I humbly request help from the community

[keira]

I just received an email from my hosting provider regarding a legal issue.

 

I'm not sure what it's okay to mention, but there's been some sort of mix-up, and the federal government has seized my site until further notice and has charged me with several ominous-looking crimes, including money laundering and mail fraud.

 

I've kept on the straight and narrow as far as I am aware, all I've got on my record is a speeding ticket. I have no idea where this is coming from and even less of an idea of what to do. I can't defend myself from something like this, I don't have the resources or knowledge, and know nobody who does.

 

I'm asking this community to reach out and help me here. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm hoping somewhere has the legal knowledge to help me out here. If you do or you know someone who does, please email me at my backup email of sylaecorell@gmail.com.

 

If you are using my hosting services (several members here are), I would recommend you seek legal counsel as well. Not sure if they'll hit you as well, but it cannot hurt to be cautious.

 

Thank you for your help, this is a very scary thing and I greatly appreciate it.

 

edit: there are police cars outside

[Lilith]

Thread closed in accordance with the following information:

 

(6:49:33 PM) thuryl: holy [expletive deleted], i just saw your thread

(6:49:41 PM) Telaverin: yeah

(6:49:53 PM) thuryl: do not talk to the police without a lawyer. don't do it

(6:49:57 PM) thuryl: do not say anything

(6:50:11 PM) Telaverin: i will be sure to do that

(6:50:18 PM) Telaverin: i'm just...[expletive deleted]

(6:50:21 PM) Telaverin: out of the blue

(6:50:49 PM) thuryl: don't say anything potentially incriminating in public, either, like speculating about why this might have happened

(6:51:08 PM) Telaverin: okay

(6:51:24 PM) thuryl: where do you live again? montana?

(6:51:33 PM) Telaverin: colorado, i moved in december

(6:51:52 PM) Telaverin: jesus, this is not good

(6:53:02 PM) thuryl: i could contact some friends in America and ask what you need to do in terms of getting legal assistance, while giving away as little information about the case as possible. is that okay?

(6:53:17 PM) Telaverin: i don't want to get you in trouble

(6:53:21 PM) thuryl: no, it's fine

(6:54:22 PM) Telaverin: thank you for the offer though

(6:54:34 PM) thuryl: i'd just say "my friend has had her website seized and been charged with mail fraud and money laundering, and she has no idea why. she lives in colorado. how does she go about getting legal assistance?"

(6:54:52 PM) Telaverin: i'll keep it in mind in case things get worse. i'm hoping this is all just some sort of mix-up

(6:55:44 PM) Telaverin: i mean, if it was really really deep [expletive deleted], i'd already be in jail, right?

(6:56:04 PM) thuryl: i don't know

(6:56:26 PM) thuryl: being told you've been indicted on felony charges is rarely a good sign

(6:57:06 PM) thuryl: i'm going to go out on a limb and say you don't have a whole lot of money for a lawyer?

(6:57:18 PM) Telaverin: not even close

(6:57:30 PM) Telaverin: i've got, like, $100 in the bank, if that

(6:58:17 PM) Telaverin: hold on a second

(6:59:27 PM) Telaverin: be right back, need to restart pidgin

(6:59:27 PM) thuryl: the good news is that federal public defenders are generally considered pretty competent, although overworked, and if you have no money you should be eligible for one

(7:00:07 PM) thuryl: that was quick

(7:00:08 PM) Telaverin: okay, i'm back

(7:00:20 PM) Telaverin: i restarted off of an in-memory VM

(7:00:46 PM) Telaverin: probably shouldn't leave logs and stuff in the open

(7:01:17 PM) Telaverin: in case they search my machine, which i'm sure they will

(7:01:58 PM) Telaverin: listen, i don't want to get you or your friends in trouble in case this gets [expletive deleted]

(7:02:11 PM) thuryl: i swear it is okay

(7:02:30 PM) thuryl: i'm not even in america. what are they going to do, extradite me? for doing what, telling you to get a lawyer?

(7:03:28 PM) thuryl: http://www.cofpd.org/index.htm

here is the website for the Colorado Federal Public Defender's office. you probably don't need to contact them right away, but you'll want to be in touch with them once you hear from the police, and there may be helpful information on their site

(7:03:38 PM) Telaverin: well, like you said, the money issue too.

(7:03:40 PM) Telaverin: thanks

(7:04:24 PM) Telaverin: jesus, and today of all days.

(7:04:55 PM) thuryl: so this isn't an elaborate prank on your part, then

(7:05:52 PM) Telaverin: (it is. if I actually was in trouble the first thing I'd do is get a lawyer, not post on SW.)

(7:05:55 PM) Telaverin: sorry

(7:06:30 PM) thuryl: it's fine

(7:06:55 PM) thuryl: what's your relationship with your family like right now? do they have money? would they be willing to help you get a lawyer if you needed one?

(7:07:11 PM) Telaverin: uh, my family and i are not in contact anymore.

(7:07:23 PM) thuryl: okay. that may actually be a good thing for you in terms of getting a public defender

(7:07:55 PM) Telaverin: well, it's not like they'd have the money for a lawyer even if they hadn't disowned me, so 'eh

(7:09:58 PM) Telaverin: query, was it very believable, or were you just counter-attacking?

(7:14:12 PM) thuryl: oh wait. i'm incredibly stupid and read "it is" as "it isn't"

(7:14:33 PM) Telaverin: oh

(7:14:38 PM) Telaverin: sorry

(7:14:44 PM) thuryl: i was seriously just about to post on another forum asking what you should do :v

(7:15:00 PM) Telaverin: aaaaaaa

(7:15:13 PM) thuryl: obviously not giving away any identifying information

(7:15:24 PM) Telaverin: now I know who to message if I'm actually in deep [expletive deleted]

(7:15:59 PM) thuryl: honestly, the only thing that made me a little suspicious was that you were somehow indicted by a grand jury without the police having already contacted you at any point during the process

(7:17:03 PM) Telaverin: Ah.

(7:17:27 PM) Telaverin: Yeah, the image on calref is just a rewrite of the banner that was on Megaupload

(7:17:55 PM) Telaverin: I just retyped, changed the domain, and added JPEG artifacts. I've had that image sitting on my disk for a long time

(7:18:33 PM) thuryl: but yeah, i thought you were apologising for it not being a prank

(7:18:48 PM) Telaverin: I had more prank leftover, but I decided to cut it off when you started linking.

(7:19:20 PM) thuryl: so i'm guessing me being calm and helpful wasn't the reaction you'd hoped for

(7:19:43 PM) Telaverin: well, I wasn't expecting someone to message me five seconds after I posted it

(7:20:39 PM) Telaverin: I was going to cut off the conversation with "[expletive deleted] someones knocking on the doopkj[']\[l;

(7:20:42 PM) Telaverin:

(7:22:05 PM) thuryl: good thing i already gave you the most important advice then

(7:22:19 PM) Telaverin: indeed

(7:26:45 PM) thuryl: but yeah you just made me spend half an hour researching how to get a federal public defender in Colorado so i'm inclined to either close the thread before anyone else does the same or keep it open in hopes that someone else does the same and makes me feel less stupid. i'm not sure which

(7:27:31 PM) thuryl: actually now i'm just inclined to post this entire chatlog with expletives censored and close the thread, because i think that's probably the funniest thing likely to come out of it

(7:27:32 PM) Telaverin: keep it open

(7:27:39 PM) Telaverin:

(7:28:05 PM) Telaverin: it's okay, i edited the post

(7:28:12 PM) Telaverin:

(7:30:57 PM) thuryl: okay, you know what? i'm making a judgement call here and closing the thread, because there's a risk someone else who takes you seriously will actually contact a real lawyer and be out a few hundred bucks before they realise it's a prank

(7:31:09 PM) Telaverin: awww, okay

(7:31:14 PM) Telaverin: post the log though

[Randomizer]

You are probably being hit at the site registerer for something being done using your site without your knowledge. It doesn't take much these days for a third party to insert code to do something illegal with a site.