Quote Originally Posted by BetCheckBet View Post
Quote Originally Posted by sonatine View Post
The more I think about this, the more I think Micon can get off here.

Reason being: his lawyers are going to exploit the fact that the existing laws were written before bitcoins existed and fail to account for them properly.

Its going to cost Micon everything he has to pull it off and probably tax his family as well, but I think his legal team can make it happen with the right jury.

That said... I imagine that this will only embolden Micon who will get even more involved in SWC or whatever its called now and the state will spend a long weekend revising the laws accordingly before they go for round 2. And winning.
I honestly can't see this happening even with great lawyers. Its well established that bitcoin has value and is even traded on regulated exchanges. There is a good reason why no one else in usa is running something similar. Druff has already covered this at length though.

But even if he tried to argue this point somewhat effectively, what will fuck him over is that it sounds as though the prosecution has copies of all of his electronic correspondence through such mediums as Skype. They have him directly stating how much money in US dollars the site is making per month. How can he argue no value when they have him talking about it himself?

I can only imagine what other correspondence they have including discussions around how to evade authorities...


The argument isnt "bitcoins lack value so I get to go now", the argument is "These laws fail to appropriately incorporate digital beanie babies as a reality so you must acquit."

I'm not taking that position, but if you think there isnt a jury willing to buy that, ask Robert Durst.

Really, its not as out there as it may look, pachinko parlors have been relying on the same basic loophole for ages.