True The Vote Gets Jailed for NOT Breaking the Law!
This morning, True The Vote’s co-founders Greg Phillips and Catherine Englebrecht were arrested and taken into custody by United States Marshals after judge Kenneth Hoyt determined that True The Vote had disobeyed a Temporary Restraining Order. The arrest of Gregg and Catherine is obviously very shocking, especially for people who have not been closely following this defamation case. So, in an effort to inform you, I’ve done my due diligence and read everything that there is to read on the court docket.
If you would prefer to watch my VIDEO summary of this matter, I did a Live Show on Rumble…
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True The Vote Thrown In Jail For Not Doxxing Data Source (rumble.com)
The rest of this article will illustrate the notes that I have taken from numerous court filings submitted by both Konnech and True The Vote. If you would like to read the court docket yourself, please do so at Konnech Inc. v. True The Vote Inc., 4:22-cv-03096 – CourtListener.com
In short summary, Gregg Phillips declined to identify the third man present in the Dallas hotel room where Konnech’s data was supposedly accessed back in January 2021. Gregg stated that he believed disclosing the identity of his source would be a violation of federal law, since he/she was a confidential informant for the FBI, and that this matter was part of an ongoing FBI investigation.
Now, before we discuss the details that led to the arrest of Catherine and Gregg, keep in mind that less than a month after Konnech’s defamation case was filed, Eugene Yu (the CEO of Konnech) was arrrested for apparently committing the exact crimes that True The Vote had alleged that he committed. Despite this fact, Gregg and Catherine are now in jail while Eugene Yu is out on bond staying in a hotel room, ordering pizza and watching Netflix…
KONNECH FILES DEFAMATION SUIT AGAINST TRUE THE VOTE
On September 12th, Konnech filed a defamation lawsuit against True The Vote, as well as a computer fraud suit, and a Temporary Restraining Order.
In their original complaint, Konnech claimed that True The Vote had spread baseless conspiracies that have damaged their company’s reputation and threatened the safety of their employees. They also claimed that Gregg Phillips obtained data illegally from Konnech’s protected computers.
KONNECH’S MOTION FOR A TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER
On September 12th, 2022 Konnech filed for a temporary restraining order against True The Vote.
The terms of the TRO were as follows.
(1) To prevent TTV from accessing or attempting to access Konnech’s protected computers;
(2) to return to Konnech all property and data obtained from Konnech’s protected computers
(3) To prevent TTV from using, disclosing, or exploiting the property and data downloaded
(4) To preserve, and not to delete, destroy, conceal or otherwise alter, any files or other data obtained
(5) To identify each individual and/or organization involved in accessing Konnech’s protected computers;
(6) Force Defendants to confidentially disclose to Konnech how, when, and by whom its servers were accessed without authority so that additional necessary security measures can be implemented by Konnech to maintain the integrity of the data therein in light of the upcoming midterm elections; and
(7) ordering Defendants to identify all persons and/or entities, in Defendants’ knowledge, who have had possession, custody or control of any information or data.
JUDGE HOYT GRANTS KONNECH’S TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER
Judge Hoyt stated that Konnech was likely to win the defamation suit on the merits, because Gregg Phillips has publicly admitted to illegally obtaining Konnech’s data, and because there is a substantial likelihood that Konnech will suffer irreparable injury if the TRO is not granted.
Basically, the judge said that Konnech has been completely victimized by True The Votes baseless claims and illegal access of their computers, and (without looking at ANY evidence) granted the TRO to protect Konnech from any further harm…
TTV FILES NAME OF CONFIDENTIAL SOURCE UNDER SEAL
3 days later, on September 15, True The Vote explained to the courts that they never stole anything from Konnech, and that this was part of an ongoing FBI investigation. True The Vote was unsure whether or not they could publicly disclose information about their confidential source(s).
Despite numerous attempts to clarify this with the FBI, True The Vote received no response and were left in limbo, in fear of violating the law.
TTV’s legal counsel attempted to file the name of ONE confidential source (Mike Hasson) under seal with the judge, so that the judge would know the name of the source, but Konnech would not.
Their reasoning for filing the name under seal was to avoid compromising the FBI’s ongoing investigation into Konnech, and to protect their CI from harm.
KONNECH’S MOTION TO SHOW CAUSE AND FOR CONTEMPT
September 21st, Konnech contends that the defendants’ have failed to comply with “subsections V, VI and VII of the TRO.”
Essentially, Konnech argued that the TRO specifically demands TTV to disclose the name of their CI to Konnech, and not under seal with the courts.
And regardless of whether or not there’s an ongoing investigation, they still need to tell Konnech how, where, when, the data was obtained.
TRUE THE VOTE RESPONDS TO CONTEMPT MOTION
September 23rd, True The Vote asserts AGAIN that they “believe that to turn over the name of the individual from who they acquired their data, has significant national security and law enforcement implications, and the defendants assert that pursuant to Title 18 U.S.C. § 798, they have a greater duty to the United States not to make the name of the individual available to Konnech.”
The judge didn’t accept this reasoning and didn’t think there was any reason to keep the name of the CI under seal.
At an in-person hearing on October 6, 2022, TTV attorneys were forced to read into the record the name of a single source, Mike Hasson, and TTV claimed in open court that “Mike Hasson invited Gregg Phillips to a hotel room in Dallas, Texas at midnight in January 2021 to show him what he allegedly found on a Konnech server in China. Mr. Hasson then gave Defendant Phillips a copy of that data.”
So, they forced TTV to doxx their witness.
STILL the judge wasn’t satisfied…
The judge then asked for more detailed information about Hasson’s identity.
Phillips told the court he had no way of contacting Hasson and had only communicated with him through messaging “apps.” He had not seen Hasson since the night at the hotel in January 2021.
Konnech’s attorneys pressed the issue and claimed that based on statements from Gregg Phillips and Catherine Engelbrecht that Mike Hasson didn’t work alone, and there was more than one confidential source.
True The Vote, then appeared to confirm that there was more than one person present at the Dallas hotel.
Catherine Engelbrecht said before the court, that;
“Every name I give you gets doxxed and harassed, I know what happened to Mike after his name was released and he’s in hiding.”
Immediately, the judge interjected. “Excuse me. How do you know he’s in hiding?”
She replied…
“I’ve been … it’s been rumored. In fairness, it’s been rumored,”
Catherine and Phillips also told the court the second unnamed person was a “confidential informant” for the FBI…
So, this is kind of weird because, they DID give up the name of one of their sources, but they refused to give up the other…
It turns out, according to Phillips, the second unnamed person was currently working as a CI to bust the drug cartels at the border, and doxxing him/her would cause SIGNIFICANT harm.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Hoyt stated that despite this disclosure of Mike Hasson’s identity, the defendants still did not identify the organization that the individual is involved with, nor did they identify any OTHER persons or organizations involved in accessing Konnech’s “protected computers”.
EUGENE YU GETS ARRESTED
On October 4th, Eugene Yu was arrested for possible theft of personal information about poll workers, which is EXACTLY what True The Vote had been claiming before the defamation case was filed. Despite this fact, the judge was disinterested in the LA investigation. Hoyt appeared to think that the fact that Eugene was arrested was irrelevant.
…On October 7th, the Court found that Defendants remained in Contempt of subsections v, vi, and vii of the TRO.
October 11th, 2022 added Mike Hasson as a defendant.
Contempt Hearing
Oct 27, 2022 there was a contempt hearing where judge Hoyt said that True The Vote would be held in contempt of court and face jail time, unless they complied with the 3 outstanding conditions of the TRO.
He gave them until 9:00am on the 31st to comply.
October 28th, Catherine provided Signal messages between herself and an FBI agent by the name of KayKay showing that they had tried to make contact with the FBI to see whether or not they were allowed to disclose the identity of their confidential source but received no response.
Gregg Phillips submitted an affidavit stating that to the best of his knowledge
The computer that was accessed is not OWNED by Konnech, so it does not classify as Konnech’s protected computer.
Agreed to cooperate with subsection VI of the Temporary Restraining Order by confidentially submitting evidence to the court, meaning under seal.
That the only person who has had the data in their possession is Mike Hasson and the FBI.
TTV HELD IN CONTEMPT
October 31st, despite the submissions from Catherine and Gregg, judge Hoyt says he never got a straight answer on who was in the Dallas hotel room January, 2021. Judge Hoyt said the way Phillips and Engelbrecht talked suggests True the Vote did have access to the hacked computer data, despite what Phillips submitted in his affidavit, and therefore ordered that Engelbrecht and Phillips be held in custody for a day or more, until they bring forth the information they are withholding.
It should be noted that you cannot be released on bond from a contempt order. Section 21.002(b) of the Texas Government Code provides that punishment for a single act of contempt is a fine of not more than $500, confinement in the county jail for not more than six months, or both.
True The Vote is supposed to be requested again to comply with the TRO after 24 hours of being held in comtempt. It is my understanding that if they still do not doxx their informant, they will remain in contempt…
Sounds to me like we are punishing True The Vote for making that "disinformation movie" about how the 2020 election got stolen!
You got cashapp?