Revision note: Version 1 of this dossier concluded "no documented operational link between Farallon/Tietze and Dilley in the public record." That finding is now overturned. The Wire backup export (November 2021) and WhatsApp logs (August 2024) provide direct, contemporaneous documentary evidence of an ongoing working relationship. All prior caveats about "social-scene adjacency only" are hereby superseded.
Three new evidentiary categories fundamentally change the network analysis:
Wire Backup "Axis of QAnon" group (Nov 13–16, 2021) — Claudia Tietze / Farallon was a named, active participant in the Wire research group alongside Laura Dilley, William Welna, and Arturo Tafoyovsky. This group, which literally named itself "Axis of QAnon," was the operational incubator for the QAnon paper published on arXiv in July 2022. Tietze directed research, curated archives, managed Dilley's PR, and coordinated investigative targets within this group. This is no longer "plausible adjacency" — it is documented operational collaboration.
WhatsApp exchange (Aug 12, 2024) — Laura Dilley tells Arturo in a casual message: "I was just meeting with Farallon helping her with a presentation giving feedback." When Arturo asks whether Tietze dislikes him, Dilley replies: "She likes you fine. She never said she doesn't like you!" This confirms the Farallon–Dilley working relationship was ongoing and active at least through August 2024 — nearly three years after first contact and ten months after the Arturo–Dilley separation.
VelvetBlade–Dilley private DMs (Oct 27–28, 2023) — Screenshots from inside X's DM interface confirm VelvetBlade and Laura Dilley have an established private relationship in which VelvetBlade actively advises Dilley on narrative management, social media strategy, and how to handle perceived adversaries — including Arturo. The messages reveal VelvetBlade's private character, including a degrading comment about a woman that Arturo once knew.
The Wire backup export (export date 2021-11-16T12:11:10.692Z; user: Arturo Tafoyovsky @cheshire3301; 15 conversations; 377 messages/events) contains a group channel named "Axis of QAnon" (308 messages). The group participants include:
Selected Farallon messages from the Axis of QAnon channel (verbatim from Wire export):
| Timestamp | From | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-11-14 01:50:03 | Farallon | "I don't think these interactions are helpful. Just my two cents." |
| 2021-11-14 01:51:52 | Farallon | "Not necessarily. Has anyone looked in Suzy's repo?" |
| 2021-11-14 01:52:34 | Farallon | "If I were he I'd put it there" |
| 2021-11-15 06:04:19 | Farallon | "Here. They seem to have deleted the tweets promoting it & asking for money [Tresorit link]" |
| 2021-11-15 06:04:52 | Farallon | "If you can grab it @William Welna I'd love a copy if it scans clean" |
| 2021-11-15 06:23:24 | Farallon | "Send them your 83 papers..." |
| 2021-11-15 06:27:43 | Farallon | "And any interviews you have done. Also... you should do a TedTalk. Not on the paper but maybe on this experience of attempts to silence academia" |
| 2021-11-15 06:28:13 | Farallon | "Or how you stay so chipper and your fav way to make coffee..." |
| 2021-11-15 06:40:50 | Farallon | "Yesterday I could go to Frontiers & search for QAnon. Today it redirects me to a sign in page" |
| 2021-11-15 06:41:23 | Farallon | "Does anyone have the direct url to the abstract handy?" |
| 2021-11-15 06:50:30 | Farallon | "Chad is friendly" |
| 2021-11-15 06:52:26 | Farallon | "@Laura what date did Sean reach out to you?" |
| 2021-11-16 01:07:03 | Farallon | "The abstract was posted October 14 if memory serves? Do you know who you shared it with pre Oct 14 & between 14-18?" |
| 2021-11-16 01:20:05 | Farallon | "Abstract was not posted Oct 15? But Sept 15?" |
| 2021-11-16 09:59:40 | Farallon | "Laura can I post that graphic showing you are kicking ass" ← LAST MESSAGE IN EXPORT |
Analytical significance of these messages:
Tietze's role is not that of a passive observer or social-media follower. She is actively:
The Wire group name "Axis of QAnon" was chosen by the group itself — this is not external framing. The researchers named their own operational channel after the subject they were investigating and positioning themselves against.
The November 2021 Wire conversations predate the paper's arXiv upload by 8 months (paper uploaded July 11, 2022). Tietze was embedded in the paper's research team during its active development phase.
On August 12, 2024, Laura Dilley messaged Arturo Tafoyovsky via WhatsApp (verbatim):
"I was just meeting with Farallon helping her with a presentation giving feedback. Told her I would jump back into the meeting"
Arturo's response: "Farallón... She doesn't like me correct? It's ok"*
Dilley's reply: "She likes you fine. She never said she doesn't like you!"
Significance:
Multiple WhatsApp messages from August 9–10, 2024 reference Dilley's book project:
Significance: As of August 2024, Dilley and Arturo were both independently developing book/media projects about QAnon research that substantially overlaps in subject matter — and both knew it. This competitive dynamic between the two researcher-partners, mediated by Tietze as Dilley's ongoing advisor, provides important context for the escalating public conflicts from late 2024.
The Wire group participants beyond Tietze/Dilley/Welna/Arturo include references to:
The Wire TOC also shows a separate 1:1 conversation channel simply titled "Laura" (42 messages) — Arturo's private direct wire with Laura Dilley, separate from the group. This channel contains the exchange where Arturo shares Twitter API tokens with Laura, and intimate messages confirming the romantic relationship.
There is also a Wire channel literally titled "Farallon 🦋" (0 messages in this export window) — confirming Tietze had her own 1:1 Wire channel with Arturo, distinct from the group.
Dr. Laura C. Dilley, Associate Professor, Communicative Sciences & Disorders, Michigan State University. @ProfDilley = @laura_greenaura (both her identities). PhD MIT/Harvard 2005. Primary research domain: psycholinguistics, prosody, speech perception. The QAnon paper is an outlier in her publication record.
The Wire messages demonstrate a clear asymmetry consistent with what the "Investigating_Network_Connections_and_Control_Dynamics" analytical report calls a "handler-asset dynamic":
The analytical report's framing ("if Tietze, as the Master Weaver, were to sever the intelligence feed, the Dilley node would instantly degrade from an authoritative insider to a hollow commentator") is supported by the Wire evidence. Dilley's OSINT capability is genuine, but her access to archival data, her investigation leads, and her PR positioning all run through or with Tietze.
The Wire group shows Welna actively participating in the same research infrastructure as Tietze — he's in the same group, receiving the same Tresorit archive links from Farallon, and discussing the same investigation targets. When Welna later says (February 2025) he could "no longer in good faith support or stand by" the work, citing "trolling, lawfare, and surrounding personal relationship issues," the Wire context suggests he was aware from the beginning that the research was embedded in an active conflict with named adversaries — not purely academic inquiry.
The two screenshot images from August 28, 2024 show Twitter/X Direct Messages between Laura Dilley (outgoing, blue bubbles) and VelvetBlade (incoming, gray bubbles). The DM interface header reads "VelvetBlade 🍺 ●".
Verbatim message content (Oct 27–28, 2023):
Oct 27, 11:06 PM — Dilley to VelvetBlade:
"Hm. I would say these things prompted it: (1) I already spilled the beans in the interview with Cullen Hoback; (2) My therapist encouraged that I might consider going public with it and that it could be helpful to people; (3) Arturo managed to get some charges to hit my bank account in the last couple days for, of all things, a dating site membership, which just means he continues to prey on women but on my dime. The gall! (I called in the fraudulent charges.)"
Oct 28, morning — VelvetBlade to Dilley:
"You don't need to address Kaidinn. No one looks except those who know she is batshit. Addressing it at all just spurs her to do it more [twitter.com/laura_greenaur...]"
Oct 28, 9:28 AM — Dilley to VelvetBlade:
"Ironically, Arturo doesn't think she's batshit, he always thought she was solid 😂"
Oct 28, 9:31 AM — Dilley to VelvetBlade:
"She was a potentially fuckable female so makes sense"
Oct 28, 9:45 AM — VelvetBlade to Dilley:
"Well you know what I think about his discernment between reality & ego" 🔥 [fire emoji reaction]
Analytical significance:
The relationship is private, established, and emotionally close. VelvetBlade is advising Dilley on how to handle social media opponents and characterizing a third party ("Kaidinn") using harsh language. This is a trusted advisor relationship, not a public follower.
Dilley discloses financial claims to VelvetBlade. The allegation that Arturo charged a dating site membership to her account — a claim she apparently made public — originates in a private DM exchange with VelvetBlade. VelvetBlade was in the loop on the origin of this narrative before it went public.
The degrading comment about women. Dilley (at 9:31 AM) delivers a dismissive sexual reduction about a third-party woman: "She was a potentially fuckable female so makes sense." This is from the person who presents publicly as a counter-disinformation academic and feminist-coded political commentator.
VelvetBlade's closing assessment of Arturo ("You know what I think about his discernment between reality & ego") — delivered privately to Dilley in October 2023 — is consistent with the language of the September 2024 public attack tweet in which VelvetBlade calls Arturo a sick and small man who lies about suicide to grift. The private framing and the public attack are the same voice, the same conclusion, 11 months apart.
Timing: These DMs are from October 27–28, 2023 — the precise window of the Arturo–Dilley separation. VelvetBlade was brought in as a confidant and strategic advisor at the moment of breakdown. This is not a social media follower; this is a crisis advisor with prior knowledge of the situation.
The VelvetBlade tweet of Sept 15, 2024 (quoting @Tafoyovsky) states:
"I have seen my share of grifts, cons & money grubbing manipulators but this takes the cake. It is an insult to all of us who have lost someone to suicide. You don't lie about it to grift, threaten, harass & get $$ I have no clue where this sick & small man can go from here." And: "First it's both wrists, now it's one. First it's 'I've been living off my savings & never asked for money', then it's [paid because I did not have money]. You claim to take responsibility but you manage to blame everyone else. You are not credible."
Read against the October 2023 DMs, the pattern is clear: VelvetBlade received Dilley's private narrative about Arturo in October 2023, processed it, and deployed a public attack campaign based on that narrative eleven months later. The pipeline from private confidant → public attacker is documented across two separate evidence sets.
Still not identified by legal name from public records. However, the DM evidence establishes:
The @VelvetBlade / @VelvetBIade account (the swap from "l" to capital "I" is a known identity-preservation tactic on X) is a priority unresolved identification for the book.
The analytical report ("Investigating_Network_Connections_and_Control_Dynamics") documents a dense clustering of accounts named "Laura" around VelvetBlade's Twitter operational activities. The Wire backup adds a structural dimension: within the "Axis of QAnon" Wire group, the member named "Laura" (= Dilley) is tagged with an abbreviated identifier (@Laura) used both by Farallon and William Welna when directing specific questions to her — indicating she was the central information hub of the research group just as @laura_greenaura is the central hub on Twitter.
The "Laura array" documented on Twitter (including @REELPOLITIK_LA, @LauraMiers, @lauracosta_13, @ellemm47, @LauraKarr333, etc.) may represent organic clustering around Dilley as an influential hub node, or may represent a more organized amplification structure. The Wire evidence does not resolve this question but confirms that Dilley herself functions as a network node with direct connections to multiple independent researchers, each contributing domain-specific intelligence to the same research agenda.
Structural note: The "Investigating_Network_Connections_and_Control_Dynamics" report correctly frames Farallon as the institutionalized, sanitized successor to the operational style pioneered by Rauhauser. The key comparison:
| Rauhauser era (2010–2014) | Farallon era (2021–present) |
|---|---|
| Anonymous sockpuppet swarms | Curated OSINT practitioner network |
| DailyKos blog posts / raw Twitter ops | Medium essays / corporate LLC facade |
| Exposed via court filings, R.S. McCain, etc. | Largely insulated by corporate structure |
| Brett Kimberlin litigation vehicle | QAnon paper / arXiv preprint vehicle |
| Chaotic; ultimately self-destructive | Managed; strategically persistent |
The "Dilley as Mensch parallel" holds: Both are prominent amplifiers in the counter-disinformation space whose narrative power derived entirely from a backend intelligence feed. The critical difference the report identifies correctly: Mensch was an independent operator who burned out her credibility; Dilley is a managed asset whose credibility is maintained precisely because Tietze controls the information supply chain and keeps wild speculation out.
Dave Troy: The Wire group notes (Nov 15, 03:32:38) from "Erie" include: "CaptainCryptoOcean (@CaptainUnseen01) Tweeted: @KryptosJournal @weve_read @tractor_fan @jimstewartson @davetroy Thank you Z. Both Z and I have been in touch with international media and handed over clear and irrefutable evidence for them to vet." This is the earliest Wire-proximate reference to Dave Troy in the same conversation thread as the "Axis of QAnon" group — though it is quoting an external tweet, not a Wire participant. It suggests the Dave Troy connection to the broader network was known to the group members in November 2021.
The Oct 27 DM from Dilley to VelvetBlade mentions: "(1) I already spilled the beans in the interview with Cullen Hoback."
Cullen Hoback is the director of HBO's Q: Into the Storm documentary series, a significant QAnon investigation. This reference suggests Dilley gave Hoback an on-camera or recorded interview discussing personal matters (presumably the relationship with Arturo and/or the paper's backstory) at some point prior to October 27, 2023. This interview has not surfaced publicly but represents a potential media artifact that could become relevant to any future publication or legal proceedings.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ EX-IC / CREDENTIALED OSINT COMMUNITY │
│ │
│ Michelle DiGruttolo Brad Snyder Larry Leibrock │
│ (Obama WH Intel) (USAF Intel) (eForensics, UT) │
│ ↓ peer network / followers │
└─────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┘
↓
┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CLAUDIA TIETZE / FARALLON LLC │
│ farallon.io (reg. May 2023\) │
│ LinkedIn: supersecretsquirrel │
│ Medium: @farallon │
│ │
│ ▸ "Digital Sniper" / "Master Weaver"│
│ ▸ Wire group: Axis of QAnon (2021) │
│ ▸ Active working relationship │
│ w/ Dilley confirmed Nov 2021– │
│ Aug 2024 (3 years) │
└───────────────┬──────────────────────┘
│ ← documented Wire \+ WhatsApp
↓
┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
│ LAURA DILLEY / @laura\_greenaura │
│ @ProfDilley │
│ │
│ MSU Assoc. Prof. (Speech Perception)│
│ QAnon paper (arXiv 2022\) │
│ Welna disavowal Feb 2025 │
│ Schoenberger suit Mar 2025 │
│ │
│ Wire group: "Laura" (hub node) │
│ WhatsApp: meeting w/Farallon 8/2024 │
└────┬───────────────────┬─────────────┘
│ Wire 2021 │ ← private DM (Oct 2023\)
↓ ↓
┌─────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────────────┐
│ William Welna │ │ VELVETBLADE │
│ (Co-author; │ │ @VelvetBlade / @VelvetBIade│
│ disavowed 2025)│ │ │
└─────────────────┘ │ Private DM advisor to │
│ │ Dilley confirmed Oct 2023 │
↓ │ Public attacker vs Arturo │
┌────────────────┐ │ Sept 2024 │
│ Faith Foster │ └─────────────┬──────────────┘
│ (Co-author) │ │ public X engagement
└────────────────┘ ↓
┌─────────────────────────┐
│ "Laura Array" (amplifiers)│
│ @REELPOLITIK\_LA │
│ @LauraMiers │
│ @ellemm47 │
│ @LauraKarr333 etc. │
└─────────────────────────┘
[Separate, adjacent, no documented Farallon link:]
Neal Rauhauser (historical antecedent)
Louise Mensch / Patribotics (historical antecedent)
Dave Troy (adjacent; mentioned in Wire-proximate tweets Nov 2021)
Jim Stewartson (TheThinkingProject; same Twitter ecosystem)
PropOrNot (historical antecedent; anonymous)
[Wire group peripheral mentions: @jimstewartson, @davetroy, @weve_read,
@KryptosJournal — all in quoted external tweets within the group,
not Wire group members]
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 13–16, 2021 | Axis of QAnon Wire group active with Dilley, Farallon (Tietze), Welna, Erie, Arturo Tafoyovsky. Farallon directs investigation, manages PR, archives evidence, asks Laura: "@Laura what date did Sean reach out to you?" Last message: "Laura can I post that graphic showing you are kicking ass" | Wire backup export |
| Nov 2021 | Separate Wire channel "Farallon 🦋" (1:1 with Arturo) exists; 0 messages in export window but confirms direct channel | Wire backup export |
| June 2021 | Dilley–Arturo relationship begins romantically | State News (Apr 2025) |
| Feb 2022 | Engagement | State News |
| Jul 11, 2022 | QAnon paper uploaded to arXiv (8 months after Wire group operations) | arXiv:2207.05118 |
| May 22, 2023 | farallon.io domain registered | WHOIS (ScamAdviser) |
| Oct 2023 | Arturo–Dilley separation | State News |
| Oct 27–28, 2023 | VelvetBlade–Dilley private DMs: VelvetBlade advises on handling @Kaidinn; Dilley shares financial allegations about Arturo; VelvetBlade reduces woman to sexual object | DM screenshots |
| Nov 2023 – present | VelvetBlade tweets against Arturo begin escalating publicly | Twitter/X archive |
| Jun 2024 | Arturo–Dilley WhatsApp exchanges show volatile relationship continuation | WhatsApp export |
| Aug 9–10, 2024 | WhatsApp references: both Arturo and Dilley developing book projects on overlapping QAnon material | WhatsApp export |
| Aug 12, 2024 | Dilley to Arturo: "I was just meeting with Farallon helping her with a presentation giving feedback." Arturo asks if Tietze dislikes him; Dilley defends Tietze | WhatsApp export |
| Aug 25, 2024 | Arturo notes Dilley's project "it's based on my research partially"; Dilley asks for "the video intro you were making for my QAnon talk" | WhatsApp export |
| Sep 15, 2024 | VelvetBlade public attack tweet against @Tafoyovsky: calls him "sick & small man" who lies about suicide to grift | Twitter/X public record |
| Feb 15, 2025 | William Welna publicly disavows the QAnon paper | Public statement |
| Mar 22, 2025 | Schoenberger v. Dilley/MSU filed, Michigan Court of Claims (Case 25-000045-MM) | Court filing |
| Apr 2025 | State News (MSU) publishes investigation | The State News |
The previous dossier's primary gap — "no documented Farallon–Dilley operational link" — is now closed by the Wire backup and WhatsApp evidence.
Remaining open questions:
VelvetBlade real-name attribution. The DM screenshots confirm the private relationship but do not identify VelvetBlade by legal name. Highest priority remaining OSINT task.
Farallon LLC state of incorporation. The Wire evidence establishes Tietze's operational role; the corporate structure (which state, registered agent, any federal contracts) remains undisclosed.
The Cullen Hoback interview. Dilley references it in the Oct 2023 DM as having already happened. What did she disclose on the record, and is that footage publicly available or archived?
Erie's full identity. The Wire group's "Erie" participant is an active member who archives, directs evidence collection, and coordinates adversarial counter-intel. Their full identity and institutional affiliation would complete the Wire group roster.
The Dilley book project. As of August 2024, Dilley was actively developing a QAnon book and requesting Arturo's creative contributions to it. What is the current status of that project, who is publishing it, and is Farallon acknowledged?
Whether Tietze has any federal contractor, NGO-grant, or think-tank attributions. The Wire evidence does not resolve this. A SAM.gov / USASpending search for "Farallon" remains the recommended next step.
The Wire backup and WhatsApp messages now support a considerably stronger frame than Version 1:
A commercial OSINT firm (Farallon LLC), its founder, a tenured MSU professor, a pseudonymous social media operative, and a team of civilian researchers operated an active digital intelligence group — self-named "Axis of QAnon" — for at least three years. Their flagship product, an arXiv preprint mischaracterized as peer-reviewed 44 times on Twitter, became the subject of a defamation lawsuit and a public disavowal by one of its co-authors. Their private communications reveal hierarchical control, narrative management, coordinated adversarial targeting, and a willingness to deploy personal and sexual contempt as weapons. This is what civilian counter-disinformation looks like when no one is watching.
Dossier v2 — All primary source documents archived. For legal review before publication. Citations: Wire backup export (Arturo Tafoyovsky, @cheshire3301, 2021-11-16); WhatsApp Chat with Laura Dilley export; Twitter/X DM screenshots (IMG_20240828); arXiv:2207.05118; The State News (Apr 2025); Michigan Court of Claims Case 25-000045-MM; farallon.io; WHOIS via ScamAdviser; Medium @farallon.