3.Gary Luis Alford — Direct (Part 1)
707 linesMR. TURNER: Yes, your Honor. The government calls Internal Revenue Services Special Agent Gary Alford.
THE COURT: All right. Mr. Alford to the stand, please.
GARY LUIS ALFORD, called as a witness by the Government, having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. TURNER:
MR. TURNER: Good morning, Agent Alford.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Good morning.
MR. TURNER: Who do you work for?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.
MR. TURNER: And what's your position at Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I am a special agent.
MR. TURNER: How long have you been a special agent with the IRS?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Approximately, six and a half years.
MR. TURNER: Where are you currently assigned to work?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: The New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force.
MR. TURNER: What's the Strike Force do?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's a task force of state, local and federal agencies and we are charged with investigating, disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations.
MR. TURNER: What are yours duties at the strike force?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: All the law enforcement duties whether it be surveillance, interviews, conducting warrants, arrests.
MR. TURNER: So did there come a time when you were assigned to an investigation of the Silk Road website?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, that was my first assignment.
MR. TURNER: First assignment at the Strike Force?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: When were you detailed to the Strike Force?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: At the end of March 2013.
MR. TURNER: And as part of your investigation into the Silk Road website did you make any efforts to identify the operator of the website?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I did.
MR. TURNER: And did you ever do any searches on the Internet as part of that investigation?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I did.
MR. TURNER: What were you looking for it?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I was looking for the first mention of the Silk Road website on the Internet.
MR. TURNER: And how did you search for the first mention of "Silk Road" on the ordinary Internet?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I started using Google searches.
MR. TURNER: OK. Did you restrict your search to certain date ranges?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes. When you search Google there's a task bar at the top where you can restrict the date or customize the date. So, I was aware of when the Silk Road allegedly had begun, so I had restricted the date, so I would search before that.
MR. TURNER: Why were you searching for the first mention of the Silk Road website?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Because the Silk Road website was on a hidden part of Internet TOR and TOR hidden services. So it does no good or let's say a person who is not familiar with it for it just to be there. You would have to have, someone would have to tell you about it. So I figured that it would have to be on a regular Internet and someone would have to tell you where to go on the hidden Internet.
MR. TURNER: OK. So could you take a look at the binder in front of you, Government Exhibit 301.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I see it.
MR. TURNER: Do you recognize that document?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I do.
MR. TURNER: What is it?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's a representation of a Google search.
MR. TURNER: That you did?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: As part of your search for the first mention of the Silk Road website on the ordinary Internet?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, a representation of what I did.
MR. TURNER: The government offers Exhibit 301 into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: No objection.
THE COURT: Received.
(Government's Exhibit 301 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: Publish that.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: OK. So first of all, what were you searching for in the Google search box?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Well, I was searching for -- I know that since it was a Silk Road website you had to have Silk Road. But that's a pretty generic term that we have a lot of responses. So I know all the addresses on the TOR hidden services we use a dot on it. So I would put a term that would be restricted to what would be on the Silk Road website.
MR. TURNER: Then there's this circle part of the screen. What does that reflect?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: That's how you would test the date range of what you are searching. So you can just put in an end date. So I'll put in January 31 because all information was that Silk Road had begun in February of 2011.
MR. TURNER: OK. So you kept searching back, pushing the date range further and further back?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Correct.
MR. TURNER: And here you were searching for the results before January 31, 2011?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, sir.
MR. TURNER: What did you get?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I got back what you see there, a response about a bitcoin talk forum.
MR. TURNER: So bitcointalk.org, what is a bitcointalk.org? You visited the site?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: What sort of site is hosted there?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's a discussion forum surrounding bitcoins.
MR. TURNER: So did you click on this link?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: What did it take you to?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It took me to a forum, a discussion thread.
MR. TURNER: Can you just remind the jury what a discussion thread is?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: On these forms you -- people would post a topic. So in this particular one the topic was a heroin store and people would comment and discuss that particular topic.
MR. TURNER: Could you take a look at what's been marked as Government Exhibit 302 in your binder.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: And do you recognize this document?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I do.
MR. TURNER: How do you recognize it?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's a screen shot that I took during ny investigation.
MR. TURNER: What is it a screen shot of?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: The heroin discussion thread.
MR. TURNER: When did you take that screen shot?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: June 3, 2013.
MR. TURNER: Is that, approximately, when you first visited that thread?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Government offers 302 into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: No objection.
THE COURT: Received.
(Government's Exhibit 302 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: In on the top third of the page.
MR. TURNER: All right. so this is bitcoin forum and here is the thread; is that right?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, sir.
MR. TURNER: And it's titled "The Heroin Store". And where do you find a mention of Silk Road in this thread?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Further down, approximately --
MR. TURNER: Crop page 6.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, page six.
MR. TURNER: All right. Could you zoom in in this area.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: So tell us what we're looking at here.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It appears that Altoid had made a posting on the bitcoin form on January 29, 2011 and this member "shadow of" is cut off had quoted it. And it mentions what appears to be a URL for Silk Road.
MR. TURNER: All right. I think if you scroll down AL little bit more you can see the full name, "Shadow of Harbinger"?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, that is the--
MR. TURNER: Can you scroll back up. All right. So first all there's in this part of the post right here? Put the name there.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: Just to be clear, the person who posted this overall post or the user is what?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Shadow Harbinger.
MR. TURNER: The post includes a post from Altoid?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Correct.
MR. TURNER: And what does that mean, a quote from another user like that?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Well, when you first on post on the bitcoin forum another person say if they're responding to something you specifically said they will often quote your statement in their response that people can follow along with the conversation.
MR. TURNER: So this is a quote from a previous post that appeared on the forum?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: And what was the time of that previous post on the forum?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: January 29, 2011 at approximately 7:44.
MR. TURNER: And the user who posted that post was named "Altoid"?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Correct.
MR. TURNER: All right. And it says:
What an awesome thread. You guys have a ton of great ideas. Has anyone seen Silk Road yet? It's kind of like an anonymous Amazon.com. I don't think they have heroin on there but they are selling other stuff. They basically use bitcoin and TOR to broker anonymous transactions. It's at -- and then there's that long onion address. Those not familiar with TOR can go to SilkRoad420.wordpress.com for instructions on how to access the dot onion site.
Let me know what you guys think.
And then there's Shadow Harbinger's comments?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: So here we go first bitcoin drug store response.
All right. So in the post Altoid mentions this SilkRoad420.wordpress.com site. Did that web page still exist by the time you were doing your Google searches in June 2013?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: No. It had been taken down.
MR. TURNER: Were you able to obtain an archived version of the site?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Where did you get that from?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Archive.org.
MR. TURNER: Could you take a look at what's been marked as 303 in your binder.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have it.
MR. TURNER: Do you recognize this document?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: How do you recognize it?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: That's a screen shot of the archive.org capture of the SilkRoad420.wordpress.com site.
MR. TURNER: The government offers 303 into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: No objection.
THE COURT: Received.
(Government's Exhibit 303 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: Can you put it up on the screen.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: Before you read it let me just read in a stipulation, your Honor.
It is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between the United States of America by Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Serrin Turner and Timothy C. Howard, Assistant United States Attorneys, of counsel, and Ross Ulbricht, by and through his counsel Joshua Dratel, Esquire, Government's Exhibit 303 is a screen shot of an archived web page that was once success at http://SilkRoad420.wordpress.com.
Government Exhibit 303 fairly and accurately depicts the contents of the http://SilkRoad420.wordpress.com web page as it appeared on February 4, 2011 when the web page was archived on the website http:web?.
OK. So could we zoom into this part of the screen?
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: So what did you find on SilkRoad420.wordpress.com?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It was a website that it gave you the instruction of how to access the Silk Road hidden site.
MR. TURNER: And it says: This is not the Silk Road but you are close. Silk Road is a TOR hidden service that allows you to buy and sell anonymously online using bitcoins. To access the Silk Road site you must use a TOR enabled browser. If you use Firefox you can simply install the TOR button plug-in.
And then jumping to the next paragraph, the third paragraph. It says:
At Silk Road every precaution is made to ensure your anonymity and security while connecting to the site from making your transactions to receiving your items, current offerings include marijuana, shrooms and MDMA. You may also sell items anonymously on Silk Road as an independent seller. So what are you waiting for. Install TOR and go to Silk Road now. Silk Road staff.
So after finding this web page did you do any further searches on Google?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I did.
MR. TURNER: What did you search for next?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: The SilkRoad420workpress.com.
MR. TURNER: Could you look at Government Exhibit 304. And do you recognize that exhibit?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: How do you recognize it?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's a representation of the Google search that I performed.
MR. TURNER: Your Honor, the government offers Exhibit 304 into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: No objection.
THE COURT: Received.
(Government's Exhibit 304 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: So when you searched for SilkRoad420wordpress.com what new thing did you find?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I found that there was another posting.
MR. TURNER: And where was this posting that you found?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It was at shroomery.org.
MR. TURNER: What was the date of posting?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: January 27, 2011.
MR. TURNER: The one we looked at from Altoid@bitcointalktor when was that?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Two days later January 29, 2011.
MR. TURNER: Could you take a look at Government Exhibit 305.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have it.
MR. TURNER: Do you recognize this exhibit?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: How do you recognize this?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: This is a screen shot I took during my investigation of the shroomery.org website.
MR. TURNER: The government offers 305 into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: No objection.
THE COURT: Received.
(Government's Exhibit 305 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: Could you zoom in here.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: OK. So what was the shroomery website?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's also a discussion forum for a discussion of illegal mushrooms.
MR. TURNER: And what did you find? What post did you find when you clicked on the Google link that you found as a result of your search?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I found this posting from Altoid and it also directed the reader to the Word Press site.
MR. TURNER: All right. And the user who posted it is reflected to the left?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: And when it says registered 1/27/11 what does that reflect?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: That reelects when the user registered the account on shroomery.org.
MR. TURNER: The Altoid user?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: When was this message posted?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: That same day.
MR. TURNER: It also directed you to go to SilkRoad420.wordpress.com?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, it did.
MR. TURNER: So after finding these two posts about the Silk Road by the user Altoid what did you do to try to find out who the person was behind the Altoid user name?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Well, I wanted to see all the posts that those users made on the relevant discussion forum.
MR. TURNER: And so what did you do to look into that?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Well, the user -- you could click on the user and see posts for that specific user.
MR. TURNER: Did you do that at shroomery.org?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Did you find any more posts?
MR. TURNER: What about bitcointalk.org?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: There were other numerous posts.
MR. TURNER: Could you take at look at Government Exhibit 306.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have it.
MR. TURNER: Do you recognize this exhibit?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: And how do you recognize it?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's a screen shot I took during my investigation of the post of Altoid on the bitcoin forum.
MR. TURNER: The government offers 306 into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: No objection.
THE COURT: Received.
(Government's Exhibit 306 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: Top left.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: OK. So this page is all the posts of Altoid that you were able to pull up on bitcointalk.org?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Exit out.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: Did you find the Altoid post on bitcointalk.org that you looked at earlier, the one that is quoted?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: No, I did not.
MR. TURNER: Can a bitcointalk user delete a post of theirs if they want, do you know?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes,they can.
MR. TURNER: Can the site itself choose to delete a post --
MR. DRATEL: Objection.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MR. TURNER: Have you visited bitcointalk forum?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes I have.
MR. TURNER: Have you seen any rules of the site, any moderator actions on the site?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: And from that review of the site do you know whether moderators on the site can delete content on the site?
MR. DRATEL: Objection.
THE COURT: Rephrase it.
MR. TURNER: Sure. From familiarizing yourself with the site, the rules of the site, do you know whether moderators on the forum can delete forum posts if they think inappropriate?
MR. DRATEL: Objection.
THE COURT: I will allow it. It's not a perfectly formed question but it's fine. You may answer it.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, they can delete and a user can delete.
MR. TURNER: Do you know if the user post is deleted can any quotes from those users posts still show up in other user messages?
MR. DRATEL: Objection.
THE COURT: Sustained. You need to build --
MR. TURNER: I was asking if he knows, your Honor.
MR. TURNER: Have you yourself tested the features of bitcointalk.org forum?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have.
MR. TURNER: Have you tried -- can you explain from that testing that you've done of the site, do you know that if a user's post is deleted can a quote of that post still show up on the site?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I can. I went to the site and I tested it. I went to the site and registered an account and I put a test post up. Subsequent to that post I then quoted that same post so I can see that it quoted my original post. I then went and deleted the original post and see if the second post remained, which it did. So I know that if someone can't post on a site someone can delete it. But if one quotes a post it'll remain on the discussion forum.
MR. TURNER: What were you able to find in the posts of Altoid that you were able to pull up on the bitcoin.org forum?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I found a post and I found the user had left an e-mail address.
MR. TURNER: Can you zoom-in on the full post here.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: Is this a post you are referring to?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, sir.
MR. TURNER: And what's the date of the post?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: October 11, 2011.
MR. TURNER: And it's titled bitcoin project development IT pro needed for venture back bitcoin start-up?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Hello. Sorry if there is another thread for this kind of post but I couldn't find one. I am looking for the best and brightest IT pro in the bitcoin community to be the lead developer in a venture backed bitcoin start-up company. The ideal candidate would have at least several years of web application development experience having built applications from the ground up. A solid understanding of OOP and software architecture is a must. Experience start-up environment is a plus or just being super hardworking, self-motivating and creative.
Compensation can be in the form of equity or a salary or somewhere in between.
If interested, please, send your answer to the following questions to rossulbricht@gmail.com.
What are your qualifications for this position?
What interests you about bitcoin?
From there we can talk about things like compensation and references and I can answer your questions as well. Thanks for in advance to any interested parties. If anyone knows another good place to recruit, I am all ears.
So at some point in the investigation did you obtain a search warrant on the rossulbricht@gmail.com e-mail account?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I did.
MR. TURNER: And when did you obtain that search warrant?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Approximately, October 8, 2013.
MR. TURNER: So this was after the defendant's arrest in this case?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Approximately, a week after.
MR. TURNER: And how does that work? When you obtain a search warrant on an e-mail account how do you get records?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Well, in this case you get a search warrant to swear out in front of a judge. Once it's sworn out then Google usually requires --
MR. DRATEL: Objection, your Honor.
THE COURT: I'll allow it. You may continue.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Google allows you to scan it and then send via e-mail a search warrant to them and then they produce the records and they usually produce the records in the form of a thumb drive.
MR. TURNER: Objection. So did you get the records from Google?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: When, approximately, did you get the records?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I will have to refresh my memory. It wasn't too long after.
MR. TURNER: I have a stipulation. Let's now read the stipulation, your Honor, if I may.
THE COURT: All right. Ladies and gentlemen, you recall from an earlier stipulation, not the one earlier today but last week or perhaps even at the end of the first week, that stipulations are agreements between the parties as to certain facts and you can take those facts as established.
You may proceed.
MR. TURNER: It is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between the United States of America, by Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Serrin Turner and Timothy Howard Assistant United States Attorneys, of counsel, and Ross Ulbricht by and through his counsel, Joshua Dratel, Government Exhibits 307, 308-A, 308-B, 309, 311, 312, 312-C, 314, 315-A, 315-B, 316, 317, 320, 321, 322, 324, 325, 329, 330, 1000, 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1006, 1007, 1008 are true an accurate copies of e-mails contained in e-mail account RossUlbricht@Gmail.com as of December 3, 2013.
All of the e-mail were maintained on computer servers controlled by Google Inc. and were produced to Internal Revenue Service Special Agent Gary Alford pursuant to a court order served on Google on or about October 22, 2013.
Government Exhibit 1000, 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1006, 1007 and 1008 and particular are logs on the record chats conducted through Google Talk, an online chat service operated by Google Inc. Google also provided the option to conduct chats off the record, OTR, which are not stored at Google Chat Talk either parties communicating through the chat.
I'll read the remainder later.
OK. So you didn't receive these records until after the defendant was arrested; is that right?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Correct.
MR. TURNER: First of all, in reviewing the contents of this RossUlbricht@Gmail.com account did you find any evidence that the user of the account was Ross Ulbricht, the defendant in this case?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: And what kind of evidence did you find along those lines?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I found communication to and from the defendant. I found pictures representing the defendant. I found e-mails regarding financial accounts of the defendant.
THE COURT: Mr. Turner, did you mean to offer the documents that you'd read, the exhibit numbers of.
MR. TURNER: I can just do it now or when I go through them.
THE COURT: All right. So long as you haven't forgotten if that was your intent. You can do it whenever.
MR. TURNER: The stipulation is Government Exhibit 803.
MR. TURNER: Take a look at Government Exhibit 307.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Got it.
MR. TURNER: Do you recognize that document?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: This is one of the e-mails you found in the account?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It is.
MR. TURNER: What is it of?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's a e-mail that, from the defendant to an individual named Crystal with an attachment and it states: I cut hair today. What do you think?
MR. TURNER: The government offers 307 into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: No objection.
THE COURT: Received.
(Government's Exhibit 307 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: Zoom in quickly.
MR. TURNER: So the bottom of the message is: I cut my hair today. What do you think? Which is an attachment to the e-mail?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Page two, the attachment?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: You find our other e-mails, photos of the defendant like this in the account?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: So going back to the posts from Altoid. Did you find any e-mail messages in the defendant's e-mail account that were addressed to Altoid?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Take a look at Government Exhibit 306-A -- excuse me -- 308-A.
(Pause)
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have it.
MR. TURNER: What is this document?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's an e-mail from shroomery.org website to Altoid with the address RossUlbricht@Gmail.com.
MR. TURNER: Government Exhibit 308-A into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: Previous objection, your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Those objections are overruled 308 A is received.
MR. TURNER: So this message is from the shroomery. Do not reply at shroomery.org?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: To Altoid. And then the user's e-mail address is indicated as RossUlbricht@Gmail.com?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Subject is shroomery message board account has been created. Date is 1/27/2011, 6:22 p.m. When we look back at shroomery post of Altoid, when did that indicate the account had been registered?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: January 27, 2011, same date.
MR. TURNER: It says: Dear Altoid, you have successfully created an account on the shroomery message board. Thanks for signing up. Before you can use your account it must be activated. To complete the process, please, click on the following link or paste it into your browser.
Did you find any other e-mails in defendant's e-mail account addressed to Altoid?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Could you take a look at Government Exhibit 308-B?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have it.
MR. TURNER: Do you recognize this document?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: What is it?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It is answer e-mail I found in the Defendant's G mail account.
MR. TURNER: And what is it about?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It is an e-mail from Drugs Forum to the defendant addressed to Altoid.
MR. TURNER: Government offers 308-B into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: Same.
THE COURT: Those objections are overruled. 308 B is received.
(Government's Exhibit 308-B received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: OK. This is from February 9, 2011?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Correct.
MR. TURNER: About two weeks later, the e-mail we just looked at?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: It said private message, the Drugs Forum, have you been to Drugs Forum, by the way?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have.
MR. TURNER: What kind of website is it?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Also a discussion forum about illegal substances.
MR. TURNER: It's from Drugs Forum, date February 9, 2011 to RossUlbricht@Gmail.com.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: It says do not reply to this e-mail.
Dear Altoid, have you received a new private message at Drugs Forum from Fungus Head entitled "you have received an infraction at Drugs Forum". To read the original version, respond to or delete this message you must log-in here. This is the message that was sent.
Dear Altoid, you've received an infraction at Drugs Forum. Reason: Spamming. This infraction is worth 100 points and may result in restricted access until it expires.
Zoom out.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: Original post. URL attach user received. No action required.
Has anyone heard of Silk Road? They claim to be an anonymous market place that uses TOR and bitcoin to broker anonymous transactions. They seem legit but wanted to see if anyone here has any experience on the site. The hidden URL is -- and then there's a link -- or you can go through http://SilkRoad420.wordpress.com. Would be interested to hear any feedback. All the best, Drugs Forum.
So you say you have been to Drugs Forum?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: And you've been to a number of other discussion forums as well as part of your research?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Based on that experience can you explain what an infraction is on that discussion forum?
MR. DRATEL: Objection.
THE COURT: Why don't you do a little bit more in terms of building a foundation.
MR. TURNER: Do you know what an infraction is on a discussion forum?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: How do you know?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's usually a violation.
MR. DRATEL: Objection.
MR. TURNER: How do you know?
THE COURT: I'll allow it.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: When you go to discussion forum there's a term of service. An infraction is when you violate the terms of service on that discussion forum.
MR. TURNER: What was the reason according to this e-mail that Altoid was being notified that he gotten an infraction?
MR. DRATEL: Objection.
THE COURT: Overruled.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Spamming.
MR. TURNER: Where is the spam located?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: In that box where the message was sent.
MR. TURNER: OK. Could you put up Government Exhibit 240-A which has already been admitted into evidence. This is journal file labeled 2010. The jury's already heard. Could you put it in top panel.
MR. DRATEL: I am going to object, your Honor.
THE COURT: Overruled.
MR. TURNER: Could you go to page two.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: Could you pull it up so we can get part of the top panel.
(Pause)
BY MR. TURNER:
MR. TURNER: It says: While all of this was happening I began working on a project that had been in my mind for over a year. I was calling it Underground brokers but eventually settled on Silk Road. The idea was to create a website where people could buy anything anonymously with no trail whatsoever that could lead back to them. I had been studying the technology for a while but needed a business model and strategy. I finally decided that I would produce mushrooms and I could list them on the site for cheap. I worked my ass off setting up a lab in a cabin out near Bastrop off the grid.
Did you find the e-mail notice Defendant's E mail account about renting a place in Bastrop Texas?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. DRATEL: I am objecting to the reading before with no question.
THE COURT: Overruled. You may proceed.
MR. TURNER: I should just make clear, have you reviewed the contents of the defendant's laptop as part of your investigation?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: That evidence was given to you by the FBI?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: All right. So could I take a look at Government's Exhibit 314, please. Do you recognize this document?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: How do you recognize it?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's an e-mail in the Defendant's G Mail account.
MR. TURNER: What's it about?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's a e-mail regarding Craig's List about renting a country home in Bastrop.
MR. TURNER: The government offers 314 into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: Previous objection, your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Those objections are overruled.
GX314 is received.
(Government's Exhibit 314 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: Put that in the bottom panel, please.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: Subject $825/two bedroom country home (Bastrop) from Ross Ulbricht date July 6, 2010, 6:37 p.m. Is your house still available, Ross? And then there's a Craig's List listing.
Jump down to page two.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: Yes, it is. Give me a number to call you back.
Reply?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Did you also review something on the defendant's commuter labeled SR accounting?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: What was the nature of that document?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: That was a spreadsheet of expenses.
MR. TURNER: Could you publish Government Exhibit 250?
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: The dates of these entries are all from July 2010. The first one is "start", then it's "lab clothes", "carryover from fall 2009", "petri dishes", "Hepa filter", carryover from fall 2009. Did you find anything in the government's -- excuse me -- in the defendant's e-mail account about any items like this?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: What sort of things did you find?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I found e-mails related to the purchase of the Hepa filter.
MR. TURNER: Can you take a look at Government Exhibit 315-A, please.
(Pause)
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Got it.
MR. TURNER: And what is this document?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It is an e-mail from Sac sells or Sac distributors to the defendant regarding the purchase of a pure clean room Hepa filter.
MR. TURNER: The government offers Exhibit 315-A into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: Same objections.
THE COURT: Those objections are overruled. Government Exhibit 315-A is received.
(Government's Exhibit 315-A received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: Subject orders shipped from SAC sales, date October 1, 2009 to RossUlbricht@Gmail.com. Then it says: Thank you for your purchase to SAC sales. Your order has been shipped. The description a precision air pure flow clean room Hepa filter and the total cost is $88.94. What was the cost of the expense reflected in the spreadsheet?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: $89.
MR. TURNER: Could you put go back to the top panel and scroll down some.
THE COURT: Mr. Turner, we are going to take a short one break before we end, so you don't have to do it right now but at some point when you reach a logical breaking point.
MR. TURNER: Sure.
MR. TURNER: OK. There's some more entries here. Now we're in August of 2010. We have containers, jars, hose, glue guns, plastic sheet, one for gas, one for humidifier. Again, did you find any e-mail receipts in the Defendant's e-mail account reflecting any of these items?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: Take a look at Government Exhibit 315-B.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have it.
MR. TURNER: What is this document?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's an e-mail from Amazon.com to the defendant regarding a purchase he made.
MR. TURNER: The government afters 315-B into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: Same objection.
THE COURT: All right. Those objections are overruled. Government Exhibit 315-B is received.
(Government's Exhibit 315-B received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: Header information, subject, your order with Amazon.com. The date 8/16/2010, Ross Ulbricht. Thank you for your order, Ross Ulbricht.
Scroll down, please.
(Pause)
MR. TURNER: OK. So the delivery estimate is given for a cool mist humidifier, $33.42?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: How does that compare to the spreadsheet entry that you saw?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's within 42 cents of the 33 dollar entry.
MR. TURNER: So were these the only items you found like this that matched -- excuse me. Were these the only e-mails you found on the defendant's e-mail account that matched items on the spreadsheet or were there others?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: There were numerous others.
MR. TURNER: Government Exhibit -- actually I'll stop there, your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. So ladies and gentlemen, let just take a short break and then we'll come back and we'll sit until noon. I want to remind you not to talk to each other or anybody else about this case. Thanks.
(Jury not present)
THE COURT: All right.
(Continued on next page)
(In open court; jury not present)
(Witness temporarily excused)
THE COURT: All right. Let's all be seated. It's just going to be a short break. I just wanted to make sure that the jury had some break this morning.
I think in terms of the objections, the documentary objections are in the nature of Vayner and hearsay. And the Vayner objections we have gone over before for this particular witness, the documents that he is getting in to, which there's been an objection on Vayner grounds, have been appropriately authenticated. In terms of hearsay, they are not for the truth.
But I do want, Mr. Dratel, to give you an opportunity to make the objection relating to the reading of the document because that's one that we haven't yet encountered.
MR. DRATEL: Right.
THE COURT: You and I are familiar with another trial with a similar objection, but I wanted you to make your record and have the government respond.
MR. DRATEL: Thank you, your Honor. First on the issue of initial exhibits, I didn't object because they were authenticated. He was just saying what he did on the Internet, but they shouldn't come in for the truth either because it's really just about his process, so therefore they were -- in other words, he said I took the screenshot, so it was the screenshot, but, in fact, it shouldn't come in for the truth either.
But with respect to the reading, the government shouldn't get a chance to sum up periodically throughout the case. There wasn't a question or an answer. I understand the linkage between one exhibit and another exhibit if a question is posed to the witness to do it, but not with the wholesale reading of a post that has already been read in at the time that it was put in evidence. I think through Mr. Kiernan, that Mr. Howard read the same part. So, in that context, it's got to be narrow in the sense of not exploiting the fact that it's in evidence for the government to just simply reiterate its evidence and get a midterm summation.
THE COURT: Mr. Howard.
MR. TURNER: This is evidence already admitted into evidence. This is evidence that this agent reviewed and it's important to give context -- it is part of the question. The question is you reviewed this, did you find any evidence that links to it in some way in the defendant's email account. Without that context, the question doesn't make much sense and there's no reason why the jury needs to be confused as to the relevance of the questioning going on.
THE COURT: I allowed the question. And so long as it's tied in a manner that you've suggested or otherwise not cumulative, in other words, the government is not just slapping up a document time after time without needing it for purposes of context, I will continue to allow it but will be mindful of if there's a point when it becomes cumulative.
MR. TURNER: I note a couple of things. First of all, most of the exhibits that we're going to be fronting in this manner the jury has either not seen before or have not seen the portions from which I'll be reading.
But can I make a record on the hearsay point?
THE COURT: Yes.
MR. TURNER: These statements are not human statements and the law is very clear under the federal rules that the hearsay rules only apply to human statements. We have some automatically-generated statement by Amazon or by a forum, a discussion forum software, those are machine statements. I can give your Honor law from several circuits.
THE COURT: How are you going to get in that it was done by a machine as opposed to a human being sitting there cutting and pasting his rules and slapping it onto an infraction?
MR. TURNER: That's a different matter. I'm talking about, for example, just the fact of the post, I think the fact that the Altoid post shows up there and we can have the agent testify that he tested out the discussion forum software, and the post automatically flashes up on the screen, you don't need a human being to type it up there.
THE COURT: I thought you were referring to the infraction language from drug forum.
MR. TURNER: No. I'm just speaking generally when we are talking about these computer-generated the statements.
THE COURT: Let me be clear: Your point is that the word Altoid as a username when it is appearing on a forum post is, according to the testimony, automatically generated?
MR. TURNER: Right.
THE COURT: Therefore, because it's automatically generated, it's not a, quote, statement or a declarative statement for hearsay purposes and, therefore, the hearsay rules don't apply?
MR. TURNER: Right. The hearsay rules exist to protect against problems of witness credibility, witness memory, out-of-court declarant's memory, perception. Those sort of issues, those sort of concerns do not apply to statements automatically generated by computer. All I'm saying is I'm not focusing on one exhibit we talked about in particular, but when we're looking at these emails things like Amazon receipts, etc., those are documents that are automatically generated by computer.
THE COURT: How do we know that?
MR. TURNER: We can have the agent testify that he shopped at Amazon before and it automatically pops up. We can have a custodian from Amazon actually testify to that, but I think it's common knowledge.
THE COURT: We'll see whether it's contested, but I just want to note that if you're going to assert that something falls within an exception or there's not even the need to go to that exception, that it falls outside of a rule, while I might intuitively think it or somebody else might intuitively think it, I want to make sure that we either have a legal or evidentiary basis.
If it's been established in prior cases that such kinds of messages are automatically generated, then so be it. It would strike me as the kind of thing where potentially it could become a question of fact. So I just want to make sure that you understand that I hear your legal proposition; whether you've got a sufficient factual basis for that proposition I think is a second question.
MR. TURNER: Okay. Just to be clear, we do fully agree with your Honor that these things are not coming in for the truth in any event, but we just wanted to note that even if it were, these are not human statements. And if we need to make more of a record on that, we can. But these are the sorts of things that are generated when you do things on the computer automatically by the system of the company you're using.
THE COURT: Mr. Dratel, first, and then I'll let you say whatever you would like, but I want to make sure that I understand your position on whether there's a factual dispute as to whether certain of the Amazon messages, for instance, are made by a machine or made by a human, similarly with respect to Altoid.
MR. DRATEL: Right. There's no evidence that they're computer-generated. I don't even know what that means in this context; that unless we are in a world of artificial intelligence that I don't believe we have reached yet, there are no spontaneous computer-generated pieces of information. They're all programmed by human beings. If I cut and paste something and then hit a keystroke, is that automated?
THE COURT: I think that's a legal question.
MR. DRATEL: Yes, but even as a factual question, it's not in evidence, so it's not established, so I'm not conceding anything on that point.
THE COURT: Here's what I think the government should do for this point just so we're clear -- there's plenty of time for the government to do if it chooses to, it's up to you folks -- one, I'd like to see some of the cases. I don't doubt that if you say they exist, there are cases. I don't know whether there are cases on both sides. I have not investigated this issue, so I would appreciate whatever cases there are, that you folks would like to make me aware of on either side of this issue to understand the legal landscape; but, secondly, as a factual matter, I think that even if the legal landscape says automatic population of text on a page is not a declarative statement for hearsay purposes, I think it must be, not having read these cases, that the analytical background to that is there's a certain amount of reliability in the coding of the statement into the program, and so that, therefore, you get the reliability of the declarative statement through the computer program. If that's the case, then you need to demonstrate factually that, in fact, you can rely upon that analytical framework. That's my guess. You guys will look at the cases and decide whether or not you're within striking distance of the parameters, but I would think that would be close to the analytical foundation.
Let's take a short break.
Mr. Dratel, was there anything else you wanted to say? We were only dealing with that one issue.
MR. DRATEL: I think that's it.
THE COURT: Thank you. Let's take a short break and come right back out.
(Recess)
(Continued on next page)
(In open court; jury present)
THE COURT: Will you all be seated, please.
Mr. Turner, you may proceed.
MR. TURNER: Thank you, your Honor.
BY MR. TURNER:
MR. TURNER: Agent Alford, you testified that you reviewed the contents of the defendant's computer as part of your investigation?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: And you reviewed the contents of the defendant's email account?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: And did you do any comparison between the two?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: And what were you looking for?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I was looking for things that matched information on the defendant's computer versus information in the Google account or Facebook account.
MR. TURNER: Okay. We'll get to Facebook in a minute.
Let's go to Government Exhibit 240B. This has already been admitted into evidence. This is another journal entry on the defendant's computer. This one is dated 2011. Can you zoom in on the first eight lines or so.
It says "Still working on good wagon books and Silk Road at the same time. Programming now. Patchwork php mysql. Don't know how to host my own site. Didn't know how to run bitcoind. Got the basics of my site written. Launched it on freedomhosting."
Do you know what freedom-hosting is?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: What is it?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It was a site where you can host websites.
MR. TURNER: Websites where?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Usually on the dark web.
MR. DRATEL: Objection.
MR. TURNER: You mean Tor?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Tor.
THE COURT: Sustained, but you can repeat that last Q and A so it's clear.
MR. TURNER: Sure.
MR. TURNER: Just to be clear, where were websites on freedomhosting, where did they exist? On Tor or the ordinary Internet?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Tor.
MR. TURNER: So can you see any reference in the defendant's email address, in the defendant's email account about freedomhosting?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: Can you take a look at Government Exhibit 309. Do you recognize this document?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: What is it? What is it from?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's an email from miller@roothosts to the defendant regarding freedomhosting.
MR. TURNER: Government offers Exhibit 309 into evidence, your Honor.
MR. DRATEL: Hearsay and Vayner, your Honor.
THE COURT: Those objections are overruled and Government Exhibit 309 is received.
(Government's Exhibit 309 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: Can you zoom in at the top third there, please. That's good.
MR. TURNER: So this is an email, the subject is "Re: Tor hidden service." And I think the chain actually starts down at the bottom, so if you can go down there.
On September 24, 2010 at 12:36 a.m. Ross Ulbricht wrote "Hi, is it possible to set up a tor hidden service on your servers?"
Go up. This person is writing back from someone at roothosts.com?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: And the reply is "Hello Ross. No, sorry. I suggest you look at Freedom Hosting or KOGEOX," and several dot-onion addresses are provided below that.
As part of your review of the defendant's computer, did you also look at some of the Tor chat logs on the defendant's computer?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I did.
MR. TURNER: Did those include Tor chats with the username h7?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Could you please publish GX 224, which has already been admitted into evidence.
Okay. And could you go to the bottom of page two, please, and zoom in on that. This is page 17 of an 88-page chat log. The date is October 30, 2011.
H7 says "How was your week?
Myself: Not bad. I will be traveling soon, so I have much to do before I go and I didn't get as much done as I wanted, but this week I will focus on getting out of town.
H7: Okay."
Go down to the next page.
"h7: Is it just you over there?
Myself: I have people to take care of, but I'll be traveling alone. Is that what you mean?
H7: No, when you leave town will anyone be looking after the servers?
Myself: Oh, yes indeed.
H7: Because I see "The Silk Road Staff" written in messages but I don't know if it's just you or not.
Myself: It's basically just me, but more and more I am trying to spread the responsibility around. You are a big part of that."
Can you go back to page two again, please, the bottom.
MR. DRATEL: Objection, your Honor.
THE COURT: Overruled.
BY MR. TURNER:
MR. TURNER: It says "myself: I will be traveling soon." And the date of that is October 30th, 2011.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: In the defendant's email account, did you see any evidence of travel plans around this time?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: Can you take a look at Government Exhibit 329, please. Do you recognize this document when you get to it.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: What is it?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's an email from CheapAir to rossulbricht@gmail.com regarding airline tickets.
MR. TURNER: The government offers Government Exhibit 329 into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: Hearsay and Vayner, your Honor.
THE COURT: Those objections are overruled. GX 329 is received.
(Government's Exhibit 329 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: Could you scroll down. Let's see. Let's do the header information first, please.
MR. TURNER: This is dated October 18, 2011; is that right?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: It says "Confirmation for Ross Ulbricht."
Could you scroll down, please. Can you zoom in on the flights. It's hard to read here but can you describe what flights were shown?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: There's an itinerary. One leg is dated Tuesday November 15, '11, for Austin, Texas to Denver, Colorado; then there's a second leg from Denver, Colorado to Los Angeles, California; then there's a third leg from Los Angeles, California to Sidney, Australia.
MR. TURNER: Does the itinerary include a return trip on the second page?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, it does.
MR. TURNER: And what is that return trip?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: The first leg is Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012.
MR. TURNER: About six months later?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, sir. And it's departing from Sidney, Australia to San Francisco, California; and then the final leg is April 3rd, 2012, from San Francisco, California to Austin, Texas.
MR. TURNER: Could we take a look -- could we go back to Government Exhibit 224, please, up at the top.
MR. DRATEL: Objection. This is the fourth time it's going to be read.
THE COURT: Overruled. Overruled.
MR. TURNER: It wasn't read before.
THE COURT: You can proceed.
MR. TURNER: Could you go to page four, please and zoom in to the conversation at the bottom. Can you actually bring it into the center panel. Pages 52 through 53 of the 88-page chat log. December 15, 2011 is the date of the chat starts.
"myself: By the way, I'm going to be unavailable from about 4 am UTC Friday to about the same time on Sunday, so I'll send you your pay tomorrow.
h7: k, you forgot me last week
h7: and can u send 100USD to Silk Road HR for this weeks bounties?
myself: you are right, so sorry about that. sending $3k now for last week and this week."
MR. TURNER: So, did you find any emails in the defendant's Gmail account about any travel plans the weekend of December 15, 2011?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: And what did you find? Take a look at Government Exhibit 330.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I found an email from Cally Ulbricht to the defendant regarding a houseboating trip.
MR. TURNER: Is that a Government Exhibit 330?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, it is.
MR. TURNER: Government offers 330 into evidence, your Honor.
MR. DRATEL: Objection, your Honor; hearsay and Vayner.
THE COURT: Overruled. Government Exhibit 330 is received.
(Government's Exhibit 330 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: Could you zoom in on the message headers? That's good.
Subject: Houseboating final checklist from Cally Ulbricht date December 15, 2011 to Ross Ulbricht. "Seafarers, if you remember nothing else for our trip tonight remember these important points: We'll be setting off at 7:00 p.m." and it goes on to offer various instructions.
And actually, if you could go down, Mr. Evert, to page three. Listing for Boat 2 and person number ten is listed as Ross Ulbricht for both days?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: That's correct.
MR. TURNER: Take a look at Government Exhibit 226I, please. Zoom in. So who is this chat with?
MR. TURNER: And what's the date of the chat?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: January 26, 2012.
MR. TURNER: So this is page 383 to 384 of a 1,096-page chat log and it says:
"myself: also, there is no sr user called smedley, I guess he hasn't make him yet
myself: pretty great. speaking of spliffs, they are abundant here, so I may just have to partake." Emoticon.
"vj: Ah, I'll send him a note about that - when he said he was on at both sites, I guess he meant the private forums and the SRForums
vj: Yeah, had zero sleep last night due to leg/muscle cramps, and there was in the mail today a 1oz. time of Tangerine pheno AOrange from ~s, that's taken about a month to wend it's way to me. Kismet, I say.
vj: 1oz. tin., oops.
vj: Are you managing to relax?
myself: yea, for sure. friendly folks everywhere. very relaxing environment.
vj: Sounds very Thai
myself: haha, I didn't expect you to start guessing
vj: Heh - was a comment, not a guess. I love thailand for the weather, the people, and the weed ain't bad either."
Can you pull back up. Can you go down to the bottom of this chat. This is from a few days later, February 1, 2012, is that right?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: It starts out:
"myself: ok, yea I keep all of my income/expenses from the site on a spreadsheet
vj: how many concurrent users does the site have?
myself: I'm actually not sure
myself: I think I have 24 hrs, lemme see
vj: k
vj: <-- making a coffee, back in 3
myself: unique users logged in: Day: 6073 Week: 17589 Month: 38021 Quarter: 72830
vj: interesting numbers - the big question is how many concurrent."
You can skip down to the next page, Mr. Evert. The chat ends -- I'll start here:
"vj: So yeah, that's my things for today then. Don't need coin from you for a while, and we'll let utah/smed interact a bit more before we make any decisions there. Anything on your mind today?
myself: took the day off. ran around beaches and jungles with some girls, very little on my mind." Emoticon.
"vj: girls and jungles, life dont' get any better for o'l Dread Pirate Roberts, eh.
vj: But we'll hear no more of your fancy agorist beaches and babes talk!"
Now, you mentioned earlier that you also looked at Facebook records?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: Whose Facebook account did you review?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: The defendant's.
MR. TURNER: Just a moment, your Honor. I'd like to read in another stipulation. This is stipulation 810. It's Government Exhibit 810.
It is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between the United States of America by Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Serrin Turner and Timothy Howard, Assistant United States Attorneys, Counsel, and Ross Ulbricht, by and through his counsel Joshua Dratel, Esquire, as follows:
One, Government Exhibits 318, 319 and 331 are true and accurate copies of records obtained in the Facebook account Ross Ulbricht registered to the name Ross Ulbricht and to the email accounts rossulbricht@gmail.com and rwu103ftsu.com. All of the records were maintained on computer servers controlled by Facebook, Inc. and they were produced through the Internal Revenue Service Special Agent Gary Alford pursuant to Court order served on the days of on or about October 22, 2013.
Government Exhibit 318 in particular is a status update that was posted by the user to the Facebook account to the user's Facebook wall. The Facebook user's wall is a space on the user's Facebook profile where the user can post messages, attachments and links that are visible to anyone who can view the user's profile.
Government Exhibit 319 in particular is a photograph stored in the Facebook account and user-created album entitled "Thailand, February 2012" and uploaded by the user to the account on or about March 29, 2012.
MR. TURNER: So, can you take a look at Government Exhibit 319, please, actually, 318.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have it.
MR. TURNER: And what is this that you're looking at?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's a Facebook post.
MR. TURNER: Is this from the Facebook records you received for the defendant's Facebook account?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It is.
MR. TURNER: The government offers Exhibit 318 into evidence, your Honor.
MR. DRATEL: The same objection.
THE COURT: The objection is overruled. GX 318 is received.
(Government's Exhibit 318 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: So we saw the January 26 chat earlier. This is dated what?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: January 27, 2012.
MR. TURNER: It says "Surprise, I'm in Thailand now. Hanoi was way too cold and allure of a warm beach was too much."
Can you take a look at Government Exhibit 319.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have it.
MR. TURNER: Mr. Evert, can you put the last page of the chat back up on the top panel.
MR. TURNER: So we saw the reference before to beaches and jungles. What does Exhibit 319 reflect?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's a picture of the defendant in front of what appears to be jungles and beaches.
MR. TURNER: And is this from the Facebook account again?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: The government offers Exhibit 319 into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: Same objection.
THE COURT: The objection is overruled. GX 319 is received.
(Government's Exhibit 319 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: There's the picture and down below, could you zoom in, Mr. Evert, here.
MR. TURNER: What was the name of the album that was found in?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: "Thailand, February 2012."
MR. TURNER: Look at 226H. These have already been admitted into evidence.
MR. TURNER: Can you pull it up, Mr. Evert.
MR. TURNER: This is another chat with VJ that you reviewed?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: And the date of the chat is what?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: February 7, 2012.
MR. TURNER: It starts out "vj: tumbling is the key, and we need to set up a frickin' HUGE series of small servers running transactions all over the fucking place to the point that regression analysis is impossilbe because the error level progresively compounds until it could branch anywhere, and everywhere, at once. Think millions of transactions per portion of coin rec'd. We need a statistician, as I've said before, keep on the lookout for one.
myself: I know a good statistician
vj: World class?
vj: know - or know of?
myself: I'll check up on her latest publications
myself: I know her and her husband well
vj: dude, no
vj: but you can ask her who are the top 5 folks in the world in her field
myself: ok."
MR. TURNER: Go to the next part of the chart. This is February 13.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: It starts off: "myself: here is my convo with my stats friend:
Myself: who are the top 5 statisticians in the world?
Myself: Wow, good question.
In terms of lifetime achievement or current "hotness"?
myself: Someone you could take a life or death stats problem to and be confident in their answer.
myself: So this is a request for consultation, not an evaluation of the field?
For business I take it," and it continues on.
MR. TURNER: Did you find anything in the Defendant's Gmail account about statisticians like this?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: Would you take a look at 322, please. What did you find?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I found an email from Ross Ulbricht; and in the email, the same language that is in the Tor chat is contained within the email.
MR. TURNER: The government offers Exhibit 322 into evidence.
MR. TURNER: That's what you were looking at when you just described that email --
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, sir.
MR. TURNER: -- just for the record?
MR. DRATEL: Objection; hearsay and Vayner.
THE COURT: All right. Those objections are overruled. GX 322 is received.
(Government's Exhibit 322 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: So can you zoom into the header information, please. That's fine. You can start at the bottom. From Ross Ulbricht to someone named Joseph: "Subject, statistician: Who are the top five statisticians in the world besides Heather?"
Can you scroll up.
Next chain, "Wow, good question. In terms of lifetime achievement or current "hotness"?"
Reply: "Someone you could take a life or death stats problem to and be confident in their answer."
Can we take a look at Government Exhibit 232C. It's another Tor chat.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: And who are the -- who is the other person on the Tor chat this time?
MR. TURNER: Could you zoom into the top half. The date of this chat is what?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: March 3, 2012.
MR. TURNER: It starts out "da: Hey I'm curious about something
myself: what's up man
da: When you first started SR it must have been hard to get the words aorund, it being a .onion
There was a mod KindBud who was part of GreenCo, who was here from week one. Which means they most liekly heard it form the place you first advertised. But then they dissapeared, and ever since I have wondered what happened (we were in the middle of a conversation and had been doing allot of buissness).
myself: Ya know I almost forgot about KindBud and GreenCo. I honestly don't know what happened to them.
da: How did you get the word out there? It would almost seem you owuld have had to all ready know email vendors, etc. Or else you advertised at other forums, which means I might be able to find them else where.
myself: It's gotten back to me on more than one occasion that a vendor has been busted, but whenever I ask further, it's always from deals irl gone bad
da: (If you can;t tell that's cool)
myself: you know what I did
myself: I made one thread on the forums at bitcointalk.org
myself: and made a blog at wordpress.com with instructions
myself: both go taken down pretty quickly
myself: the rest was word of mouth
myself: and pr"
So, where did we see the first quote we looked at from Altoid?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It was from the bitcointalk forum.
MR. TURNER: Let's go back to the SR account and spreadsheet please, Government Exhibit 250, page five. And zoom in a few lines down here. Scroll up, please. That's fine. Okay.
MR. TURNER: So, we're looking at late April 2012 in the spreadsheet and there's an entry here for a laptop.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: And what was the purchase price indicated on the spreadsheet for it?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: $1,150.
MR. TURNER: And did you see in the defendant's email account any record of a laptop purchased around this time?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: Can you take a look at Government Exhibit 312, please.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have it.
MR. TURNER: And what are you looking at?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I'm look at an email from Amazon.com to the defendant's Gmail account regarding a purchase of a Samsung series laptop.
MR. TURNER: The government offers Exhibit 312 into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: Same objection, your Honor, hearsay and Vayner.
THE COURT: The objections are overruled. Government Exhibit 312 is received.
(Government's Exhibit 312 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: Can you scroll in ton header information and zoom in on the header information first.
MR. TURNER: The date of this email is April 26, 2012?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, it is.
MR. TURNER: From Amazon.com to rossulbricht@gmail.com?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, it is.
MR. TURNER: And the subject is "Your order with Amazon.com"?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Correct.
MR. TURNER: And zoom out, and could you zoom into this area.
MR. TURNER: The item at the bottom is Samsung series 7NP700Z5A, silver 15.6-inch laptop, and what's the price indicated for the item?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: $1,153.98.
MR. TURNER: How does that compare to the spreadsheet?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's only within $4 of the amount listed on the spreadsheet.
MR. TURNER: Could you tell from the defendant's email address how this laptop purchase was paid for?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: How could you tell?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I saw purchases of Amazon gift cards through the use of bitcoins.
MR. TURNER: Would you take a look at Government Exhibit 312C, please.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have it.
MR. TURNER: Are these the emails you were just referring to?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, it is.
MR. TURNER: The government offers 312C into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: Same objection.
THE COURT: GX 312C is received. The objection is overruled.
(Government's Exhibit 312C received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: What do these documents reflect?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It reflects that they received payment of a certain amount of bitcoins for a $500 Amazon gift card.
MR. TURNER: When you say "they," who are you referring to?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: BTC Buy.
MR. TURNER: You've been to that website?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: That specific website? No, I have not.
MR. TURNER: Have you been to other websites that offer gift cards for bitcoins?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Me personally? No, I have not.
MR. TURNER: Withdrawn.
How many emails like this did you see in the account here?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: From BTC Buy?
MR. TURNER: Yes.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Approximately four.
MR. TURNER: How many are reflected in 312C?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Three.
MR. TURNER: How much are they each for?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: They are for each $500.
MR. TURNER: And what are the dates of those purchases?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: They are all April 25, 2012.
MR. TURNER: And how does that compare to the purchase of the laptop?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's approximately for the same amount as the purchase price of the laptop.
MR. TURNER: And the date? How does the date of those gift card purchases compare to the purchase of the laptop?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I believe it's the day before.
MR. TURNER: Did you find any emails in the defendant's email account referencing the name Frosty?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes, I did.
MR. TURNER: Would you take a look at Government Exhibit 311.
GARY LUIS ALFORD: I have it.
MR. TURNER: And what does it reflect?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: It's an email from Peter to Ross Ulbricht where he addresses the defendant as Rossty Frosty.
MR. TURNER: If government offers Exhibit 311 into evidence.
MR. DRATEL: Same objections, hearsay and Vayner.
THE COURT: GX 311 is received. The objections are overruled.
(Government's Exhibit 311 received in evidence)
MR. TURNER: This is from someone named Peter to Ross Ulbricht who referred to him as Rossty Frosty?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: Yes.
MR. TURNER: Is that the only email you found like that in the defendant's email account or were there others?
GARY LUIS ALFORD: There were others.
MR. TURNER: I'm at a natural stopping point.
THE COURT: Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, we're now going to break until what I hope is Wednesday morning at 10:00. Make sure that you follow Joe's instructions in terms of getting the court auto line to call into to see whether the court is open, and then Joe will otherwise communicate with you. And I'm hoping that we all plan on being here ready to go Wednesday at 10:00.
I want to remind you not to talk to each other or anybody else about this case and, again, to stay away from any media reports about the case. And if you run across any articles of any kind, whether on the Internet or in hard copy or on the television, do make sure that you turn away from them and that you do not read them or listen to them at all, all right?
Thanks very much. Get home safe.
Mr. Alford, you may step down, as well. We'll resume Wednesday at 10 a.m. we hope.
(Jury excused)
(Witness temporarily excused)
(Continued on next page)
(In open court; jury not present)
THE COURT: Ladies and gentlemen, let's be seated and see if there is anything that we need to go over.
One thing that I wanted to note is that we had had a discussion about whether or not the hard drive had been properly authenticated in advance of Mr. Beeson's testimony and the Court's ruling at that time, and I made myself a note to this effect, was that it was received subject to further -- any further authentication. And the Court believes that there is now fully a sufficient foundation for the receipt of the hard drive, so that connection has been made.
Are there things which you folks would like to raise in advance of our break until Wednesday morning?
MR. TURNER: No, your Honor. Thank you.
MR. DRATEL: Nothing, your Honor. Thank you.
THE COURT: I look forward to receiving the jury instruction materials from you folks with track changes in Word tomorrow, late afternoon, if you can you can email it to my chambers email box. Thank you.
(Adjourned to January 28, 2015 at 10:00 a.m.)