Eyesandheart

Well, One thing I can say about Brian Farrell aka "DoctorClu" was that he definitely made my year in Federal Prison fly by. He, along with 2 other guys I met there became my closest friends while I was there. The 4 of us would spend every waking minute playing board games, watching movies and playing softball or pickle ball. (I have a photo of the 4 of us that I'll figure out hot to attach shortly) He is definitely one of the smartest people I have ever met and an absolute genius when it came to computers and crypto currency and I learned a lot from him. He even convinced the warden to let him teach a class on how bitcoin worked and was even allowed to used a computer in the computer lab to prep lesson plans for his class! (Which blows my mind as to why the warden didn't realize that giving a known and convicted hacker access to prison computer systems could cause quite a bit of damage!) Anyway, one of the best stories about Brian that comes to mind, is one that I've heard him tell many times. It is how he was eventually caught. He says he was always a "big player" in SR and SR2 and definitely the technical brains behind the entire thing. He said he had built many "failsafes" into the system to ensure that he would not get caught. He went on to describe in detail, the steps he took each time he was on the network to avoid being caught. He would brag about how there wasn't another person on the planet that would be able to track him down. It was however, one random day in either Amsterdam or Ireland (I can't remember which) that lead to his arrest. He would boast about how it took a whole computer science department of hackers at Carnegie Melon University to eventually pinpoint him. And how did that happen? It was one wild weekend of booze, drugs and sex that did him in. Brian was making so much money, millions upon millions upon millions, that he developed a lifestyle filled with debauchery and drug addiction. He would brag about $250,000 weekends, in foreign countries, filled more drugs and alcohol that one could do in a lifetime. It was one such weekend where he happened to be so, out of his mind, wasted that he didn't follow one of his safety protocols that triggered the hackers at Carnegie Melon to immediately pinpoint exactly who he was. He laughs at how the federal government, the news media, and Carnegie Melon lauded the team at Carnegie melon for their exemplary crime fighting skills, when it was really just dumb old Brian forgetting to close a virtual door behind him one of his many weekend binges. In his mind, he doesn't regret the crimes he did involving SR and SR2, he regrets being so caught up in a lifestyle of drugs, money and debauchery that it just made him sloppy. His biggest worry now is the 10's of millions of bitcoin that he has stashed somewhere out there in computer land.

2017 Sheridan Federal Prison (David, Me, Jesus & Brian Farrell aka "DoctorClu")

Edit: added link to a photo

Did you ever do any writing on Brian Farrell and his role in Silk Road 2.0? I was Brian's cellmate for all of 2017 at Sheridan Federal Prison and heard all of his crazy stories. Was just curious as to the validity of them all.