahem, holy conflict of interest). Remember, Ferdous fundraised a bunch of bitcoins to go after Moolah to so to be able to salvage MintPal. They might even need some cash right now (more motive).

Backs can be scratched.

Moreover, Syscoin and Ferdous probably would like questions about their Moo involvement to stop.  This story is convenient cover.

Have any crypto news outfits (if there are any) reported on the fact that the High Court has already ordered (December 23rd) a dissolution order in Moo’s Bankruptcy case and the implications thereof?

How about this: it sounds pretty far fetched that Ferd or Syscoin would be under confidentially orders to not speak of Kennedy’s arrest in December. Criminal proceedings are separate from civil matters and typically a matter of public record absent sex crimes or crimes against children. Now, confidentially can be built into a settlement agreement between private parties, which might be why there’s no news. Settlement would be in Syscoin and Ferd’s interest given their legal baggage related to unregistered security sales and operating an unregistered exchange (i.e., then they don’t have to admit to these behaviors in court and on the record). It also explains why they would go after Kennedy under involuntary bankruptcy rather than theft, embezzlement, fraud, etc.

Another possibility is that this was an effort to smoke out Kennedy is who clearly too smart for the people he allegedly ripped off.

Finally, are we sure that story was actually written by real CoinFire folks? Otherwise, we’re simply left to believe that CoinFire goofed and/or misled its readers. For me, CoinFire has at least earned the benefit of the doubt.

I’ll be putting together some resources for those interested in GAW, Paybase, Paycoin shortly.

In the mean time, starting with suchmoon’s thread at BitcoinTalk is not a bad idea.

For today, there are two things to know:

1. Paybase looks to be on the ropes. There’s been another missed deadline, this time of a simple sign-up program for the paycoin BuyBack program.  The BuyBack program is designed to reward/reimburse paycoin holders expecting a minimum $20 price when they purchased their coins.
2. Paybase/Paycoin’s demise has been foreshadowed by @gawceo. Last night, @gawceo attempted to excuse bad behavior and poor performance by throwing his investors under the bus by implying that things would have gone better with Paybase and Paycoin had he been in total control. He then expressed a desire to make things right, in part, by letting his reader think he was contemplating starting over with a new coin and/or “base” for paycoin.