This is getting ridiculous!
Update on 1/24/24: SF Chronicle reports that SF SAFE accounts empty and check fraud investigation!
Update on 1/24/24: SF Standard reports that SF SAFE shut down and Executive Director fired. More info coming...
Update on 1/23/24: Mission Local reports that SF SAFE stiffed actual nonprofits of $625K
Update on 1/23/24: SF Standard reports that SF SAFE misappropriated funds from crypto boss spycamera guy Chris Larsen!
Update on 1/18/24: SF Chronicle reports that SFsafe.org has been a slush fund for the police!
We need the police to watch over the poor um.... in order to help them! But for rich people, complete freedom without regulations or pesky taxes. This of course means Crypto! The brilliant thing about our SpyCams project is how we combine spycams, police, and crypto in a totally disruptive way.
So how does one get around the public and get the police to be able to use spycams in order to track political actions, even if it is against the SFPD rules and policies? Well, here we go...
So how does one get around the public and get the police to be able to use spycams in order to track political actions, even if it is against the SFPD rules and policies? Well, here we go...
Crypto billionaire Larsen has the $$$ and the desire for spycams
Chris Larsen has a fetish for privacy, well, for people like us with money. He has made quite a fortune from facilitating financial transaction for those who need to keep things secret. After all, you don't want the police to know about those shady piles of crypto lying around.
But when it comes to poor people, well, that is different. Chris is adamant that those poors need to be closely monitored and thrown into jail. But how does one accomplish this? With spy cameras of course!
But when it comes to poor people, well, that is different. Chris is adamant that those poors need to be closely monitored and thrown into jail. But how does one accomplish this? With spy cameras of course!
Oops, as of 1/31/24 Larsen has $112.5M less crypto. Turns out that privacy-for-shady-finances can be a problem when you get robbed of $112.5M. It has all been tumbled and is likely untraceable at this point. I guess he should have installed some of those spycams on his crypto wallets instead. You can read all about it in TechCrunch.
By the way, for the stolen crypto Larsen is still on the hook for the capital gains taxes. Hee hee.
And it should be noted that Larsen and the other co-founder of Ripple are hugely restricted from selling their XRP. You see, if anybody sells too many of these crypto doo-dads that were minted out of thin air, then their "value" would plummet. So if you happen to need some serious cash, the only way you could get it is to funnel the money through a tumbler and then report it missing. Of course Larsen would never do such a thing. But he will likely be accussed given his shady crypto background.
By the way, for the stolen crypto Larsen is still on the hook for the capital gains taxes. Hee hee.
And it should be noted that Larsen and the other co-founder of Ripple are hugely restricted from selling their XRP. You see, if anybody sells too many of these crypto doo-dads that were minted out of thin air, then their "value" would plummet. So if you happen to need some serious cash, the only way you could get it is to funnel the money through a tumbler and then report it missing. Of course Larsen would never do such a thing. But he will likely be accussed given his shady crypto background.
Yesterday, there was unauthorized access to a few of my personal XRP accounts (not @Ripple) – we were quickly able to catch the problem and notify exchanges to freeze the affected addresses. Law enforcement is already involved. https://t.co/T3HtKSlzLg
— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) January 31, 2024
SFSafe.org non-profit
Oh, you've never heard of SFSafe?? It is a rather interesting organization started by the SFPD... to of course help the SFPD. To "help" even more, it became a 501c3 non-profit. This means that government grant money can be funneled via SFSafe to SFPD projects. Clever! Even better, donations are tax deductible. Want to be on the good side of the SFPD? Just donate to SFSafe, and you get a tax deduction to boot!
They are so part of the SFPD that they even have SFPD (415) 553-198x phone numbers. Valiantly, most of them share the same phone number, though perhaps their staff doesn't all exist??
Just don't look for SFSafe to actually be doing anything (besides fancy parties for police folks). If you look at their sfsafe.org website you will note that they don't actually register bikes, don't actually hold community events, and publish a trivial list newsletter just once a year. But the parties!
Update: From a SF Chronicle article on 1/18/24, it turns out that SF Safe is far more nefarious than previously known. They were supposed to provide crime prevention services to SF residents, and they get funding direct from the police department. Yet SF residents never hear about the organization. Turns out the SFPD funding went towards "Lake Tahoe trip, luxury gift boxes and limo service". Oh, and many thousands of dollars toward valet parking! Plus they did not have supporting documentation for millions of dollars in expenses, $3.8m! Those gift boxes costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is quite a clever way to bribe police.
And now word about SF SAFE has spread to SF Standard and SFist.
Update to the Update: From a SF Standard article on 1/23/24, turns out that lots of the crypto money that Chris Larsen put towards spy cameras went poof and disappeared in some pretty epic malfeasance. Almost a million dollars was not spent on what it was supposed to be. And Larsen is not providing funding for them anymore. Oops, looks like using SF SAFE for the spy camera program has now completely backfired. Plus in a most excellent twist, the ex-spokesperson for SF SAFE, Alex Tourk (for giggles look up "Tourk Newsom"), never got his $80k owed by the group so now he is the spokesperson for crypto boss Larsen instead. And of course it turns out that Larsen provided his money to SF SAFE through a total tax dodge using Silicon Valley Community Foundation, his "donor-advised fund". You see, with a donor-advised fund Larsen doesn't pay capital gains tax and then on top of that he takes a suite tax deduction. He is actually making money by donating it. Techbroooooooooo!!!
Key issue was that the Chris Larsen "donations" went through a donor-advised fund that was within Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Useful info on how this worked with Larsen is in https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Silicon-Valley-foundation-s-crypto-assets-14029709.php and https://www.philanthropy.com/article/donors-in-silicon-valley-want-flexibility-in-their-giving-a-nonprofit-finds/ .
Cool thing is that you can convert vapor crypto like Ripple XRP into USD tax deductions even though there are limits on selling XRP that were put in place in order to keep the value artificially propped up. For example, you have an alleged $billion worth of XRP on the books. By giving it to your donor-advised fund you don't pay any capital gains tax on it. Whoo hoo! And then you tell your fund to donate the money to some 501c3, shady or not, and you get a tax deduction on the $1billion, and at a 30-40% marginal tax rate that would be hundreds of millions of dollars. And that deduction can be carried forward! Super whoo hoo! And best of all, the money ends up in a private security company that is not a non-profit 501c3 at all.
And Mission Local reports that SF SAFE stiffed Mission nonprofits who actually did the work. And they stiffed them for a whopping $625k!
SUPER EXCITING UPDATE: on 1/24/24 SF SAFE was shut down and the Executive Director was fired. And then it came out that some key bank accounts were empty and a check was fraudulently written. Criminal investigation has been started. But don't worry about the crypto billionaire. What he did was certainly unethical but we are certain his lawyers are well paid.
See SF Standard and SF Chronicle for more details.
Oh, but then it turns out the 501c3 is just as shady as you are. Oops.
And now there is going to be a hearing into SF SAFE. The politicians and the past people who worked for SF SAFE are just utterly appalled. https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/san-francisco-safe-nonprofit-18622141.php
STOP WITH THE UPDATES ALREADY!
Turns out SF SAFE is the gift that keeps on giving. The SF Chronicle reports that there were couple hundred thousand dollars of financial shenanigans at the Executive Directors previous non-profit in Richmond, CA. Yet still, she was hired without objection from the SFPD.
They are so part of the SFPD that they even have SFPD (415) 553-198x phone numbers. Valiantly, most of them share the same phone number, though perhaps their staff doesn't all exist??
Just don't look for SFSafe to actually be doing anything (besides fancy parties for police folks). If you look at their sfsafe.org website you will note that they don't actually register bikes, don't actually hold community events, and publish a trivial list newsletter just once a year. But the parties!
Update: From a SF Chronicle article on 1/18/24, it turns out that SF Safe is far more nefarious than previously known. They were supposed to provide crime prevention services to SF residents, and they get funding direct from the police department. Yet SF residents never hear about the organization. Turns out the SFPD funding went towards "Lake Tahoe trip, luxury gift boxes and limo service". Oh, and many thousands of dollars toward valet parking! Plus they did not have supporting documentation for millions of dollars in expenses, $3.8m! Those gift boxes costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is quite a clever way to bribe police.
And now word about SF SAFE has spread to SF Standard and SFist.
Update to the Update: From a SF Standard article on 1/23/24, turns out that lots of the crypto money that Chris Larsen put towards spy cameras went poof and disappeared in some pretty epic malfeasance. Almost a million dollars was not spent on what it was supposed to be. And Larsen is not providing funding for them anymore. Oops, looks like using SF SAFE for the spy camera program has now completely backfired. Plus in a most excellent twist, the ex-spokesperson for SF SAFE, Alex Tourk (for giggles look up "Tourk Newsom"), never got his $80k owed by the group so now he is the spokesperson for crypto boss Larsen instead. And of course it turns out that Larsen provided his money to SF SAFE through a total tax dodge using Silicon Valley Community Foundation, his "donor-advised fund". You see, with a donor-advised fund Larsen doesn't pay capital gains tax and then on top of that he takes a suite tax deduction. He is actually making money by donating it. Techbroooooooooo!!!
Key issue was that the Chris Larsen "donations" went through a donor-advised fund that was within Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Useful info on how this worked with Larsen is in https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Silicon-Valley-foundation-s-crypto-assets-14029709.php and https://www.philanthropy.com/article/donors-in-silicon-valley-want-flexibility-in-their-giving-a-nonprofit-finds/ .
Cool thing is that you can convert vapor crypto like Ripple XRP into USD tax deductions even though there are limits on selling XRP that were put in place in order to keep the value artificially propped up. For example, you have an alleged $billion worth of XRP on the books. By giving it to your donor-advised fund you don't pay any capital gains tax on it. Whoo hoo! And then you tell your fund to donate the money to some 501c3, shady or not, and you get a tax deduction on the $1billion, and at a 30-40% marginal tax rate that would be hundreds of millions of dollars. And that deduction can be carried forward! Super whoo hoo! And best of all, the money ends up in a private security company that is not a non-profit 501c3 at all.
And Mission Local reports that SF SAFE stiffed Mission nonprofits who actually did the work. And they stiffed them for a whopping $625k!
SUPER EXCITING UPDATE: on 1/24/24 SF SAFE was shut down and the Executive Director was fired. And then it came out that some key bank accounts were empty and a check was fraudulently written. Criminal investigation has been started. But don't worry about the crypto billionaire. What he did was certainly unethical but we are certain his lawyers are well paid.
See SF Standard and SF Chronicle for more details.
Oh, but then it turns out the 501c3 is just as shady as you are. Oops.
And now there is going to be a hearing into SF SAFE. The politicians and the past people who worked for SF SAFE are just utterly appalled. https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/san-francisco-safe-nonprofit-18622141.php
STOP WITH THE UPDATES ALREADY!
Turns out SF SAFE is the gift that keeps on giving. The SF Chronicle reports that there were couple hundred thousand dollars of financial shenanigans at the Executive Directors previous non-profit in Richmond, CA. Yet still, she was hired without objection from the SFPD.
Looking into the org more, things appear to be quite suspicious. From their website, these folks all share a single phone number and a single e-mail address. No pictures are available. And their LinkedIn profiles are almost nonexistent. Are these actually real people with real paychecks doing real work??
Impressive that under the recent Executive Director Kyra Worthy there were able to move out of their free office space at the Hall of Justice to this quite fancy office in the Mission in June 2021.
This is unprecedented, isn't it?
SF Standard reports that the Executive Director of SF SAFE, Kyra Worthy, has quite a checkered past. The group For Richmond was created and funded by Chevron to try to make amends for the rather large in injurious fire at their refinery. Interestingly, Kyra's group also helped put in surveillance cameras for the police at that time.
Oddly, Kyra also spent lots of money flying disadvantaged kids on a private jet to LA.
Oddly, Kyra also spent lots of money flying disadvantaged kids on a private jet to LA.
But the biggest problem was the $235k that somehow went poof.
What about the SF SAFE board?
A description of the SF SAFE Board of Director responsibilities, from just before Kyra Worthy was hired as Executive Director, it is clear there are serious problems of the Board not meeting their legal responsibilities.
And in a Laurel and Hardy kind of routine, the SFPD and the SF SAFE Board (which also includes SFPD folks), are pointing fingers at each other when it comes to who was truly responsible. Editors note: they both are!
What about the surveillance company AVS?
Interestingly, when you look at SF SAFE's history you first get a picture featuring the CEO of AVS.Just zoom in on the name badge to confirm that it is Dimitri Shimolin.
But of course Dimitri is at the SF SAFE office. After all:
Address of AVS: 2601 Mission St., Suite 401 San Francisco, CA 94110
Address of SF SAFE: 2601 Mission St., Suite 300 San Francisco, CA 94110
What a coincidence that the company, AVS, that Larsen was funneling money to was located just a few feet away from the organization, SF SAFE, that was supposed to do the funneling. Sure must have been awkward in the elevator when SF SAFE somehow spent the million dollars on something else.
Address of AVS: 2601 Mission St., Suite 401 San Francisco, CA 94110
Address of SF SAFE: 2601 Mission St., Suite 300 San Francisco, CA 94110
What a coincidence that the company, AVS, that Larsen was funneling money to was located just a few feet away from the organization, SF SAFE, that was supposed to do the funneling. Sure must have been awkward in the elevator when SF SAFE somehow spent the million dollars on something else.
That's all fine, but can they do face recognition, for the police, just hypothetically speaking? Well, they can't say that publicly. But they make it clear by stating they do: Embedded AI and machine learning functionalities deliver actionable insight and knowledge-driven enterprise performance
Sure sounds like facial recognition
Sure doesn't look like 2601 Mission building
Hmm, well, who are the people? Hard to tell since their website doesn't say and just uses a bunch of stock images a mumbo jumbo text.
In fact, the only name they mention on their entire website is the previous Executive Director of SF SAFE, Sarah Burton.
But if you want to learn about the people behind AVS, I recommend you go to their LinkedIn page. Interesting that AVS has become the hotspot for Russian emigres to do lots of work on security monitoring.
All of this is somewhat peculiar. But it doesn't answer the key questions:
They really exist. You can go to their office and see real live people (with strong accents). They are a real business. But they sure seem to be an interweaved part of the SF SAFE puzzle.
All of this is somewhat peculiar. But it doesn't answer the key questions:
- Why did the Crypto billionaire trust these particular folks with lots of money?
- What is their real relationship with SF SAFE?
- Why is the company so oddly mysterious?
- How are they surviving not getting paid the million dollars they were expecting through SF SAFE?
They really exist. You can go to their office and see real live people (with strong accents). They are a real business. But they sure seem to be an interweaved part of the SF SAFE puzzle.
Finally, the SF SAFE City Camera Program
Then of course you need a special project within SF SAFE in order to funnel the money to putting in cameras. But you don't want this financial situation to be too clear so you only describe it publicly with a short blurb at https://sfsafe.org/sf-safe-city-camera-program/
But you do emphasize how the mayor is championing these financial shenanigans to help law enforcement:
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“The SF SafeCity camera program is an important crime prevention tool for our city,” said Mayor Breed. “Empowering community members with the right controls in place, SF SafeCity strengthens the evidence chain and improves the ability for law enforcement to respond to public safety challenges with balance and accountability.”
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I see you!
And even after it became obvious that SF SAFE was just a money laundering organization for the police department, Mayor Breed is still in support of it:
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Mayor London Breed said Thursday that SF SAFE “has been a very valuable organization” that helped city police gain crucial access to surveillance cameras to arrest people suspected of committing various crimes.
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So now we have a shady SFPD non-profit running a spycam program funded by a crypto billionaire. Brilliant!
