The Ulbricht Family

by Virgil Vaduva

“We are all at the mercy of tyrants but sometimes beauty shines through all their tyranny and we can find joy in small things” – those were my words forwarded to Ross in prison by his mom Lyn

Lyn Ulbricht is mostly soft spoken, and you would never know about her heartache and passion unless you ask about Ross Ulbricht, her son. Every time I see her she gives me a big hug, smiles brightly and first asks me about the family and the kids. She usually looks tired but determined to continue to get justice for Ross, who was sentenced to life in prison for running The Silk Road. She is a heart-broken mother who’s life has been turned upside down by a failed justice system, manufactured charges, corrupt FBI agents, DEA lies and an out of control judge.

Now information made public within the last 24 hours seems to actually prove virtually everything Lyn has been saying about the investigation into Silk Road, with all the plot twists and turns of a foreign spy film, everything from hackers, blackmail and even kidnapping, torture and perhaps murder.

The original Silk Road developer and architect going by the name of Variety Jones has been in hiding since the Silk Road arrests were made public, but he has suddenly come out of hiding with an incredible story about a corrupt FBI agent who has been attempting to hunt him down and force him to give him access to a bitcoin wallet worth 300,000 bitcoins or roughly about $75 million.

Variety Jones’ real name or identity is ultimately irrelevant. La Moustache has done extensive work on tracking him down and identifying him, and all the signs point to Variety Jones being a Canadian going by the name of Thomas Clark who currently lives in Thailand. He has been active on various online forums for years, especially forums discussing the cultivating of Marijuana.

The lengthy post made by Clark on the forum MyPlanetGanja.com outlines in detail the exploits of what he believes to be an FBI agent (using the monicker Diamond) forcefully attempting to gain access to tens of millions of dollars worth of stolen Silk Road bitcoin. The FBI agent spent the previous couple of years attempting to befriend Clark in order to gain access to Ross Ulbricht’s bitcoin wallet, and ultimately, when Clark turned him down, the agent went mental:

“He went fucking mental, and started going on about his backup plan. He would kidnap Ross Ulbrichts sister, or mother, or ideally both. Get a video capable phone in front of Ross Ulbricht, and he’d give up that fucking pass phrase, and Diamond would have them tortured until he did…”

Personally knowing Lyn Ulbricht and what kind of person she is brings me to feeling quite enraged about these new revelations. It is difficult to imagine what kind of psychopath would take to even think up such a scenario, nonetheless, here it is, the wide open mind of a dangerous, mentally ill man with access to virtually unlimited resources, LEO capabilities, funds and technical infrastructure capable of sustained cyber-terrorism.

Clark’s PGP signature and history of posting activity on MyPlanetGanja confirm his identity. While I guess the story itself could be manufactured, that is a very remote possibility as he has provided copies of signed PGP messages to the FBI.

Clark’s efforts to unmask the real identity of Diamond were not successful. He eventually gave up the hunt and decided to contact Serrin Turner, the Silk Road investigator responsible for the work behind the Silk Road trial and research. This was back in March. Turner has not yet responded, and the signed PGP messages confirm the communication is legit; at least the signed messages check out. VICE also confirms that they verified through back channels that Clark is legit and he is who he claims to be.

After months without reply from the FBI, Clark finally went public with his story, outlining in painful detail the conversations, exchanges and plans the criminal FBI agent had for the Ulbricht family, including torture and perhaps even murder.

Clark made it clear that he is not turning in because he is afraid of the FBI, rather he is turning himself in to protect Lyn and her daughter from what appears to be a well-funded, violent and psychopathic FBI agent who is ready to go to any length in order to gain access to a large stash of bitcoin.

And to make matters even more interesting, earlier today the FBI confirmed they are investigating Clark’s allegations. In a comment made to VICE, an FBI spokesman said,

“We are aware of the allegations made by Variety Jones and have forwarded them to the appropriate office for review. The FBI takes claims of employee misconduct seriously as we are an agency with the mission of upholding the law.”

I’m really not sure how seriously the FBI is taking claims of employee misconduct, especially considering the fact that they were notified about Diamond’s threats of kidnapping and torturing months ago.

And one thing is certain, the idea of kidnapping and torturing a woman, especially someone who is a family friend, is prompting some very strong feelings of anger towards Diamond and the incompetence of the FBI to root out serious corruption in their midst. It’s repulsive and inhuman. Nothing justifies this kind of behavior.

Note: Lyn was unable to comment on this article and on the recent developments related to Variety Jones as her attorneys advised her to avoid public statements.

Virgil Vaduva is a Libertarian security professional, journalist, photographer and overall liberty freak. He spent most of his life in Communist Romania and participated in the 1989 street protests which led to the collapse of the Ceausescu regime. He can be reached at vvaduva at truthvoice.com.