Description

Paul Le Roux is a cryptography expert, and developed E4M (Encryption for the Masses), one of the first free, open-source disk encryption programs, which was released in 1998. E4M was the predecessor to the popular program TrueCrypt, and Le Roux was a notable figure in the cryptography community in the 1990's.

Years later, Le Roux became infamous as the leader of an international criminal cartel involved in various illegal activities, including drug trafficking, money laundering, arms trafficking, and murder. He orchestrated complex operations, and created sophisticated networks for his illicit enterprises. He was arrested in 2012, and sentenced in 2020. Le Roux is currently serving a 25 year prison sentence.

It is widely believed that Le Roux may be the real person (or leader of the group) that is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, which was released publicly on January 3rd, 2009. The author Even Ratliff, who wrote a nearly 500-page biography of Le Roux, has written about the likelihood of this scenario in a Wired Magazine article published in 2019 (linked below).

https://www.wired.com/story/was-bitcoin-created-by-this-international-drug-dealer-maybe/

More articles about Paul Le Roux:

https://nypost.com/2020/06/12/paul-le-roux-sentenced-to-25-years-for-sprawling-criminal-outfit/

https://archive.fo/2I3iQ

https://www.nydailynews.com/2020/06/12/judge-sentences-criminal-mastermind-to-25-years-compares-him-to-james-bond-villain/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/computer-programmer-ran-global-drug-trafficking-empire-180971355/