>You're assuming the contract violates some statute and reasoning from there.
If someone solicits investment funds and those funds disappear without ever having been invested as a direct result of the person who solicited the funds, and drafted the contract, then yes we are all safe in assuming (but I actually know) at least one statute was violated. Very important that I again acknowledge that the DAO funds have not disappeared, and potentially may not.
Even if the funds disappear that does not mean any prosecutor anywhere is going to file charges either and even if they did, we don't know there would be a conviction, maybe there is a plea and the terms include no conviction.
The point is, you don't need an underlying conviction on the criminal side to prove a illegal contract on the civil side. In fact as we all know the standard is lower on the civil side, so it is easier to prove illegal contract on the civil side than proving the criminal case.
>But the question at hand is whether someone using the contract and following its exact terms has committed a crime of any kind, or has simply executed a transaction allowed by the system.
I really haven't addressed what the hacker(s) did or their potential liability anywhere in the thread, all times I have been addressing potential liability for the creators of the DAO. As to your question, whether or not it would be a lawful defense for the hacker(s) to say they were a party to a contract that permitted the taking of the other funds, I suppose it depends who the hacker(s) is(are) and what the crimes charged are. For example, if the hacker(s) are some or all of the creators of the DAO, the whole "contract let me do it" would not be a lawful defense, in fact such a defense would backfire and probably only prove their knowledge of the exploit when creating the DAO and intent in soliciting investment to the DAO. However, if the hacker was some lone wolf 16 year old kid (minor), in a criminal/delinquency setting I could see the defense maybe going somewhere depending on the charge, but it is still ~$40M so I don't really know.
If someone solicits investment funds and those funds disappear without ever having been invested as a direct result of the person who solicited the funds, and drafted the contract, then yes we are all safe in assuming (but I actually know) at least one statute was violated. Very important that I again acknowledge that the DAO funds have not disappeared, and potentially may not.
Even if the funds disappear that does not mean any prosecutor anywhere is going to file charges either and even if they did, we don't know there would be a conviction, maybe there is a plea and the terms include no conviction.
The point is, you don't need an underlying conviction on the criminal side to prove a illegal contract on the civil side. In fact as we all know the standard is lower on the civil side, so it is easier to prove illegal contract on the civil side than proving the criminal case.
>But the question at hand is whether someone using the contract and following its exact terms has committed a crime of any kind, or has simply executed a transaction allowed by the system.
I really haven't addressed what the hacker(s) did or their potential liability anywhere in the thread, all times I have been addressing potential liability for the creators of the DAO. As to your question, whether or not it would be a lawful defense for the hacker(s) to say they were a party to a contract that permitted the taking of the other funds, I suppose it depends who the hacker(s) is(are) and what the crimes charged are. For example, if the hacker(s) are some or all of the creators of the DAO, the whole "contract let me do it" would not be a lawful defense, in fact such a defense would backfire and probably only prove their knowledge of the exploit when creating the DAO and intent in soliciting investment to the DAO. However, if the hacker was some lone wolf 16 year old kid (minor), in a criminal/delinquency setting I could see the defense maybe going somewhere depending on the charge, but it is still ~$40M so I don't really know.