Silk Road Thief Who Stole 50,000 Bitcoin Gets 1 Year Jail Tim
As introduced by the U.S. Legal professional’s workplace for the Southern District of New York, a defendant who pleaded responsible to wire fraud prices associated to “unlawfully obtained” Bitcoin (BTC) from the Silk Highway market has been lastly been sentenced. The 32-year-old James Zhong stole greater than 50,000 BTC from the notorious drug-trafficking web site again in 2012 when BTC was price round $12.
Second Highest Bitcoin Heist
In line with experiences, Zhong was in a position to disguise his theft for about ten years earlier than being apprehended. Nevertheless, in November 2021, American officers raided Zhong’s house in Georgia and seized all Bitcoin property, discovering the vast majority of the digital foreign money in a flooring secure and a pc hidden inside a popcorn tin. On the time, the worth of the cryptocurrencies was round $3.4 billion, making it the second-largest monetary seizure in US historical past.
Within the U.S. Legal professional’s sentencing memo for Silk Highway Bitcoin stealer James Zhong: investigators seized prison proceeds from “a single-board laptop that was submerged below blankets in a popcorn tin saved in a rest room closet.” (Sentencing is right this moment at 3 pm). pic.twitter.com/7aamQryQ6B
— Rachel Scharf (@rscharf_) April 14, 2023
The prosecutors declare that Zhong spent almost $16 million of the revenues on investments in actual property, luxurious motels, lavish pubs, nightclubs, and in proudly owning a fleet of Lamborghinis. Contemplating right this moment’s Bitcoin worth, the confiscated asset is now estimated to be round $1.56 billion.
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Exploiting Silk Highway’s Flaw
Zhong reportedly took benefit of an inherent flaw in Silk Highway’s pockets characteristic which finally led him to multiplying his Bitcoin stack. The U.S. Division of Justice notes that in a single occasion, Zhong transferred 500 bitcoins right into a pockets and inside 5 seconds made 5 fast withdrawals. By doing so, he exploited a weak point in Silk Highway’s system, which resulted in his preliminary funding turning into 2,500 Bitcoins.
Moreover, Zhong loved the onerous fork cut up that occurred in 2017 between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Money (BCH), had been he acquired and equal quantity of 50K BCH as nicely. Other than the 50K Bitcoins, the legislation enforcement had been additionally in a position to seize almost $662,000 in money, 25 Casascius cash and metallic cash which represented bodily Bitcoins however in actuality contained personal keys to achieve entry to the true digital foreign money.
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