Ian’s Sentencing Continued to October 2nd

by | Sep 12, 2023 | Announcement

Big thanks to the multiple dozens of supporters who came out from as far away as Nevada today to attend my sentencing for the Crypto Six case in federal court in Concord, NH. Surprisingly, the judge was only able to get through part of the sentencing and postponed it three more weeks until my attorneys have a chance to argue why he shouldn’t order restitution. Of course, one major reason is none of my “crimes” had a victim, but that’s not stopping the prosecution from pushing for me to pay the price for what scam artists did to elderly victims.

It’s worth noting that, as we learned at trial from their own witnesses, the feds never bothered to investigate the scammers at all. Instead they disingenuously got some of the scam victims to believe that *I* was somehow behind the scams, which is absolutely absurd and backed by zero evidence. However, the poor victims clearly want to blame someone and for someone to be punished for what was done to them, and I’m apparently the scapegoat.

My attorneys, Mark Sisti and Richard Guerriero, have two weeks to file their arguments. Meanwhile, I’m still out on bail restrictions. Prosecutors are pushing for a maximum sentence of 20 years, and $20.5 million in “forfeiture”, and more in “restitution”. All for selling bitcoin without asking government permission.

If you’re able to come out for the second and presumably the final sentencing date, I would appreciate it! The next date is October 2nd at 10am, at 55 Pleasant St. in Concord, New Hampshire. You will need an ID to get into the federal courthouse, and recording devices are not allowed.

Here is some media coverage from today:

Aria’s Prison Blogs & Ian’s Sentencing Moved to Sept 11th

by | Aug 3, 2023 | Announcement

In case you missed it, Aria has been blogging from prison on her website and Free Keene. She’s now got two blogs up for you to read.

Also, quick update on my sentencing date for the Crypto Six case. It’s been moved from August 17th to September 11th, no time announced as of yet. Stay tuned for updates. That means if you’ve been procrastinating on sending a letter to the judge on my behalf, you still have time! Please and thank you!

Welcoming “Liberty at Night” and “Raines and Edge” to the FTL Network

by | Aug 1, 2023 | Announcement

Earlier in July, I made a big announcement about our weekday shows shifting to include some of the top libertarian podcasters in the new “Free Talk Live Network“. I already announced that longtime LRN.FM morning show host Ernest Hancock’s “Declare Your Independence” will be helming Monday nights. Please also welcome our new shows on Tuesday and Friday nights, “Liberty at Night” and “Raines and Edge”, respectively.

“Liberty at Night” is hosted by Nate and Charlie of the daily libertarian podcast, “Good Morning Liberty“. They have a great sense of humor and have been producing a daily podcast for several years now, so they were a natural fit for Free Talk Live’s network of shows. You’ll hear them on Tuesday nights.

“Raines and Edge” is a show where Free Talk Live’s Mark Edge teams up with his old boss from the comic book store, Henry Raines, who self-describes as a progressive. Will they agree on anything? Tune in Friday nights to find out.

Of course, in addition to airing fresh on our audio streams from 7-10pm Eastern, all our new shows are also being included in our main RSS podcast feed. For more information about our new shows, please visit this page. I hope you enjoy them!

Launching the Free Talk Live Network of Shows!

by | Jul 11, 2023 | Announcement

Ernest Hancock of "Declare Your Independence"Effective tonight, we’ve pulled the trigger on a major change to Free Talk Live, especially on the radio. Tonight, Ernest Hancock’s “Declare Your Independence” took over our Monday night show. Why? Frankly, I’ve been considering ending our live weekday radio show for years, since prior to COVID. When I created Free Talk Live in 2002, I wanted an open phones radio show where anyone could call in to express their opinion. We did that for many years and it was a lot of fun.

However in recent years, the format has gone stale. It’s the same handful of regulars calling every night. Perhaps national radio exposure doesn’t have the same appeal it did fifteen years ago, but for whatever reason, we’re just not getting the level of participation to keep the show interesting for me, and I’ve always tried to do the show I’d want to listen to. Rather than canceling the weekday radio show entirely, in order to continue serving our radio listeners and stations with pro-liberty content, Mark suggested we invite some of the top libertarian podcasters to expand their reach.

We’re calling it “The Free Talk Live Network” on-air and are starting off with the hardest working man in liberty radio, Ernest Hancock and his show, “Declare Your Independence” which for more than a decade has been the reigning morning show on LRN.FM, the Liberty Radio Network. He’ll be holding down Monday nights. More shows to be announced.

Free Talk Live will continue as an open phones radio show on its nights, which for now will definitely be on weekends and some weeknights. We may also do more “Freer Talk Live” internet-only episodes on weeknights when we want to, and for as long as we want, which is a nice feature of no longer being tied to a radio broadcast schedule – more creative and production freedom.

All Free Talk Live Network shows will appear in our main RSS podcast feed in addition to being broadcast on our radio affiliates. I’ve yet to determine exactly how they’ll be handled on our streams on nights we go live on internet-only “Freer Talk Live” shows, but for now the new FTL Network shows are appearing on our FTL 24/7 streams and our video streams.

Stay tuned for more show announcements!