402 pointsby pavel_lishin11 days ago12 comments
  • dada7864110 days ago
    > Two crypto thieves decided to settle an argument over who was wealthier by screensharing as they transferred crypto between wallets to prove ownership. In doing so, one of them — known online as "Lick" — revealed a wallet address that crypto sleuth zachxbt quickly tied to the theft of around $90 million from US government wallets containing seized crypto assets

    Rapp snitches.

    • janderson2158 days ago
      “Sittin’ in court they’ll be their own star witness”
  • MisterTea11 days ago
    A bit lost here. Is there more backstory to this? It reads as if the government contractors son stole the 90 million from the government?
    • alistairSH11 days ago
      Correct. US Marshalls have a contract with this guy’s dad to mange their crypto holdings (seized as part of investigations). Kid steals money but can’t resist showing off to friends and gets “busted”. Except the government still doesn’t appear to acknowledge a theft even occurred and the kid taunts investigators by sending them small amounts of ETH.
      • bluemenot10 days ago
        I wonder if technically the small amounts of eth are bribes…
        • SilverBirch10 days ago
          It's pretty common for crypto wallets that have been linked to illegal activity get blacklisted. So by sending a bit of crypto to the guy that figured out who he is, if/when the government investigate and freeze accounts the guy who busted him will get their account frozen too.
      • direwolf2011 days ago
        [flagged]
        • wmf10 days ago
          It's not political. Most government contractors are barely competent and computer security is hard.
        • arjie10 days ago
          I doubt the present administration is particularly competent at bureaucracy but this theft occurred in Oct 2024 while the Biden administration was in charge. To be honest, Trevor Milton's pardon after donating a few million to Trump's campaign mean that any sum of money over $2m in government contractor hands is probably at risk. With a $2m price on pardons, it's just a question of mechanizing the machine.

          Or, as Trump might say, "Bring back the autopen!"

        • keyle10 days ago
          Fascism is a lack of emotional intelligence, which is basic intelligence. Empathy and compassion are a form of basic intelligence.
          • stavros10 days ago
            Chickens have two feet. Humans have two feet. Therefore, chickens are human.
            • causalscience10 days ago
              [flagged]
              • sieep10 days ago
                We don't really do the whole calling people stupid or flaming around here. You can make your point and leave it at that or don't comment. This sort of behavior will get you banned by the very active mod team in the future. You can refresh yourself on the guidelines of the site: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

                Here's a section just for you: "When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names."

              • stavros10 days ago
                If their premise was "lack of empathy is the defining characteristic of fascism", that makes their post a tautology. How I read it was:

                > Fascism is a lack of emotional intelligence, which is basic intelligence. Empathy and compassion are a form of basic intelligence. (_AND THEREFORE, fascism lacks empathy and compassion_)

                This doesn't follow. Fascism can be a lack of emotional intelligence, emotional intelligence can be a form of basic intelligence, empathy and compassion can be a form of basic intelligence, and it can still be the case that you lack emotional intelligence but have empathy and compassion (you might simply lack in other aspects of emotional intelligence).

              • keeganpoppen10 days ago
                “i dislike people like you who refuse to blanket call people fascists”
          • 10 days ago
            undefined
      • knowitnone310 days ago
        just to let the kid know, I'm one of the investigators. I hate being taunted with any type of cryptocoin, cash of any denomination. I also hate gold and silver. I won't sleep until I catch you or $10 whichever comes first.
    • ortusdux11 days ago
      • FatalLogic11 days ago
        This would be a much better link for this post

        There's a lot more detail, and delivered in more professional way

        • altairprime11 days ago
          If you email the mods about this (and link to your comment), they might well agree and update the post link.
  • paulpauper11 days ago
    It appears the feds were so incompetent they didn't realize the theft had occurred until AFTER Zach's post went viral, and even then, nothing may happen. And to think, had Lick done nothing he likely would have gotten away with it. Perfect crime undone by ego.
  • caycep10 days ago
    Molly White really is quite thorough
  • misiti378010 days ago
    Is the accusation the dad stole the crypto, or the dad AND the son stole the crypto ?
    • wmf10 days ago
      It's not clear.
    • geor9e10 days ago
      The headline is that the son stole the crypto. Maybe your sarcasm went over my head, and you're just saying that the dad is definitely involved too. In which case, probably.
      • misiti378010 days ago
        i wasnt be sarcastic, it seems so easy to prove i cant believe the kid needed to DOX himself. the US Government puts his dad in charge of shitload of crypto and his son starts live streaming himself buying expensive watches - seems like a slam dunk to me
  • cj10 days ago
    Tangent: what does the govt do with seized crypto? Does it eventually get liquidated?
  • shrubble11 days ago
    So much of the government is like this, they will hire some connected guy to manage something in a slightly competent manner.

    Just learned that the federal government has long term leases on office buildings that congressmen have a financial interest in. More disappointment.

    • ajross11 days ago
      To be clear: the crypto in question wasn't managed in even a slightly competent manner. It was literally embezzled.
      • nerdsniper10 days ago
        It was embezzled in a slightly competent manner. Not very competently.
    • N_Lens10 days ago
      I think the level of corruption and blatant disregard for laws by the privileged we're seeing is unlike anything in modern history. If Nixon's watergate happened today it wouldn't even be a blip in the 24hrs news cycle, that's how far gone the erosion of institutions and rule of law is.
      • drdaeman10 days ago
        > it wouldn't even be a blip in the 24hrs news cycle

        It would be, but both mass media and people attention spans have changed, so it would be very different in a lot of ways.

        • alfiedotwtf9 days ago
          Taken further, the reason you wouldn’t see it on the news is because the media is controlled by the people in government and friends…

          Don’t believe me? Google how TikTok got sold off to Trump’s base and now the word “Epstein” has been banned in DMs

      • tim33310 days ago
        >unlike anything in modern history

        The stuff currently happening in the US is unusual for the US but mild compared to Putin's Russia which Trump seems a little inspired by. At least you don't have people falling out of windows yet.

        • tartuffe7810 days ago
          How tall is that ballroom going to be?
          • linksnapzz10 days ago
            ...should be at least as tall as the Salon de Fetes in the Elysee; that'd be appropriate.
      • chneu10 days ago
        It's pretty wild how "normalized" it got within my generation.

        What's more wild is how much of the US believes that the other party would be much worse.

        To be clear, Republicans are absolutely the current cause of this insanity that's going on. The two party system doesn't help, but Republicans have committed insanity while claiming everyone else is doing worse. Trump is a literal pedophile who openly admitted to hating immigrants his entire life. We all saw this coming.

        • NicoJuicy10 days ago
          That's how Russian propaganda works

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firehose_of_falsehood

        • renewiltord10 days ago
          It didn’t. You started paying attention. That’s all that changed. Hillary Clinton was pulling exceptional performance on cattle futures and Paul Pelosi had a strange knack for picking stock that reacted well to laws his wife pushed for. It is brazen today because they’re just launching $MELANIA and shit like that and selling pardons but that’s only because that’s user-visible. If someone siphoned your taxes or performed insider trading you wouldn’t even know.

          But corruption has been part and parcel of US politics. Or are we supposed to believe that things like the Chappaquiddick incident were actually innocent accidents?

          When I was younger I remember thinking that George Bush pardoning Scooter Libby was outrageous. Then I found out what these people were up to routinely.

          • tim33310 days ago
            I had a look at the Wikipedia on Chappaquiddick and it doesn't mention anything corruption? Seems to have been drunk driving? Not sure how it relates?
            • linksnapzz10 days ago
              It relates, insofar as the driver was not charged, and in fact managed to run for president (and almost won the Democratic nomination) several years later, which a charge of manslaughter generally precludes.
          • tbossanova10 days ago
            Aaand people wonder why we don’t trust politicians. I know a couple of good people who have tried to get into politics, just on a local scale. They said it was the worst thing they ever did
    • roysting10 days ago
      oh, yeah, I forgot about that grift. Another favorite of mine are the many holier-than-thou NGOs that are little more than friends and family enrichment schemes, even more grotesquely than the federal government contracting grift that is not just replete with political and staffer corruption, but also just plain run of the mill nepotism... literally parent hiring and managing children. And no, this has been pervasive for many years now. I would say it really got bad in the aughts when the budgets blew up and things like enforcement and prosecution just couldn't keep up with the money spigots, not to mention that hiring criteria other than competence led to the most lazy, and disinterested people responsible for investigation and prosecution to the point that you basically had to build a case and deliver a signed, recorded, and notarized confession before anyone would even look at obvious corruption and grift.
  • aryan1411 days ago
    And he has been and continues to make fun of the investigators, publicly mocking investigators and sending small amounts from the fraudulent wallets to investigators.

    Crazy world

    • duxup10 days ago
      If he "invests" some of his funds ... could get a pardon.
      • knowitnone310 days ago
        [flagged]
      • inlined10 days ago
        Tbf, accepting a pardon is legally admitting guilt per SCOTUS and disgorgement would allow the funds to be sized
        • trhway10 days ago
          Dr. Fauchi pardon comes to mind. I doubt that his accepting of pardon was an admission of guilt. He wasn't even charged, so how can he admit the guilt?

          And i think that similar preemptive pardon here, without charge and thus any guilt admission, wouldn't allow the fund seizure.

          • SV_BubbleTime10 days ago
            [flagged]
            • tbossanova10 days ago
              Oh thats crazy about Fauzi lying under oath! Do you have a link in case I need to back this up
        • avaer10 days ago
          In theory. Do you really think that would happen in the current ecosystem?
        • duxup10 days ago
          Even "better", Trump can extort more ...
    • 11 days ago
      undefined
    • laughing_man10 days ago
      The one thing the government will not tolerate is embarrassment. There's no way he avoids a long prison sentence.
    • grugagag11 days ago
      He’s reaping what he saw. Things aren’t looking good for him nor his father, a lesson both of them will painfully learn from. Father career is possibly over.
      • lostlogin11 days ago
        > Things aren’t looking good for him nor his father, a lesson both of them will painfully learn from

        You’re a hell of an optimist.

        I’d say that it’s just as likely that the pardon sharpie is being readied, just as soon as the super PAC donation clears.

        • paulpauper11 days ago
          Put it into Trump's coin as a donation
          • jLaForest11 days ago
            Trump already rug pulled
            • kevin_thibedeau11 days ago
              Bribes are $3M cash. He's good.
            • paulpauper11 days ago
              why would that make a difference
              • lupire10 days ago
                X can't bribe Y by buying Z that Y has no interest in.
      • londons_explore11 days ago
        > Father career is possibly over.

        Plenty of people would happily flush their career down the drain to run away with their family and $90M

        • tartoran10 days ago
          I guess so but what about when you get caught and get nothing?
          • lazide10 days ago
            Just like many people are optimists in thinking criminals will get consequences, criminals are often optimists in thinking they won’t get consequences.

            Both have cherry-picked their life experiences to support this view.

          • knowitnone310 days ago
            if you get caught. just saw a video on a couple who stole a Brinks armor car; disappeared into Europe with new identities; never caught until female turned herself in. Not everybody gets caught.
      • bayarearefugee10 days ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_granted_executi...

        Pretty sure they'll both be fine as long as they still have access to that money.

      • paulpauper11 days ago
        the feds haven't even acknowledged there was a theft. it's possible they still don't know or somehow don't have the evidence to bring charges
        • caminante11 days ago
          Or this is a false accusation.

          I don't have the knowledge to sanity check the claims, but I would've figured someone would be getting rolled by now. I recall that the dad was scrubbing socials along with the son, but that could be token harassment.

          • big_youth10 days ago
            They did something, how else could the son flex watches worth 6 figures.
            • caminante10 days ago
              Likely? Yes.

              Watches? You can also be right. Though, I don't think you need $90 million to spend <$1 million on a watch to splurge.

            • cucumber373284210 days ago
              You can rent anything.
        • wmf10 days ago
          The feds won't say anything until after they arrest the father and son. Obviously there is an investigation going on but it takes more than a few days.
      • jongjong10 days ago
        He and his son should be in jail. This is criminal; whether it's theft or criminal negligence.
  • Mistletoe10 days ago
    There’s another crypto thief that is the son of the head government official…
  • gmuslera11 days ago
    There's no honor among thieves.
    • cucumber373284211 days ago
      This isn't a "honor among thieves" thing. This is a "getting one over on someone you don't like because there's no consequences" thing.

      This is a petty dispute. I'm not gonna go put a bullet in someone who over a petty dispute like this. Nobody is, not even thieves and other people who live outside the law. That's just absurd. Someone who I've wronged in doing so (i.e. someone who likes them) might put one back in me. Or there might be other consequences. People let those things go because it's just not worth it vs the risk of consequences.

      But say I can do something that will cause the government to go after someone for me at no risk to myself... That's basically what happened here.

      This is basically an attempted (we'll see if it succeeds) DDOS reflection attack but with government.

  • tcfunk10 days ago
    Slightly tangential question but what’s with govt seized crypto assets? I had a bit of Litecoin a while back and went to check my wallet one day to find an FBI landing page instead. Is that just theirs now? Feels a bit like the gov seized control of my savings account.
    • collingreen10 days ago
      Same - lost 500 LTC and 5ish BTC to fbi raid of an exchange back when BTC was ~$12. Sure would love to get that back at current prices!
    • tasuki10 days ago
      > went to check my wallet one day to find an FBI landing page

      That's not how wallets work.

      • qingcharles9 days ago
        I mean, it kinda is if all your crypto is held at an exchange.
        • tasuki9 days ago
          An exchange is not a wallet. You don't call your bank a wallet either.