Many Small Mistakes
An interesting arson case I just noticed.
The United States is a seething hotbed of paranoia, here at the start of the summer of 2025. People are leaping wildly at the slightest sign of trouble … often without pausing to consider the plausibility of the perceived problem.
I happened to be reading a federal arson case yesterday, U.S.A vs. Kadi & Fair, and it’s a masterclass in what NOT to do when you’re up to no good.
Attention Conservation Notice:
If you’re looking over your shoulder due to the Trump administration, it would behoove you to have a look at slips made by would-be white collar fraudsters who crossed a line. These two are ready to do standup comedy.
Stupidity, Combustion & More Stupidity:
You’ll need to read the whole article first, I’m just pulling out the forehead slappers.
Do not make records unless you mean to do so. Deleting email might be charged as obstruction of justice, never having it in the first place is simply good judgment. Lack of records can be used against you, as a means to attempt to convince a jury of mens rea, but obstructive deletion is a slam dunk, and that is what prosecutors want.
The criminal cases describe a series of conversations between Kadi and Fair, whose job was to determine the financial cost of the fire damage. In return, he was to receive 10 percent of the insurance claim.
This happened in 2022 and the perps seem to have done no research on how such things are managed. Given the involvement of insurance adjustor Richard Fair, this is just spectacularly bad judgment.
"Prior to setting fire to the property, Kadi removed from the ceiling of the property the digital video recorder linked to the security cameras,"
How could they not have known the alarm system would have logs? Such things are almost always a service, which means they’ve got a two wire telco circuit, or a cellular modem, or some other means of phoning home.
Kadi told investigators she had left at approximately 6 p.m …
Alarm records showed the security system was activated at 8:19 p.m.
Investigators notice patterns. I do this with a $500/year link analysis package called Maltego. Fraud investigators have things like Analyst Notebook, Sentinel Visualizer, or maybe Palantir. You can count on them receiving an AI assist going forward, atop their already touchy pattern matching skills.
Piece De Resistance:
Fair was already on the radar. This makes the numerous mistakes made here even more puzzling. Maybe breakfast was a bottle of vodka under the front seat of his car. Don’t caper with rummies, have I mentioned that previously?
Meanwhile, investigators learned that Fair was the subject of a 2014 alert from the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
Conclusion:
As a rule, I find that corrupt processes produce corrupt results, and they are best avoided. Don’t steal, just get a job, and live within your means. And definitely don’t set fires - it’s prosecuted as attempted murder of fire fighters in terms of the penalties, and there’s no statute of limitations.
Everything you do in 2025 adds a few more pixels to your digital shadow. Avoiding unwanted attention is HARD even if you’re doing nothing wrong. If you are contemplating crossing some sort of red line, you’d better absorb everything I’ve ever said here, then start reading current cases for additional clues. And if you Google stuff logged in with the one account that is your digital identity, well … LOL.
We’ve periodically covered statements, most recently in Revisiting 18 U.S. Coda 1001. Unless you’re doing something like what I do, laying down a trail of exculpatory data with the intent to flummox some AUSAA troll, you probably better just STFU if you get caught out.
Every thing you do … or do not do … or do on the regular, except on a specific day … or only do once … is likely to leave a mark somewhere.
