Paul La Roux is a cryptographer and organized crime figure both on and off the web. There is a theory that Le Roux may even be the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. Born on the 24th of December 1972 in Zimbabwe, La Roux moved with his adoptive family to various African countries due to changing political scenarios.

He was a talented computer programmer from a young age, and helped develop the free open-source software E4M or Encryption for the Masses and publish the software on December 18th, 1998.

The software was published with a manifesto expressing a dislike for government control over digital spaces and a distinct anti-surveillance ethos. This capacity for encryption programming and similar ideology is often cited in relation to La Roux’s possible connection with Satoshi.

From Programmer To Gang Boss

Later La Roux would be credited for working on the TrueCrypt, another impressive piece of encryption software. However, La Roux would himself deny any connection to the project, despite considerable evidence to support the connection. Edward Snowden’s NSA leak revealed that E4M was considered a major security threat by the US government.

He went on to create hundreds of online websites and began selling prescription medication throughout the United States, enlisting pharmacies and doctors to diagnose patients remotely and prescribe controlled painkillers with little to no oversight or patient care.

Le Roux made hundreds of millions of dollars at the height of the US opioid crisis. He used his profits to form an international cartel responsible for assassinations, drug smuggling and manufacturing, weapons smuggling, terrorism and piracy, extortion, illegal logging and diamond smuggling, breach of international weapons sanctions, and more.

Did Paul Le Roux Create Bitcoin?

Paul La Roux was insulated from government agencies by a complex web of encryption, shell corporations, and fake identities. He used the alias Paul Solotoshi Calder Le Roux, which bears some resemblance to the name of Satoshi. Many argue that he had the encryption skills required to make Bitcoin, as well as the motivation for a form of pseudonymous digital cash that would be difficult to trace.

He was arrested in September 2012, less than a year after Nakomoto’s last online correspondence, and some believe that this explains why Nakomoto has never cashed out any of their Bitcoin fortune.

After signing a plea deal, Le Roux was sentenced to 25 years and will likely face extradition after time served. All of the evidence connecting Le Roux to Bitcoin’s creation is circumstantial, with no hard evidence to suggest that he was ever involved.