Substance Found In Concord Rudman Federal Building Not Hazardous: FBI

CONCORD, NH — Powder found in a federal courtroom where a digital tokens case was heard on Monday was found to not be hazardous after an evacuation, according to officials on Tuesday.

Hazmat teams and Concord firefighters and EMTs were at the Warren Rudman Federal Building for a hazardous materials alert around 8:15 a.m.

Capital region dispatch received a call to “check conditions” in the building. After the first firefighters arrived and checked the situation, the hazmat team was activated due to powder found in one of the courtrooms.

Bomb squad officials were also requested.

The fire commander said the person who found the powder was to be decontaminated and everyone was to stay out of the area until the bomb squad could sweep the building. They also said the bomb squad wanted to make sure the powder was not bomb residue before anything else, according to scanner chatter.

The courthouse was evacuated while teams prepped after closing off South State Street.

At around 9 a.m., the building was evacuated entirely, and Pleasant Street was shut down.

Officials requested the use of the Christa McAuliffe Elementary School, where employees and others could shelter in place. The Concord School District SAU 8 approved the request and posted an alert informing parents the school's gym was being used temporarily by others due to the alert at the courthouse. The district said there were no safety issues for elementary school students.

At 9:30 a.m., a hazmat official entered the building.

Officials were cleared around 11 a.m.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the substance was not hazardous.

Patch learned Tuesday the courtroom where the powder was found heard a case on Monday involving the Securities and Exchange Commission suing LBRY Inc. The case involved LBRY’s failure to register offers and sales of digital tokens in violation of the federal Securities Act.

important message from our supporters pic.twitter.com/Qjhvb5OmYe
— LBRY 🚀 (@LBRYcom) January" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/LBRYcom/st... 31, 2023

The company's CEO is Jeremy Kauffman, the 2022 Libertarian Party of New Hampshire U.S. Senate candidate.

William Christie, an attorney with Shaheen & Gordon who represents LBRY, did not return an email requesting a contact for the organization.

LBRY did not return an instant message on Twitter seeking to speak about the case.

The all-clear was given for the building at 2:45 p.m.

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