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by drclau 1276 days ago
In case you wonder who Paul Le Roux is, here’s the Wikipedia page [0] and what I believe is the original investigation by Evan Ratliff [1].

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux

[1]: https://magazine.atavist.com/the-mastermind/

3 comments

I worked with Paul before he went down the path of the criminal. He seemed really smart too bad he went bad. This would be in 1991 or 1992. I also worked with one of the programmers caught as part of the Madoff 5. I'm hoping that is all of my brushes with people who go bad.
From your experience with him, do you think he has the academic background to write the Bitcoin paper?
He is brilliant. Thinks very highly of himself so I suspect likely also a sociopath. Encryption is one of the things he is known for.
And from the above:

> Le Roux was arrested on 26 September 2012 for conspiracy to import narcotics into the United States, and agreed to cooperate with authorities in exchange for a lesser sentence and immunity to any crimes he might admit to later. He subsequently admitted to arranging or participating in seven murders, carried out as part of an extensive illegal business empire.

> Le Roux was sentenced to 25 years in prison in June 2020.

It’s worth sharing the entire paragraph:

On 12 June 2020, Le Roux was sentenced to 25 years in prison. According to the presiding judge, Ronnie Abrams, "the scope and severity of Mr. Le Roux's criminal conduct is nothing short of breathtaking. I have before me a man who has engaged in conduct in keeping with the villain in a James Bond movie." However, she also added that the sentence reflected Le Roux's cooperation and the danger he faced.

Ratliff says in his book that he could find no evidence that Le Roux had any connection to Bitcoin, though many people suspect him