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Locked In with Ian Bick

I Was a Bitcoin Kingpin — Now I’ve Been on Home Confinement for 6+ Years Awaiting Trial | Joby Weeks

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8745 Ratings

🗓️ 16 March 2026

⏱️ 63 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Joby Weeks was once a major figure in the early days of Bitcoin, building a massive cryptocurrency business during the wild west of crypto. But after federal investigators targeted his operation, his life changed overnight. In this episode of the Locked In Podcast, Joby reveals how he ended up trapped on home confinement for more than six years while still awaiting trial on federal charges. He breaks down the Bitcoin boom, the investigation that shut everything down, and what it’s like living under strict government restrictions for years without a resolution to his case. _____________________________________________ #bitcoin #cryptocrime #ianbick #lockedinpodcast #truecrime #federalprison #homeconfinement #crypto _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 Arrested by Federal Agents – The BitClub Case 01:00 Six Years on House Arrest 03:00 What Life Is Like on Home Confinement 08:00 Early Life and Family Background 13:00 Becoming an Entrepreneur 18:00 Manatech Business Success & Giving Back 22:00 Discovering Bitcoin and Early Crypto Investing 26:00 Building the BitClub Crypto Mining Empire 31:00 Political Activism and Cannabis Legalization 36:00 The Liberty Dollar & Ron Paul Movement 41:00 Bitcoin Mining, Data Centers & Crypto Expansion 45:00 Federal Indictment and Missing Bitcoin Allegations 50:00 Years in Legal Limbo on House Arrest 54:00 Fighting the Federal Case – Lawsuits & Plea Deals 01:00:00 Faith, Reflection, and Waiting for Freedom 01:02:00 Final Thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

What I've dedicated my life to is revenge.

0:04.0

A brand new drama based on the best-selling novel.

0:07.0

They think they're better than us.

0:08.0

Who do you think you are?

0:10.0

I'm going to prove to them that they're wrong.

0:11.0

She's punishing me.

0:13.0

You destroyed my family.

0:14.0

I will not rest until I've destroyed yours.

0:17.0

A woman of substance on Channel 4 starts tonight at 9.

0:20.0

Then one day at Tony Robbins, I was kidnapped by the feds. They had indicted me saying that I was selling an unregistered security. So I get taken to this unmarked building, no signs. You know, I'm like, if these are really cops, I should be going to jail and meet a judge, see a lawyer. No, they take me to this building. They're trying to hustle me for my private keys. I'm like, no, I need to keep my Bitcoin so that I can pay for a lawyer, pay for bail. And they disappeared me for 11 months. They bounced me around the country from jail to jail to jail to jail, state to state to state, state to state. My family didn't know where I was for 11 months. Joby Weeks helped build a massive Bitcoin operation during the early days of cryptocurrency,

0:58.5

but when the federal government came after him, everything changed.

1:02.7

Now he's been stuck on home confinement for over six years without ever going to trial.

1:10.5

So the reason why we're here, so the audience knows, because I don't just pack up and go anywhere for anyone, but you've been on home confinement for the last six years. I have. Yeah, it's good to be here, Ian. Thanks for having me on. Got the ankle monitor. Got the ankle monitor on, you know? Is that one of the ones you have to charge? Got to charge it every day.

1:29.2

You know, and then there's a little reader device over there that sees how many steps away from the device I go and the alarms go off if I even walk out the front door.

1:39.7

Have you, like, mapped it out, like, in the movie Disturbia where you put, like, the little, the notes and stuff or the markers? No, I haven't gone that far, but, you know, what was going on is because we're on the ocean, sometimes the cell towers and things will ping wrong, and they'll call me in the middle of the night saying I'm 100 yards out in the middle of the ocean. And I'm like, no, I'm actually in bed right now.

2:02.6

They're like, oh, sorry about that.

2:04.1

I'm like, so we got a lot of false positives with this thing.

2:08.6

I had the ankle monitor on for a year.

2:10.4

So I somewhat feel your pain, but mine wasn't the chargeable one.

2:13.9

It was just the, they had the box and it was the radar detector one. So if I left a certain

2:19.6

radius, normally like outside the apartment building, they would get notified. But I always

2:24.4

wanted the GPS one because then they could show that I'm at work, whereas the other one,

...

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