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title: "Death Athletes"
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![Horizpontal.jpeg](/Images/Headers/Death.jpg)

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*"We always knew it was going to happen, it was according to our plan. For our kind, this is nothing."* - Cody Wilson

Death Athletes refers to a concept going back to Ancient Greece and popularized by 3d Gun Printing Activist Cody Wilson called **"The Death Athletic"**. Cody gave a speech at Guns and Bitcoin 2022 talking about the beauty of death given in service to ones beliefs. While not always literal this is often metaphorical, Cody talks about the public death and having been killed in the public as a metaphor. The Death Athletic specifically refers to someone who engaged in practice to promote freedom and was persecuted for doing so. While many people have been prosecuted unfairly, there is a difference between general victims and those who specifically took the risk of fighting the state and lost. 

**Check out the speech [here!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVi9m65lHGc)**

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### Death Athletes

**[Roger Ver](https://www.freerogernow.org/)** - Roger Ver is a freedom activist who was one of the first investors in Bitcoin. Roger has worked as a liberty and Bitcoin activist for over a decade and has made major financial contributions and investments to projects like, DefCad, ShapeShift, FEE, Ross Ulbricht's Legal Defense, Wikileaks, Kraken and many many more. In April 2024 Roger was arrested and detained in Spain on the request of the US government for alleged tax evasion claims in regarding to his exit tax in 2014. Roger is currently looking at a potential 100 year prison sentence for numerous ridiculous legal charges. Roger has been trapped in Spain since April 2024. 

**[Ross Ulbricht](https://freeross.org/)** - Ross Ulbricht is the alleged founder and operator of the Silk Road website. The Silk Road offered consumers a safe and trusted way to purchase drugs and other contraband items. Ross was arrested and imprisoned in 2013. He was sentenced to two life sentences plus 40 years and millions of dollars in fines in a corrupt trial. Ross is scheduled to be released as Donald Trump promised to commute his sentence on Day one of his presidency. 

**[Julian Assange](https://www.ifj.org/actions/ifj-campaigns/free-assange-now)** - Julian Assange is one of the greatest journalists of all time. Julian founded Wikileaks in 2006 and has exposed mass public corruption across the world regarding governments and corporations. Julian was forced into home arrest and then asylum for close to a decade based off ridiculous sex charges that were eventually dropped. In 2019 Julian was pulled out of his Asylum and pull into solitary confinement in BellMarsh prison until June 2024. Julian signed a plea deal and was released.  

[**Edward Snowden**](https://www.whistleblowers.org/news/the-case-of-edward-snowden/) - Edward Snowden is a NSA Whistleblower who exposed massive NSA Corruption in 2013, mostly in regards to illegal mass surveillance on citizens. Snowden has been trapped in Russia ever since. 

[**Samurai Wallet Devs**](https://www.p2prights.org/donate.html) - In May 2024 Samurai Wallets Domain was seized and the two devs known publicly as TDev and Samurai were arrested and charged with money laundering due to the Bitcoin coinjoin functions built into the website.  

[**Tornado Cash Devs**](https://wewantjusticedao.org/donate) - Tornado Cash is a decentralized coinjoin provider for the Ethereum Crypto Currency. In 2022 Tornado Cash was added to the OFACT List and the Devs Roman Storm and Alex Pertsev where charged with Money Laundering. 

**[Aaron Swartz](http://www.aaronsw.com/)** - Internet pioneer and free speech advocate. Creator of the Guerilla Access Open Manifest as well as several other open source technologies, Aaron Swartz tragically killed himself in 2013 thanks to overzealous prosecutors from the DOJ that were threatening Aaron with decades in prison for attempted publishing of copyrighted documents, despite the fact that the document had never been published and the owner of those copyrights Jstore, had actually dropped the charges.  

**[Ian Freemen](https://www.freeiannow.org/)** - Freeman, known for advocating freedom and financial privacy through bitcoin, found himself targeted by federal prosecutors. Initially facing charges including bank fraud and wire fraud, these allegations were eventually dropped due to lack of evidence. The core of the case revolved around money laundering and conspiracy charges. Ultimately, Freeman received a severe sentence of eight years in prison, a $40,000 fine, and forfeiture of $5 million in assets, despite not being convicted of the fraud charges prosecutors initially highlighted.

[**Cody Wilson**](defcad.com) - The creator of the Death Athletic concept as well as the founder of Defcad.com and first person to create a 3d printed Gun. Cody has been at the forefront of fighting for 2nd amendment and 1st amendment as they pertain to code and digital rights for over a decade.  Cody has been involved in many lawsuits with the federal government as a result and suffered charges for sex crimes in 2018. He is currently free and working for Defcad. 

[**Jay Stark**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FGC-9) - The anonymous creator of the FGC-9, which stands for "Fuck Gun Control." The FGC was the first project to enable the creation of a fully 3d printed gun that did not require any actual gun parts, instead it uses items that can be purchased from conventional stores all over the world. Jay Stark was arrested in April 2021 on suspicions of owning illegal weapons, however none of these weapons were found and he was not taken into custody. Two days later he was found dead sitting in his car in front of his parents house. While the offical cause of death ruled out "foul play" it is difficult for most to believe that this was simply a coincidence. 

