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Comment by zionic | Hacker News Reader

Wow, not that I would ever do anything like this… but if I was accused of such a thing the last thing I would do is book a flight for tomorrow.

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If I've learned anything from reading espionage fiction novels -- you book a flight for tomorrow and leave on the bus tonight.

Much better to drive across the border and then book a flight with a non-US airline.

He could've taken out cash from his local bank account, turned off his phone, driven to San Ysidro and walked through the public turnstile into Tijuana. And then tried to get a flight from Mexico City to somewhere in south asia.

Would have been much better than going through the US/Canada border which has a full data sharing agreement between CBSA and US CBP/ICE.

(note: this is a stupid, humorous theoretical, not real advice on how to flee to avoid prosecution)

also, a note, any airline flight that crosses US airspace submits its passenger manifest to US CBP/ICE/DHS electronically as a database transfer, this has been a thing for 20+ years as a result of 9/11 and the PATRIOT act.

Taking a large sum of cash would have probably been a trigger for the folks surveilling him, though. Maybe he could get away but that is going to trigger something.

Why the need for the large amount of cash? It's not that you can't access banking websites from abroad. Sure, his bank accounts might be frozen or off-boarded as a result of the investigation. But in general, you can always transfer your money and don't need to bring cash.

If you're expecting someone to call the police during or after the meeting where they ask you about the crimes you committed against them, you probably want to obtain enough spending money before you're officially a fugitive, rather than hope they won't cancel your credit card or use it to find out where you are in the coming days.

Though you'd have thought someone committing financial crimes in the crypto industry might have more scope for planning their offramp

> someone committing financial crimes in the crypto industry might have more scope for planning their offramp

One would think.

Isn't the whole point of crypto that you don't need to get your cash out of a bank account that the government can monitor and potentially lockdown?

ideologically, yes, but I don't see any airlines that take payment in crypto for one-way rush last minute tickets to india

Crypto is good for recouping his funds once he's out of country and settled. Not super liquid when making last minute on-the-fly purchases though (at least not with the current level of adoption)

But he is likely not a crypto believer. He already sold all of them, at least the tokens he was trading with insider information.

> turnstile into Tijuana

q1: Surely walking from one country to another needs paperwork of some kind?

q2: And even then, don't they check passport for port of entry? Like how and when did you get to mexico if you want to leave it?

1. Nope. Technically you are supposed to show id if you want to go further into Mexico than about 40km? The army has checkpoints.

2. Nope to enter mexico by foot in certain border tourist cities, of course USA cbp/ice requires full id for anyone coming back.

Mexico doesn't check anything. Years ago I walked into Mexico. 2019 I rode a motorcycle into Mexico, so you could argue they had my plates, but they didn't know who was under the helmet, and definitely didn't know which 5' passenger I had as a passenger also wearing a helmet, even though you could argue she's possibly the size of a child even (she was just a small 23 year old)

> the last thing I would do is book a flight for tomorrow.

Maybe, that was his 'last thing'

From his perspective he could have believed it was just coinbase connecting the dots and he was just going to leave since they, if alone in their investigation, effectively had no immediate power over him.

There was no way they were going to let him leave the country, no matter when he booked the flight. booking the flight made it easier to arrest him. the meeting was set-up by the feds to arrest him there instead, but he thought that leaving the country would work, which it obv. didn't.

I mean I don’t intend on ever being a fugitive lol, but do they even check ID digitally when crossing the southern border on foot?

They do not.

There's a traffic signal with a green or red light. If you get a green light, you keep going. They don't even ask for your documents. If you get a red light, you have to stop and go through the full process.

> There was no way they were going to let him leave the country, no matter when he booked the flight

whatever his friend did is working so far. still at large.

They lived in Houston, probably drove to Mexico.

Yeah, maybe book a flight for 1 hour from now and hope they don't find out in time...

that wouldn't have given him time to pack 3 suitcases.

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