US DOJ reports finding $3.36 billion in cryptocurrencies. The U.S. Department of Justice said on Monday that authorities had taken $3.36 billion in bitcoin from a guy who had “illegally” acquired more than 50,000 bitcoin on the Silk Road dark web marketplace more than ten years before.
James Zhong of Gainesville, Georgia, pled guilty on November 4 to committing wire fraud in September 2012, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The maximum term for the offense is 20 years in jail.
According to the statement, the plea came over a year after police raided Zhong’s residence and confiscated 50,676.17851897 bitcoin, which was then worth more than $3.36 billion. The bitcoin was discovered by authorities in a floor safe below ground and on a single-board computer that was tucked away beneath blankets in a popcorn tin kept in a bathroom cupboard.
In addition, law authorities found $661,900 in cash, 25 bitcoin Casascius coins (worth around 174 bitcoin), an extra 11.116 bitcoin, and a few silver and gold-colored bars.
According to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, the whereabouts of this enormous quantity of bitcoin has been unknown for over ten years.
It was the second-biggest financial seizure in the history of the U.S. DOJ at the time and was the largest cryptocurrency seizure ever.
An online illegal market called Silk Road was established in 2011 by the then-unknown “Dread Pirate Roberts” (later uncovered as Ross Ulbricht). It was well-known for engaging in money-laundering crimes and using bitcoin to acquire and sell illicit substances.
The U.S. authorities took down the Silk Road in less than two years, and by 2015, Ulbricht had been unanimously found guilty by a jury and given a life sentence.
“This case shows that we won’t stop following the money, no matter how expertly hidden, even to a circuit board in the bottom of a popcorn tin,” Williams said.
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