Crypto6 Trial Day 3
We had a turnout of ~15 supporters throughout the day. Not bad~ given we’ve got 10-14+ days of trial here. We’re up to maybe ~55 folks who have come out and supported (some may be on multiple days) so far. I want to say thank you to all those who have taken time off work (even if only for half a day) to come out and support Ian & the crypto6. A supportive community is one of the things that make living in New Hampshire like nowhere else.
One of the best parts of the day was when Mr Bitcoin entertained us in the morning by trying to enter the courthouse!
Here is the video:
Here is a summary of the days goings on:
Prosecutor continues asking questions of the last witness from the prior day’s trial.
FinCEN employee Theodore Valahakis
Q Shire Cryptocoin operation directed at kiosk?
A Yes
Q Why was the letter sent?
A General campaign
It was to identify non-compliant businesses
The letter is not itself the registration requirement, and so a business must register whether or not they get a letter
Defense cross examination:
Q Jury should not assume Ian Freeman was placed on any notice by the federal government?
A Correct
Prosecutor introduces new witness to stand
Name: Kathryn Thibault
FBI agent
24 years with FBI
Prior experience: state trooper Maryland
Role: Supervisor
Based out of Knoxville, TN
Does polygraph work
Prior worked in Bedford NH
Worked on: Child exploitation & white collar crime, example: bank fraud, money laundering, and romance scams
Romance scams usually target people through social media where scammers befriend people and then deplete the persons of all their money claiming they need funds and the scams usually focus on elderly victims.
Ways scammers send money: Master card / Visa cards
-Cash transactions
-Wire money
-Personal checks
-Bitcoin
Money mule: a person who moves assets from those they don’t know for obstruction from other persons
Scammer grooms person to become mule
Then the mule moves money to another account
Hard to ID where everything is ending up
Q Part of Ian Freeman investigation?
A Yes
2017
Lead case agent till 2020
Did lots of interviews
Chats were not available while working on case
Ian Freeman’s PC was not available
I interviewed with people doing wire transfers for Mr Freeman
I based investigation on suspicious activity report
Q how many SARs did you review?
A More than 100
I did not interview 100 though
I focused on New Hampshire with only a few
Q Did you have another source of info?
A Yes, local police
Q Where were the victims located?
A All over the country
Q What was the average age?
A Over 65
Q Did the investigation involve banks?
A Yes
Q Another part of case?
[hmm she sounds coached]
A Kiosks
Q How did you find these Kiosks?
A Through online site coinmaps
Then I bought bitcoin at kiosks
Q Why?
A To see what was required to buy from kiosk and to see what wallet the coins came from
Q Was this your money?
A No, it was government money
Q Where were the machines?
A Murphy’s taproom, 101 local goods
They asked how much to buy and then scan for QR codes on phone containing wallet addresses
Then you feed the bills in and it sends bitcoin to your wallet
Q How long does it take?
A No very
Q Did it require a name?
A No
Q Did it require a drivers license?
A No
Q Did it require a photo?
A No
Q Did it require a phone #?
A No
Q Did you buy at a machine not owned by Ian Freeman?
A Yes, and it required a state ID, no prepaid phone # was allowed, and the owner communicated with the buyer
Q Was finger print scanner required on Ian Freeman’s machine?
A Not to my knowledge
Crypto vend rules:
1. Must use own wallet
2. Crypto is your responsibility to keep safe
3. All sales final
4. Do not tell our staff why you are buying bitcoin
Q Is that what you experienced?
A Yes
Q “If you believe something went wrong please contact us at”…
Witness identifies email in letter from FinCEN matches letter on machine
[note this is evidence displayed on a screen]
name on email of vending machine matches email sent by ian to free giveaway price winner
Phone # matches rules sign and localbitcoin data old phone #
[again evidence displayed on a screen]
I obtained a warrant for search of Ian Freeman’s residence based on this
The house is a duplex
73 is right hand side
73 is where Ian Freeman lives
75 is on left hand side is where Mr Nobody lives
Q Please describe it
A White structure, green, white
Special agent tivo
Q Were you able to ID a video from internet related to front porch?
A Yes
Q Where?
A On Odysee
Q Interview occurred after?
A yes
Q Did you watch clip of video?
A Yes
Q Did the full video have audio?
A Yes
Q Was freeman speaking?
A Yes
Q What is it?
A It’s a stop sign
It says stop and then “paying taxes”
[this has been on the porch as long as I’ve lived in New Hampshire since pre-2016 and numerous people have lived and rented here, this doesn’t actually tell you ANYTHING, but it is intended to bias the jury against the defense… in practice the Shire Free Church does pay taxes or the property would have been seized long ago]
Q What was on 75 side?
A Living room with kitchen upstairs
Q Any shrine?
A No
Q Any chapel?
A No
Q Any meeting rooms?
A No
Q Were others living at 73 side?
A Yes
It was a mirror image of other side, but living room was a radio station
[this is wrong, it’s got recording equipment for a radio show, radio stations require big antennas and all sorts of stuff you’d not find at this address]
Q Any shrine?
A No
Q Any chapel?
A No
Q Any meeting rooms?
A No
The prosecutor brings up a picture of the radio studio as evidence
On left is radio equipment, chair, documents
Desk is behind chair
Q What is procedure of search?
A Take pictures of house is necessary before conducting search
Then take picture when everything of interest is found
Everyone volunteered to help with search
[something tells me this was a paid gig, but on the other hand 365 days of criticizing the feds on Free Talk Live is probably is incentive enough, not that I’m unsure about them being paid]
If anyone has a question they ask me if we should take it
Photo shows folder and the folder has “FBI Crypto” on it
Another has “IRS Bullshit” on it
[this is weird, all it could do is bias a jury against a defense and has no value other than to show Ian Freeman dislikes the government, it doesn’t reveal if he paid taxes, but it suggests he was at least doing something in regard to government demands, certainly that isn’t what the government was trying to do with the photo though]
[humorously the photo also shows shire society and signers on it, a rosary, and peace signs hanging on the wall related to the church that is “fake”, but no one mentions these]
Defense cross examines witness
SAR report interviews Renee Spinella & Andrew Spinella
Q Did you link a scammer with Ian Freeman?
A No
Q Don’t scammers often team up with money launders?
A I don’t know
Q Did you know Ian Freeman required ID?
A I didn’t know that
Q How many devices did you try in state that weren’t Ian Freemans?
A Don’t know
Q How many require ID in the state?
A I don’t know
Q How many machines did you look at?
A I only compared Ian Freemans 6 and 1 other non-Ian Freeman machine
I looked on YouTube for how machines worked
[she has no idea how many if any require a fingerprint/ID]
Q You shouldn’t draw generalizations from 1 machine, right?
A I can’t tell you what to do
Q Do you know how long machine was at Murphy’s Taproom?
A No
Q Know of any complaints?
A No
Did not ask owner of bar about issues or complaints
It was not part of my investigation
“Don’t talk to staff sign” is shown
Q Have you seen signs like that before?
A No
Q But only looked at one other machine, right?
A Correct
Q Part of process to buy crypto was to agree to it, right?
A Not really
[apparently terms don’t matter if you don’t have to click an I agree button … so much for the internet full of privacy policies and other terms of service]
Q Sign though says that right?
A Yes
Q Are you able to verify FinCEN letter ever got to email?
A No
Q You were at the search in Keene on site agent?
A Yes
Q Was this a violent search?
A “officer safety”
Q Ian Freeman was non-violent?
A Yea
We know he was not violent
But but “lots of people had weapons”
And and were “coming and going”
Q Were people displaying weapons day of search?
A No
We had several months of footage from cameras focused on the house
Q You were spying on completely innocent people?
A We were checking people
Q Would you have checked my license if I had been there?
A Yes
Q Why was the specific day of search selected?
A Lots of people involved, coordination
Q Asked about shrine, does that mean a building can’t be used as a church?
A Well not that I would recognize
Q Is there something specific that makes it a church?
A No
[wow- so umm it could be a church then????]
Q You heard of radio ministries right?
A Yes
Q Ian filed a form for religious purposes?
A Yes, but it had a PO Box on it
[this is wrong, it had a mailing address similar to a PO box though]
Q How long did the search take?
A The whole day
Q How did you search?
A Used a swat team
“gave opportunity to leave on own”
“they did not exit on own”
Q What time was the search taking place?
A 6AM it was, dark out
Q People are generally still asleep at that hour right?
A Yes
Q Before searching did you do due diligence and know who was coming and going? Did you do a criminal background check on residents?
A On some
Q No record and has right to carry?
A Ian freeman had no felonies
Q Did he have firearm?
A No
Q Matt roach?
A no felonies either
Nobody had criminal record
Q You know who would be there right?
A No
[At 6am??? If this was a 6PM raid, ok, but after 5 year investigation they know exactly who is home at 6AM, maybe she is a liar, or just incompetent, but either way I sure hope this came off right to the jury as one or the other or both]
Q Does the Freeman house have security cameras with the ability to video record?
A Yes
Q Did you know agents tried to destroy his cameras?
A I know they attempted to disable
[they showed video of them intentionally damaging the cameras, not disabling them]
Q What is a bearcat?
A It’s an armored vehicle used by police for tactical purposes
[yea, sourced from the military and designed for the military no thanks to government programs]
Q Is that what is in the video?
A Yes
Q How many people from swat team were there?
A I don’t know
[there were 56 FBI agents there according to the prosecutor from one of the very first hearings]
They play a video of explosives being thrown at window
Q What were tact team equipped with?
A Shields…
Q Looks like automatic weapon, no?
A Yes
[conveniently failing to mention the most obvious stuff from the video]
Q How many agents? 6?
A Yes
Q What did agent rip down?
A That was for officer safety!
I don’t know what that was
[they ripped down a peace sign, but she conveniently won’t admit what it was.. seems to be a pattern here of the government agents not recognizing stuff indicative of a ministry]
Q Any indication that there was any verbal resistance?
A I don’t know
Q Any reports of threats?
A Not that I know of
Video of Mr Nobody is played for court
Q Any firearms or weapons?
A It does not appear in that frame
[what about the other frames??]
Video of Matt coming out of house is played for court
Q What is Matt Roach’s attire?
A He is in a t-shirt and has no shoes on
Q Any resistance from Matt?
A No
Video of Ian coming out is played for court
Q What is Ian Freeman’s attire?
A Sweatshirt
Q Who is with him?
A Dog
[I guess Ian Freeman wasn’t about to let them shoot the dog, he’s holding him in the video as he comes out, certainly to protect him from the police as they like to shoot dogs]
Video of Bonnie coming out is played for court
Q The one you weren’t sure was there?
A Yea
[this women interrogated Bonnie and lied about it on the stand for some reason or other]
Q Does she have anything on feet?
A I can’t see in this frame
[how convenient, she’s avoiding answering the question, Bonnie was barefoot and made to put on shoes with glass in them]
Q Any indication of resistance?
A No
They play a video of an agent attempting to and actually destroying a camera with what was I believe an automatic firearm
Q What is agent doing?
A Disabling camera
Q Is this standard procedure?
A I’m not on swat team so I wouldn’t know
Q Might be that they didn’t want to see people like a jury seeing them do bad stuff?
A We are professionals!
[she acts all shocked!]
[ room laughs hysterically given we’ve all just watched video of them behave unprofessionally and then lie about it, the judge however erupts in anger at the courtroom because of automatic reactions people have when other people say absolutely batshit crazy stuff, at least some of this video including the FBI destroying the camera is posted publicly and available at TheCrypto6.com or on odysee directly at https://odysee.com/$/embed/FBI-Raids-FTL-2021/beccf363b14222723dde8bad26f18c4ed3a0136b?r=uzeVx1wy6w7bXhFWKiHNnHAiQvPfC7kA ]
Q What is that?
A Bearcat with battering ram
Q People already came out right?
A I wouldn’t know. I don’t know if this was cut.
[I’m not certain if this video is all at TheCrypto6.com, but it probably is and you can tell the order of stuff happening based on the time stamps on the video]
Prosecution now cross cross examines the witness
Q Was this the only search?
A No
Several other sites in state were searched
Q Did any others have swat teams?
A No
[this is interesting given that I’m 99.999% sure that other searches involved folks who owned firearms also which means “officer safety” was nothing more than an excuse to target the person they were really wanting to hurt, ie because Ian Freeman is behind Free Talk Live and Ian Freeman’s show has people on criticizing not just the government but the FBI, IRS, Treasury, and every other government agencies every night for 3 hours 365 days a a year on around 200 radio stations and then other outlets as well ]
Q Why swat this location?
A High power rifles and a full size sword
[what she is calling a sword was Mr Nobody’s gardening tool]
Q Was anyone hurt in this event?
A No
[this is actually incorrect, the victims that the feds were targeting were injured by the feds blowing in of a window and Bonnie or Ian’s girlfriend, now wife received aid after release from federal detainment, and the primary one injured was not involved in cryptocurrency sales or the reason for which they were raiding and no charges or accusations have ever been made about Bonnie during this investigation]
Q Where was the call out?
A It happened
[keep in mind they played the video which showed the FBI pulling up to the house and at no time did they call out unless a flash bang grenade is now what constitutes calling out]
“They just didn’t cooperate”
[it’s a few minutes after 6am so even if they had called out it’s unlikely anyone would have heard it given they were asleep, but I was not and fortunate enough to have good instincts and some forewarning and arrived before anyone inside new the feds were outside about to bust in, and I watched and filmed the whole raid from across the street, and then a block away and can attest to the fact that no “call out” occurred as was required by the warrant given it wasn’t a no-knock issued warrant]
Q Time?
A 6AM
Q Once the residence was secured what happens?
A Swat then leaves
Q What were you wearing?
A Cargo pants traditional pants
[I think what he was trying to demonstrate was just how cold it was outside and what outrageous conditions they made the victims of the raid suffer through, remember one person had no shoes on! It was something in the negatives, I want to say -20 below, but even if it was only freezing it was COLD and people were made to wait outside for a bit]
Q How far is Matt’s bedroom from Ian’s bedroom?
A Not far
A picture of matts room is shown to the court
Q You know what was found in matts room?
A Weapons, firearms
Q Do you see a bunch of weapons?
A Yes
Defense cross examines witness
Q You knew of Matt Roach before the search right?
A Yes
Q You knew he had no criminal record, right?
A Yes
Q You know he had a completely separate room right?
A Yes
Q There was a call out right?
A Yes
Q Do you know that dust or flakes are occurring in the video?
A I don’t know
[it’s a video that clearly shows a flash bang grenade of some kind being thrown at the house and going off]
Q Do you know if a flash bang grenade is a call out?
A No
[is she seriously suggesting she does not know if a flash bang grenade is a call out? If this doesn’t destroy her credibility with the jury there is no hope for a win at this trial]
[ Day 3 continued, as I ran out of time to include the rest of the the original story here it is below ]
New witness called
Name: Kevin Mccusker
FBI agent
Portland main office
2 years with this office
Prior he was with the Boston field office
His was part of the white collar crime squad
Duties included:
Gathering evidence and info and speak to witnesses about violations of federal law
[ I believe this is the defense cross examining below and the prosecutor mostly just asked questions about the guys qualifications above ]
Q Background info before volunteering?
A Yes
Q You aware of warrant
A Yes
Q Role?
A Assisted in search of residence
A photo of the studio is presented as evidence on screen
A crypto photo is shown
Q Did you hear anything?
A No
Q Call out?
A No
Q Flash bang grenade ?
A Don’t recall
Q How far away were you?
A ~1-2 blocks
Q How many total agents?
A “I don’t know”
15-20 maybe
The amount was appropriate based on the size of the search
[56 is the correct number of FBI agents according to the prosecutor from an early hearing, but there were many many more law enforcement agents and others there]
Q What does that window look like?
[This is a window on the Free Talk Live’s Studio of which they were raiding]
A Broken
Q Do you know why?
A No, not specifically
New Witness
Manchester Police Detective
Name: feather ? [it was hard to hear]
Patrol officer
He was on a task force for FBI: state st task force
It focused on drugs and violent crime
Q Sometimes you help other groups?
A Yes
Q Who did you help?
A Katie
Several search warrants
Where: 142 Chestnut Rd, Derry NH
Q Had info?
A Search warrant had minimal information
Photo of house shown on screen [like above]
Q Involved in swat?
A No
Looking for electronic devices
Found 2 phones
New witness
Special agent
Name: Scott Odonell
FBI Bedford residential agency
27 Years with FBI
Helping with search
“general review”
Information on what to seize
659 Marlboro St in Keene
[This is Aria’s house, a co-defendant in the case that took a plea deal]
The government put up a bedroom photo
Explained found cellular telephone on bed
The agent interviewed aria briefly
[ Aria was smart enough to be what they’d call uncooperative, providing no useful information voluntarily for them to use against her ]
New witness
Detective
Name: U Kaljita
Brookline police Department, MA
A detective since 2015
Patrol
Certified forensics examiner
Worked for computer crimes laboratory
Did cell phone and call line analysis
Qualifications included:
12 week course in advanced crime scene analysis
Learned about bitcoin
- How to acquire data from difference devices
- Continuing education
- CCPA self certified basic and advanced forensics analysis
ID and preserve device in field
In lab same role take measures to preserve data
Specialized in general digital forenstics
Most common is cell phone
Examples ~1,000 phones
Certified in tool used with cell phone
Celltrack program used to preserve data and make human readable
Catalogs into pictures videos etc
Produces compressed image (cell brite)
Role: extract, process, review, and examine Ian’s devices
[this was weird, because it seems they are taking Aria’s devices and then saying they are ian’s not really clear]
Exhibit #1
hdd contains three cell brite reports
Did you analyze three devices maintained
Q Is examination similar?
A Yes, of Ians 3 phones examined, photo’d and assigned unique ID
Analyzed in Chelsea, MA
- no network
- take sim card out
This is important because people can remotely wipe phones
[wipe is another term for delete the contents of the phones, and thus evidence]
Q Next?
A Notes on devices
Q Then?
A extract data from device with cell brite tool premium
Q How do you know it’s accurate?
A Hash of data file alphanumeric value, like a fingerprint like 15- digits and can be longer but not sure how big
Q How do you use to know you made accurate copy?
A Check the values match
Q Did you check the value of all three devices?
A Yes
Cell brite physical analyzer
At first in digital format
Tool makes 1’s and 0’s human readable
ie pictures, videos, etc
Q Is that what can be searched?
A Yes
Q Is this like on phone?
A No
The government puts up a picture of photo data that has been extracted, or more like meta data, information about the phone
It includes same email as listed in localbitcoin.com data bitcoinbombshell user
I sent report to case agent
Q Do you get everything?
A Not always
We make a bit for bit copy
Q Can you get deleted data?
A Sometimes
I may have remnants of data but not all data
[ this is how people get convicted of murder when they didn’t actually murder anyone, those remnants of data may be “How to kill” but not include “mocking bird”, the one makes you think they searched for how to kill someone and if combined with the later just looking up a classic book ]
New witness
Chris Rietman
Q PA to NH? Why?
A It was more expensive to live in PA than NH, loss of rights
Q Why NH?
A I looked around country and found NH
Q Why NH?
[Notice the prosecutor here is trying to force him to say he’s a free stater because there are folks on the jury who indicated that they hate free staters yet still are on the jury]
A It’s the live free or die state
Libertarian
I’m not a free stater
Small L libertarian
A persons rights need to be respected
As long as you are not infringing on anothers rights you should be free to do what you like
Q Why Alstead?
A High speed internet and not too far out and affordable
Southwest NH fit the bill better than other locations
Q Did you meet Ian Freeman?
A Yes, when we moved
It was suggested we attend a meetup with a bunch of people
Q Is he your friend?
A Yes
Q Met a few times?
A Yes
Q You testify via agreement with government?
A Yes, for $40
[this was hilarious, the government was paying him to testify, hmm might bias him in favor of what the government wants him to say]
Q What have you been doing in NH?
- PC [repair?] work
- Routers to avoid government survailance
- Start business
- Route 101 goods llc
- Mighty Moose Mart
Q Who owns building?
A Rented from Shire Free Church Holding LLC
Q Tenent?
A Ian Freeman
Are you a member ?
No one has told me they are members of the Shire Free Church, but Ian is
Q You paid rent?
A Yes- gave deal on rent when starting business
Q Direction of chruch for crypto church of new hampshire
A Yes [I think]
Q Do you know religious principle?
A No
Q Have you been to a service?
A No
Q Did it stay 101 good till today?
A No
Q Why closed?
A People don’t buy gifts often
Changed to convenience store
Q Arrangement changed?
A Ian invested in business, yes, no rent if we kept space for Bitcoin embassy.
[this is actually an incorrect understanding of what the situation was… as a part owner in the business here I can attest to the fact that the convenience store rented a portion of the building from the shire free church, but as the shire free church was investing in the business too it provided the space at no charge… though this could have changed with some future negotiation once the business was off the ground potentially]
Q Was there a vending machine prior?
A Yes
Q Who was the owner?
A I don’t know, Ian operated it
Q Were you happy to have it on when you took over?
A Yes
Q Why do you like bitcoin?
A Not subject to whims of banks and politics, the dollar lost 98% of its value
Q Did you know bitcoin was pseudo anonymous?
A Yes, there is no name associated, it just works
No law can change bitcoin, it doesn’t care
Q Did you have keys to the machine?
A No, originally no
Q Do you know how it works?
A In general yes
Q Did you make video?
A No
Q Are you in video?
A Yes
[you can watch the video they played in court yourself here: https://freekeene.com/2018/08/19/how-to-buy-cryptocurrency-like-bitcoin-and-dash-in-under-two-minutes-in-keene-nh/ ]
They have terms of service of the vending machine blown up and on screen to read
Part of it said:
~”our staff don’t need to know what you use them for”
Q Video about dash?
A Yes
Q What did QR provide?
A It was to wallet
Q Did they have to ID?
A No
Q Is that how it worked?
A Yea, thats how it worked
had two keys and one let you in machine
Q What did machine charge?
A It charged no more than 14%, but it was based on market rates and changed over time, 8-14%
2017 or 2018 maybe
Q Neither had ID?
A No, it was not enabled
Q What was your role?
A I helped with machines if people had questions
Q Did you get compensation?
A I don’t remember, but most value was bringing people into the store
[I think he’s referring to when it was 101 goods here as I don’t think the Mighty Moose Mart business received anything from the machine, as that was entirely separate, something I made sure of before investing in the Mighty Moose Mart business]
I follow the principle in life I don’t need to know what you do with your money
Up to $5,000 limit
Q Did you talk to people putting money into machines?
A Yes
I did not what to know that people investing and certainly not if they doing something criminal
Q Could you do serial transactions?
A I suppose, but I never saw anyone do that
If something was troubling we would ask people to leave
A man who owned a small business for example said that they were ~”going to cut off power and I need to pay in bitcoin”
I told him it was a scam
In another incident a women came in with lots of cash to buy bitcoin
Women would get money from someone for auto parts
If we suspect scam we would stop it
Q Did you see mostly older people?
A No, all ages
High school kids all the way up to elderly
Occasionally we had family member buy bitcoin
love of life once and romance scam
Q Did you talk to Ian to do anything to stop it?
A No
Q Did you do anything?
A Yes, I made a sign to warn people of common scams
A photo with a sign saying Bitcoin Scam Warning is shown as evidence
Q But no change in functionality of machine?
A No
Q You said you had interest in bitcoin?
A Yes
Q Did you have an idea for bitcoin?
A Yes, I had idea to put bitcoin machines in airports
Q Did you decide your machines would have KYC/ be registered?
A Yes, a minimum of KYC
Q Did Ian see it?
A Yes
Q Did he have an interest?
A Yes, “no, not for me” he said
[this is hearsay, but I’m sure also true]
Q Did he ever talk to you about other machines?
A Yes, 3-4
Q Did you know he had other methods for trading Bitcoin?
A Selling bitcoin yes
[note how chris does not say trading bitcoin, he says yes to selling bitcoin]
Not know anything about it other than localbitcoin.com
Q Did he ask you to do any of this?
A I was frustrated with td bank at the time
I told him I would shut down my account
He asked if he could use it to I guess sell bitcoin
Q Did you sign agreement?
A Yes
Shows the agreement to assist shire bitcoin outreach operation 2017 on screen
Q Did ian pay you from time to time?
A Yes
ian admin
chris: assistant
Q Do you know who wrote the agreement?
A No
Agreement has to turn over account for exchange outreach
non-taxable
bitcoin undermines state going to war
20% pd to assistant
chris says made $100-1500 in early days / month
Q How were you paid?
A pd by check, cash app, or similar
Q Did you sign td bank [blank] checks and hand to freeman?
A Yes
Q Did you have to deal with account issues from time to time?
A Yes
Usually when my account was being scammed and people would claim deposit in wrong account and bank would give scammer money back
I would talk to teller sometimes
Q Did you ever talk to customer of freemans business?
A No
Q Did you open bitcoin account for exchange for freeman?
A No, not worth the time, too much paperwork
Q Did you open a 2nd bank account?
A Yes, Bank of america
Q Did you intend to use for 101 local goods?
A I intended to provide freeman access
[I believe they have put up a bank statement document on screen of which chris is referencing to give these answer ]
Q How much money?
A $787,300.63 in 1 month
Q Is counter credit cash?
A I guess
Q $185,000 huffman 4 transactions
Schmit $65,000
Said it was wire for orphanage
outgoing wires all say to ian freeman
and checks too
Q Not made to shire free church right?
A Yes
[Yea, except that doesn’t mean it wasn’t for the shire free church, you can write your legal name or the name of your business and BOTH are acceptable to the bank]
Q Did you want to stop?
A Yes, banks were getting irritable by cash deposits, and it took too much of my time
They show a document on screen as evidence that says it’s a termination agreement
2/12/2020
It includes a $6,000 severance
Resignation from crypto churhc
The defense now cross examines Chris Rietman
Q you were involved in it for quite a while?
A Yes
Q Why did you gravitate to it?
A It was money not controlled by banks and governments
Q Good arrangement for you?
A Yes, 101 local goods was not doing well and this supplemented the income for the business
Q Is Ian a good guy?
A Yea
Q Kept agreements?
A Yes
Q Did he ever indicate he operated a money laundering service or worked with scammers?
A No
Q What did he express?
A He expressed gratitude someone was using bitcoin for good, to build orphanages overseas
Q Did he encourage you to prey on old ladies?
A No
Q What did scam warning sign say?
A Bitcoin Scam Alert
it included information on common scams like romance scams and utility bill scams
It was in a public space where people would see it
Q Why was it called a vending machine?
A The term vending machine means one way, it’s not connected to the banks
A vending machine is something you put money into and get something of value out of
Q Who owned it?
A Ian or the the shire free church
Q Product sold was by church, someone else?
A Yes
It did not go out to third party, it was sending it’s own product to individuals, yes
[this is super important, because if it had sold someone elses bitcoin it would be an exchange and not a vending machine and an exchange would be regulated under money transmission laws]
Q The terms of service said “you must use a QR code from wallet you control”, Why?
A he does not want third party involved in transaction
Another term was “Don’t need to know you want them”
Q Did anyone explain why they wanted anything at 101 local goods?
A No, no where they got there money from
Q What were the demographics of people using the machine?
A They were all over the place
Q It wasn’t a hang out for some particular demographic?
A Right
Q Did freeman ever say to let people be scammed?
A Ian was like we shouldn’t care what people do with there own money
Q Was anyone concerned with fees?
A Yes
But the machines were charging about market rate
[I’d say they were below market rate during much of their operating life, though got more expensive as the government cause the cost of running things to go up, but still were well within market rate!!!]
[ An interesting thing occurred at this point that we noticed… there was a change in courtroom procedure because the public wasn’t standing for the judge, but we were standing for the jurors, and thus the judge is now walking in after the jurors whereas before he was walking in sitting down, and then having the jurors come in, the public was showing respect for the juror, but not the judge ]
chris rietman defense cross examination
kiosks
Q Lack of ID you agree right?
A Yes
Q Did anyone like that?
A Yes, it was nice for a $20 purchase
All people felt they should not have to ID just to buy something
fees were variable
I often asked % they were
I always expected the price to be higher
Checks
Q you kept account open?
A Yes
Q That account actually making 101 money, right?
A Yes
[ This is an important point the defense lawyer is making, while Ian was using those checks, this activity was bringing in money for 101 goods, so it was part of 101 goods business ]
Q How much did it make route 101 goods?
A I don’t recall, but we never retired
Maybe $1000-2000 / month
Q Same with other account?
A Yes
It was keeping our business alive
Q Ian was a pretty good landlord right?
A Yes
Ian was always willing to work with us during hard times
Q Good landlord then?
A Yes
Q good guy to be in business with?
A Yes
Q Good friend?
A Yes
Prosecutor asks some more questions of chris
Q You opened 101 local goods?
A Yes
Q You didn’t tell the bank the real reason for the account?
A They never asked
sometime would ask why open account and I’d explain we are a consignment shope
Q You could not stand by machine 24/7, right?
A Right
Q When open it could have taken ID?
A No
Because not enabled
Q Airport business would be vending business?
A yes
Q You said you would register with FinCEN?
If I got to a level I would be a money transmitter
two-way is why I’d need to register
The vending at 101 local goods store was not tied to exchanges, but in my idea it would connect to exchanges
This is why I’d have to register with FinCEN whereas the 101 local goods store vending machine operated by Ian did not have to register
Q What were fees?
A 5% up to 10% depending on a lot of factors
But always would have to be something
Q How much you made total?
A No idea
$6,000 was most we ever got
Defense asks more questions
Q Car scam would it be stopped if you showed license? Would it stop scam?
Prosecutor asks more questions
Q Id won’t stop illegal transaction?
A No
Q Drug dealer would think twice if ID?
A No, but I would have stopped them
Prosecution
Q Could ID stop some transactions though?
A Yes, some possibly
Next up for testifying is Colleene Fordham
61 years old
What does she do? Works at Mighty Moose Mart
Owner: Ian Freeman
Moved ~8 years ago from PA
Worked previously for delta insurance
Q Do you share same libertarian views as husband?
A Yes, but not as strongly
Q You were charged with money laundering and wire fraud and had an agreement to testify?
A yes
[ note: she didn’t take a plea deal, they dropped the charges, and the testify agreement was separate agreement not to bring other unrelated charges whether or not they were likely ]
Q How did 101 get started?
A Worked for thrift store in same location and got a brainy idea to start a craft store
Q Why was the store not successful?
A No, not really, not many people buy gifts often
Q Shire Free Church associated with Ian?
A Yes
Q His responsibility for machine?
A Ian came in and removed cash
Q Any responsibility?
A No
Q Anyone tell you why they used the machine?
A Yes
Q Who made the sign?
A Ian or Chris
Q Who used it?
A All types
Q Was ID Required?
A No
Q Did you find out about online selling?
A yes
Q Did you get asked to help?
A Yes, open bank accounts
Q You have agreement with freeman?
A Yes
Q How many accounts?
A 3
Q Did you sign blank checks to freeman?
A Yes
Q You have to deal with account issues?
A Yes
Q Happen often?
A No, but stressful because I didn’t deal with customers
They present a letter from an investigator for service credit union on screen
Q Why stressful ?
A Because I didn’t not how to handle it
“I sell rare coins like gold and silver”
Mr freeman wrote email
Q Happen often?
A No, 2 times
2018 letter goldbacks
Email to bank shown on screen proves ian did not hide bitcoin sales from banks as it explains what happens and who colleene and shire free church are.
Defense cross examines colleene fordham
Q You made a deal with government right?
A Yes, money laundering and wire fraud
Q Did you consider yourself as someone involved with money laundering or co-conspiring with one?
A No
Q Any agreement to launder money?
A No
Q Freeman on church own building?
A Yes
Q Good person to do business with?
A Yes
He is not capable of doing the sorts of things he is accused of
Q He never expressed interest in scams?
A No
Q Freeman didn’t oversea machine did right?
A Yea
Q What were the age groups that used the machine?
A 20s to 70s
Q No specific demographic?
A No
Q He would not have known if something was shady?
A No
Q Did law enforcement ever ask about the machines?
A No
Q Do cops come in?
A Yes
Q Just right there right?
A You couldn’t miss it
[Note: the fbi actually missed the machines because they were too stupid to realize that the bitcoin vending machine was in the bitcoin embassy and even raided the wrong location, they raided the mighty moose mart convience store, stole a safe, a point of sale machine, and 15 minutes later realized their mistake and returned the items ]
Q There has always been a machine in the building?
A Yes, since I’ve been there
Q you were getting something?
A Yes
Q Did he ask you to lie to banks?
A No, he discouraged it MAJORLY
Q He’s not hiding? He is writing letter right?
A Correct
Letter says “church mission is selling bitcoin online”
“We ID to stop fraud”
[Note: the letter related to online selling of bitcoin by the church, not the vending machines, as other methods were used to stop scams there, ie scam warning sign]
Q Ian is taking it upon himself to explain whats going on with the scam?
A Right
Q He is saying clearly that it is him involved in the trade right?
A Yes
Q He is not hiding the fact he is selling bitcoin to a bank investigator, right?
A Right
[this is important because the government is claiming he is misleading the banks when it fact he does tell the banks how the shire free church operates, who colleene fordham is and her relationship to the church’s operating, what bitcoin is, using the term bitcoin, etc]
Q He is giving a lot of info to the bank rep right?
A Yea
Q Still a convenience store?
A Yes
Q Is Ian still treating you fairly?
A Yes
[the prosecutors own evidence shows ian is innocent]
Prosecutor asks questions now
Q not gold and silver coins, right?
A No
[the letter says like rare coins like gold and silver, not that the thing being sold were traditional coins and bitcoin is often compared to gold and silver, it’s like it in its value, in that it is a result of being rare]
Q Not true right?
A No
[Colleene Fordham is not a technical person, she barely has a crypto wallet, and what she had hadn’t been utilized ~4 years, she doesn’t understand the question here very well]
Cross examination by the defense now:
Q Bitcoin has the word coin in it right?
A Yes
Q It’s rare, right?
A YES!
[She gets it now! Yes- bitcoin is rare coin, just not the type she was understanding or thinking]
Day 3 is over!
