- Directing your attention to page 5, paragraph 1 of the Warrant PDF you will see a list of the criminal statutes that the FBI thinks may have been violated. Basically, CFAA unauthorized access, identity theft and boilerplate conspiracy. Same allegations as in weev’s case, and the main reason I’m interested in this one.
- The statute of limitations on these crimes is 5 years.
- Deric is currently under active investigation by the FBI.
- An Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Ohio has been assigned to the case.
- We are in contact with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
- We will not publicly discuss our confidential conversations with any U.S. Attorney’s Office.
- There is nothing unusual about the pace at which this is proceeding and that an Indictment has not yet come down.
- We took this case over at the request of the original attorney, who was forced to withdraw due to circumstances beyond his control.
- When he handed the case over to us he transferred the legal defense funds (LDF) to our Firm. Deric has never had control of the LDF nor does he have any stake in it. The original fund raising appeal made it clear that the funds became the sole property of the original law firm in this case, to be used at that firm’s sole discretion.
- We anticipate that the fund will be primarily used to defray expenses. We are billing our customary legal fees and expenses against it but currently the case is quiet. When the fund is depleted we will keep working on the case. When and if a Complaint or Indictment comes down we intend to use the LDF for the typical costs in defending a criminal action such as those related to e-discovery, expert witnesses, investigators, forensic analysis, court fees, transcripts, copying, exhibits, travel and lodging in Ohio, a private jet for Tor (just checking to see if you’ve read this), and other litigation related fees. A typical federal criminal defense of this type can easily run anywhere between $250,000.00 to $500,000.00 when all is said and done.
- We usually lose money on our CFAA cases because we don’t take them to make money but to fight a law we despise. As in weev’s and Key’s case we will see this to the end no matter what’s in the bank account.
- A Complaint or Indictment can come down anytime, or the government can choose to quietly let this go. Most U.S. Attorney’s offices do not tell you when they terminate a criminal investigation and the only way you can know you are out of the woods is when the statute of limitations has run.
