Jerry Brito

Larry Flynt Offers $1M Reward for Mitt Romney Tax Returns

Adweek:

Flynt is taking out full-page ads in this Sunday’s edition of The Washington Post and Tuesday’s USA Today that promises “up to $1 million” for the dirt on Romney’s “unreleased tax returns and/or details of his offshore assets, bank accounts and business partnerships.” (But before you go calling the Hustler hotline, be aware that Flynt will need “documented evidence of your claims.”)

According to the ad, all correspondence will be kept confidential—so if you’re a former Bain exec with a bone to pick (or without a golden parachute), you might want to get a pen.

Someone should tell Flynt about the group that claims to have Romney’s tax returns and is asking for $1 million in bitcoin to withhold (or release) the information. I’m sure Flynt would gladly pay $1 million for the tax returns, but he wants to see the goods first. The alleged burglars seem to want to stay anonymous, hence the bitcoin request, so I doubt there’ll be a meeting of the minds. Hoax or not, this story is doing a great job of reminding everyone that Romney has unreleased tax returns.

Posted on Sep 8, 2012 • 8 notes • #romney #larry flynt #bitcoin #extortion

More on the Mitt Romney tax return extortion plot

More on the Romney tax-return blackmail plot because I find it interesting if preposterous. Apparently PricewaterhouseCoopers does not believe that its systems have been compromised, but the Williamson County, Tenn., Republican and Democratic party offices have indeed received packages with USB thumb drives on which are encrypted files alleged to be Mitt Romney’s pre-2010 tax returns. They also allegedly include an image of Romney’s signature on these files. The Secret Service is investigating.

A couple of things to note. First, as pointed out by Guy McHendry, it’s not clear there was any hacking involved if the series of events published on Pastebin are to be believed. These may not be hackers, just burglars who know how to use encryption. The media should stop saying hackers.

Second, if real, the role of bitcoin here is fascinating. In a world without bitcoin, you could carry out the same scheme, but the million dollars would have to be delivered to you in a suitcase. Bitcoin makes anonymous extortion much easier. That said, it also makes the quid-pro-quo of extortion more unstable. If you pay a ransom, you want some guarantee that the extortionist won’t release the secrets anyway, and that assurance usually comes from knowing their identity so that you can turn them over to the police if they do not keep their end of the bargain. Bitcoin eliminates that assurance, which is why Romney or his supporters shouldn’t pay.

That all said, my money is on this being a hoax. I’m still trying to think through what the motivation is, but one suggestion is that it’s intended to move the bitcoin market.

Posted on Sep 7, 2012 • 3 notes • #Romney #bitcoin #extortion

Hacker Group Claims to Have Romney’s Tax Returns

Allegedly stolen from PricewaterhouseCooper’s Tennessee office on Aug. 25. The group wants $1 million in bitcoins from Romney by September 28 or they say they will make them public. So lulzy if real, but why would they make their extortion demand public if it’s true?

Posted on Sep 6, 2012 • 6 notes • #Romney #bitcoin #cybersecurity #politics

Anyone but Romney. (Full size.)

(Source: nationalpost, via ilovecharts)

Posted on Jan 31, 2012 • 381 notes • #photo #chart #romney #politics

I know who I’m voting for.

Posted on Jan 30, 2012 • 27 notes • #photo #kathleen #romney #pig

[A] very broad law that gives the government the power to start saying who can pass what to whom, I say no and I am standing for freedom.

That’s Mitt Romney at yesterday’s GOP debate. I like this very broad statement on free speech, but sadly marking this one for later claim chowder.

Posted on Jan 20, 2012 • 3 notes • #quote #romney #sopa #claim chowder