News: Corporate Theft in The Volition Cult Estimated at Thirty Billion ISK in Damages

The second of April saw a theft of Corporate assets and funds from Iron Mongers, a member Corporation of The Volition Cult Alliance, a sovereignty holder in the Providence-Bloc Coalition. The theft took place around Tranquility server's scheduled down time by Fat Elvis Presley. Amongst the stolen items was an Ark class Jump Freighter, a Rorqual class Capital Industrial ship, an unspecified Freighter with assorted modules and materials, as well as seven billion ISK taken from the corporate wallet. All told, it is believed that around thirty billion ISK was stolen.

When interviewed about the event, Fat Elvis Presley explained it was a spur of the moment, rather than a calculated thing, born out of his frustration with the Corporation, specifically the inability to bring any of his proposed projects to fruition. The money taken was part of a fund he himself started, and which he claims he was the chief contributor to. Using his other accounts, he was able to quickly move all the stolen assets out of the Providence region around down time, though he suspects his CEO became aware of his actions once he logged into the game, after the scheduled downtime. When asked whether or not he regretted his actions, Fat Elvis Presley said he did not.

xtreamer, CEO of Iron Mongers, claims the theft itself did not have any serious impact on the Corporation, but will have a lasting influence, as recruitment policies and roles need to be re-evaluated and changed. Though he understands Fat Elvis Presley's actions, considering the Corporation itself is more oriented towards family and friends who spend less time in EVE Online and more playing together on other games, he believes the one who actually lost from the entire ordeal was Fat Elvis Presley. Trust is rare to come by in EVE Online, and the theft will possibly cost Fat Elvis Presley credibility in the future. However, xtreamer still professed to being personally hurt by Fat Elvis Presley's actions.

corebloodbrothers, of Volition Cult, The Volition Cult Alliance, gave an official statement regarding the event, claiming that Fat Elvis Presley and his associated accounts have been set permanently KoS (Kill on Sight) by the Providence-Bloc, meaning that regardless of what Corporation or Alliance he may join, he will still be regarded as an enemy by all Providence-Bloc Coalition members.

Fat Elvis Presley has since joined TEMPLAR(dot) Corporation, Initiative Mercenaries Alliance.

News: Initiative(dot) Alliance Titan in Production Destroyed in W6V-VM [Update]

 In the early hours of the thirty of March, members of Nulli Secunda Alliance executed a heist in the W6V-VM system, Querious region, which saw The Initiative(dot) Alliance lose an upwards of a hundred billion ISK in damages and stolen property.

According to Canaris Roshaak, of Common Sense Ltd, Nulli Secunda Alliance, one of the organizers of the heist, he was contacted by an individual who had a spy within the Initiative(dot) Alliance. However, the spy's character was exposed and in the process of removal from the Alliance, but still maintained roles which allowed it access to one of the Capital ship construction Towers owned by the Corporation he was in. Wishing to cause as much damage as possible before finally being removed, he contacted Canaris for help in the process. As proof, he even supplied a screenshot showing the contents of one of the Capital Ship Assembly Arrays.

The proof sent to Canaris Roshaak, of Common Sense Ltd, Nulli Secunda Alliance

Satisfied that he was dealing with a genuine spy, Canaris and a fellow corporate member, Crazey Monkey, rushed to the system in Interceptors and were greeted by the spy's account, Pornokoeing, of New Republic, The Initiative(dot) Alliance, who promptly shut down the Tower's force field and defenses, allowing them to access the Tower's hangars and ship maintenance arrays with no danger. 

In a flurry of activity, the trio raided every hangar the spy had access to, netting themselves half a dozen Dreadnaught class Ships, thirty assorted Tech III, Logistics and Command class ships, as well as modules, capital parts and minerals. Beside the actual assets stolen, the trio also managed to steal Blueprints and Blueprint copies of assorted capital parts and modules, including an Avatar class Titan Blueprint copy. 

Part of the stolen property in the hold of the stolen Revelation class Dreadnaught (1 of 2)

Part of the stolen property in the hold of the stolen Revelation class Dreadnaught (2 of 2) 

All in all, Canaris believes the total value of stolen property to be between thirty to fifty billion ISK, though, he professed it is hard to calculate the actual worth due to the nature of some of the stolen assets (Such as the Blueprint copies). 

Once done taking every possible unachored piece of equipment, the trio destroyed the Capital Ship Assembly Array, which held approximately half the parts needed to manufacture a Titan (As evident by the presence of Capital Doomsday parts) as a parting shot, before extracting the stolen property to Empire space. The total damage done is believed to be estimated around thirty to forty billion ISK.

All in all, it is believed that the heist has cost The Initiative(dot) Alliance between sixty to ninty billion ISK, with the final number possibly higher than conservative estimates.

Voices within the The Initiative(dot) raised the claim that the heist was enabled only due to Pornokoeing's account being hacked, something that Canaris dismisses as sheer propoganda, in an attempt to save face. From his perspective, he was dealing with a spy with a burnt account that tried to get as much as possible before finally being kicked from his corporation, with no hint of foul play involved.

No official response was given by The Initative(dot) Alliance regarding the heist and the allegations.

Update

Ned Coker, Public Relations Officer of CCP Games, had the following to say in regards to the allegations of hacking "We can’t really comment on account information to third parties. The player involved and CEO of the corp can contact us directly via the support system to address such concerns though."

Special thanks to Canaris Roshaak, of Common Sense Ltd, Nulli Secunda Alliance for granting the interview and Ned Coker, of CCP Games, for giving an official response.

Article: The Great Wormhole Heist

Wormhole residents learn the hard way the price of being KOS to Providence

Providence residents are all too familiar with wormholes. It is a common occurrence in the region, and usually, an irritating one. Not once do wormhole corporations descend from unknown space to harass and pillage the region’s systems. At other times, unfriendly groups from remote sectors of space use these wormholes to travel to the region and raise hell. Certainly, no decent, hardworking Providence pilot wants to see one in his system.

However, two nights ago, a group of Apocalypse Now. pilots tipped the Karma scales back a bit by executing a brilliant heist, netting them approximately 10 billion ISK in ships, modules and loot. This incredible feat proves once more how a little bit of luck, and a lot of boredom result in a fantastic tale of theft and, ultimately, profit.

A Prober Probes a Hole

All great stories start innocently enough, and this one is no different. Araikas Rhal, of Helghan Imperial Armada, Apocalypse Now. Alliance probed a wormhole in 08Z-JJ. He bookmarked it in the corporate tab and thought no more of it. Findrahis, his corpmate, was bored at the time and decided to explore said wormhole. Flying in, he might have expected to get an easy kill, do a site maybe, but not to find an offlined POS, and one with a Ship Maintenance Array to boot belonging to a KOS corporation.

Without hesitation, Findrahis got on the Apoc TeamSpeak server and called all available pilots. In a few moments, seven brave pilots were willing to go into the unknown and wreck some revenge on the wormhole residents. They warped to the offlined POS and started popping modules. When they blew up the Corporate Hangar Array and found nothing in it they must have thought that their operation will result only in a few killmails and a well deserved feeling of revenge. And then they killed the Ship Maintenance Array…

Cash Pinata

I am sure that as the Ship Maintenance Array exploded and they examined its wreck, there was a moment of sheer disbelief followed by a dawning realization and then a flurry of activity. The structure yielded its bounty, and it was plentiful indeed. two billion ISK in ships alone was found in the wreck!

However, more surprises awaited the Apoc pilots as they boarded the Orca and Chimera in a plan to smuggle them out of the wormhole and into Providence. Seven fully fitted Tengus were discovered in the carrier’s hold, estimated worth close to five billion ISK, as well as approximately one point six billion ISK in salvage, loot and skillbooks.

The last, but not least, surprise was the Chimera itself, which was fully faction fitted, and carrying a full drone bay, estimated at three billion ISK, hull, fittings and drones.

 

Aftermath

All told, Apocalypse Now. managed to steal ten billion ISK in assets from the wormhole residents, who were taught a valuable lesson about starbases and refueling. The Tengus themselves were divided between the raid’s participants, while all other ships and assets were donated towards the Apocalypse Now. SRP fund*.

All in all a happy ending to an unexpected adventure, well, except for the original owners of said tower..

*If you are interested in purchasing any of the ships or materials shown in the article, please contact JedsZero ingame.