Where this stands, and what you can do
In one lineThe record in this file is sourced and public. As of Oct 20, 2026, none of it has produced a court finding, a charge, or a published reply from the reporters I sent it to. This chapter says what is documented, what has not happened, and what you can do.
Witness account · Arturo TafoyaI made one sketch in October 2017. It took almost three years to assemble what is in this file. Most of the people who knew what I was doing stepped back, even after I told them how heavy the attacks had become. I am not naming them.
Thomas’s own words are already on the table
- In writing, Thomas admits that Clapier backdated the “Cicada3301” BitChute video so 3301 would look older than Q (chapter 27).
- His sworn 2015 deposition is in chapter 04; his Jun 27, 2019 deposition in Rich v. Butowsky and the Butowsky and Shadowbox material are cited in chapter 26.
- The pressure sent to me before and after I refused to testify is in chapter 22.
- Sean Stone, Kaya Leigh and the Sisterhood of the Rose platform, each with its own source and tier, are in chapter 10 and chapter 27.
These are statements and documents. Whether any of it is unlawful is for courts and prosecutors, not for this file.
What has not happened
No court has found who made Cicada 3301 (chapter 14). I am not aware of a criminal case against anyone in this file. The people it documents are still active and public, and the lead plaintiff in Schoenberger v. Dilley is on the offense against his critics.
Reporters. I sent Will Sommer the material on Jul 24, 2026: a DM conversation on X, where he answered within minutes, asked to see it, gave me his Bulwark address, and said he would look through it that night, and four emails the same afternoon, including the “Evidence TS” file. At 5:06 PM he agreed to receive a message that Thomas’s lawyer had sent me. I wrote again on Aug 2, 5, 12 and 17 and have had no answer. He had replied to my tips in 2019 and 2020, and his Feb 2020 Daily Beast investigation is cited in chapter 26. I am not pressing him further. This is a fact about where things stand, not a charge against him.
The suit against Professor Dilley, and whose lawyers
In 2025 Thomas sued Professor Laura Dilley and Michigan State University (chapter 14). Who is behind the suit is not settled on the record. This file’s ledger runs the case through Steven Biss, who filed Kash Patel’s suits against Politico and CNN, and on to Binnall Law Group. Chavez, an interested party, says Binnall sent Dilley a cease-and-desist for Thomas before the MSU suit. The Detroit News names Barry Powers as Thomas’s attorney. This file states neither version until counsel of record appears on the docket, and this paragraph will change when it does.
What is documented is the shape: an expensive, long-distance suit with a 146-name preliminary witness list, and a newspaper that printed “his organization” in its own voice because an attorney said it (chapter 14).
- Send what you have. A recording, a document, a screenshot, with where it came from. I will tier it, credit it, and correct this file if it shows I am wrong. I am @cheshire3301.
- If someone asked you for money under the Cicada 3301 name, report it: the FTC, the FBI’s IC3, the SEC if it involved an investment or token, or your state attorney general.
- Reporters: every claim here carries its source and its tier, and the statement at the end of this file is PGP-signed (lestat-public.asc, key fingerprint 513A 3A8F 77C1 9CB1 5BF2 477E E743 42C9 11F5 CBA1). I will answer questions about any source.
- Mirror and archive it. The library at the end of this file is meant to be mirrored.
- Do not harass anyone named here. This file documents conduct, not private lives, and harassment only helps the people it documents.
Last word · Arturo TafoyaIt sucks, and I won’t pretend it doesn’t. After almost three years, the people in this file are still free and still posting, and one of them is suing his critics. I have not seen justice.
But look at what exists. One person with no newsroom, no budget and no lawyer put twenty-eight chapters of sources on a page anyone can check, and reporters, researchers and the people who were fooled can read it right now. Nobody had to give me permission, and it cannot be un-published.
Here is what I learned. The people in this file built a game: puzzles, white rabbits, hashtags, “crumbs” and “bakers.” It was a story you carry by sharing it, so every share made the carrier a little more invested in it. Some of them called it meme magic and talked about spells that bend reality. I don’t claim magic works. I claim the mechanism is real: participation. People get pulled into passing a message along, and then they defend it because it has become theirs.
The counter uses the same mechanism, pointed the other way: a claim with its source attached, shared by someone who checked it first. Send one receipt to one person, with the link and the tier, and tell them to check it themselves. That is the whole spell. It only works if you verify before you share, which their game never asked of anyone.
A word about the words. I have heard “ARG” and “LARP” turn into insults, thrown at anything with a trail to follow, and I understand why people are wary of playing along. Most trails like this were built so you stop thinking at the end of them. This file is deep research, and for anyone who looks hard enough it is more than that. The sources are plain evidence. The way they are laid out is something I built with care, as a path.
When I built my MMORPG, my favorite part was making quests. For Halloween I would add an NPC, give him a backstory, and set the conditions for who could take the quest, say only high wizards and sages, level 90 or above. Then I would thread the story through his fights and mini-games, sometimes just by asking for the right set of answers, and the answers would lead players to new areas of the map. At the end I would summon a monster with higher drop rates, and everyone who finished got a pumpkin hat: a stat boost during Halloween, and later just fashion. This file is built the same way, with two differences. There is no level requirement; anyone can start at the map. And the reward is not a hat. Follow one thread, check one receipt, pull the source, and what you keep is the habit, which still works when the event is over. It promises no enlightenment and no hidden final boss, only a well-guided path through something real, with the source on every door.
The form is not the crime. A quest and a con can look alike from the outside. The difference is whether you can see the hand that built it, whether you can walk away at any time, and whether the ending depends on you believing it. Here you can see the hand, because that is what the tiers are for, and you can close the tab whenever you like.
This file runs on a server I pay for, and it takes my time. On my game server the rule was strict: people buying item boxes kept it running, but everything in those boxes could also be earned in the game with extra effort, so nobody was locked out. We even built a casino, with coins at a very low drop rate on some monsters, and the coins bought the “donation items.” People liked it because it was fair. The same rule applies here. Everything in this file is free, nothing is held back for supporters, and help is optional. The best help is a share, a mirror, a tip or a correction. If you also want to help with the hosting costs, there is a PayPal button at the end of this page (paypal.me/TafoyaRomo), or you can message me at @cheshire3301. To be continued.
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