I’ve talked about my ongoing divorce in this thread if anyone is interested in some background.
Before I go any further I want to point out that I am not looking for legal advice (I have a damn good lawyer), I am just looking for others opinions.
Today I received a letter from my lawyer that had a settlement proposal from my not-soon-enough ex. At the end of the proposal my ex’s lawyer wrote something that prompted this post.
A little background…when I moved out of the house I took one of the two computers we had. The computer was set-up with separate log ins for my wife and I. After a few weeks I returned the computer to her so she couldn’t accuse me of stealing it (I know, but she did it with other things I removed from the house). Before I returned it I deleted my log in and all the info under that log in. Apparently she took it some place and had that information restored. Now, back to the letter…
According to her lawyer, my ex has some concerns about some questionable images she found on the computer. He then writes that we should try to conclude the divorce before there are any other stumbling blocks in the case. That statement directly follows the statement about the questionable images on the computer.
After reading the letter the first thing that came to mind is that she’s threatening to blackmail me by revealing these questionable images. Am I worried about it? No, because I know there was nothing on that computer that was illegal. She’s probably talking about images depicting consenting adults participating in adult acts. In other words, porn. Big deal.
Am I correct in taking those statements together as a blackmail threat? Or is my emotional involvement in the situation clouding my judgment? Any and all opinions are welcomed.
Well, isn’t that some ammo the OP has in his court, then? The images on that computer might have been under his login that he wiped, and then the data was manipulated by a third party, who could have put anything, anywhere, on that computer.
I say she’s got nuthin’. Though it does sound like a vague threat to me. Does your Atty have any take on it?
The flip side, if it’s been in her possession, you have no idea what she might have planted on it and will claim is yours.
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Even if it was kiddie porn…
and no typical computer shop I am aware of, is prepared to manage any kind of meaningful chain of custody. If a computer came into my shop and child porn was somehow discovered, I would call the police right then and there. I will let pd contact the customer and explain.
Also they could easily be bluffing. Data recovery does not work like on CSI where they just plug it into another Pc and every deleted file pops up clean and clear. In many occasions you end up with a pile of 43000 jpg files called jpg0001, jpg0002,…,…,jpg3845… Some of them cannot open, some of the ones that will open are missing chunks. Most of them will be scraps of interfaces and temporary Internet files. Missing or corrupt time/date stamps. Places like drivesavers who have some of the most advanced data recovery methods available still don’t get things clean sometimes. If they did go someplace like that they probably spent $800-$3000 getting it. It could take days of manually sifting through that mess for anything incriminating that may not be there.
It’s bullshit. When they have it on actual authority of real illegal stuff they don’t wait until court, they send someone round to collect you NOW. I had questionable content on my PC when I got divorced, and that bitch actually turned my PC into the FBI(my lawyer told me she did). She brought up the actual files and file names in the divorce. Nothing happened to me. I never got a call from the FBI or arrested because of it. It’s more of an embarrassment thing, she wants it put in The Official Record that you’re a scumbag because you like Anal Butt Slut Cheerleaders #7 and Where The Boys Aren’t #3 (quality film, I recommend it)
Is it blackmail, sounds like it. He is saying somethings wrong and that you should settle your case ASAP before problems arise
That’s like Monty “The Simpson” Burns, saying to the inspector, “Oh gee some careless person has left thousands of dollars lying around, excuse me while Smithers and I leave the room”
As for restoring data, I’ve gotten perfect things off my computer that were deleted two years ago, while not being able to reconstruct a file I deleted 10 minutes ago. It depends on a lot of stuff.
You have a lawyer let him handle it. If you’re afraid to tell your lawyer what “questionable content is,” then you have a problem.
In this case I would assume “quesitonable content” means something indicating that you had more fault in the divorce than your letting on." Such as a log of an instant message conversation, indicating you were cheating or thinking about it. Or that you moved assets prior to the divorce in order to make yourself look broke so you’d pay less in a settlement.
A lawyer has a duty to report any violation of the law, he’s not gonna shield child porn or something like that, itd get him in trouble as well.
I also read through the interesting MPSIMS thread, and this makes me wonder if the STBX’s lawyer is getting tired of teh crazy, and wants to get this case done with before his client causes more problems.
Just a thought (and maybe there are other parts to the letter to deny this).
Thirded. I also smell blackmail, or at least some kind of threat, because what her lawyer said has nothing to do with the settlement of your divorce. You know, Cell Guy, I’m not a hatin’ kind of person, but I’m really not liking your wife these days - there’s something wrong with her. Like, seriously wrong.
ETA: Protect yourself as well as you can from her. Assume the worst things she can do, then assume she’ll go even farther. This last bit is giving me serious bad vibes.
My lawyer is aware of the issue since the letter came to me through her. She has not made any comment on it which tells me she’s not too worried about it. I have contacted her with my feelings regarding this but probably won’t hear anything until Monday.
Until I hear from her I think I’ll take Bosda’s, Radical’s and Cats advice to keep quiet. Thanks again everyone for your input.