A hacker who was once in possession of 50,000 Bitcoin (BTC) stolen from the Silk Road internet marketplace is sentenced to federal prison.
In a new press release, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) says James Zhong has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison for stealing approximately 50,000 BTC from Silk Road more than a decade ago.
As stated by US Attorney Damian Williams,
“In 2012, James Zhong committed wire fraud by stealing 50,000 Bitcoin from Silk Road, and for the next 10 years managed to hide what he had done and how he had made his fortune. Zhong used a decentralized Bitcoin mixer, an overseas cryptocurrency exchange and an impressive array of technological tools to frustrate tracing efforts.
But thanks to the law enforcement’s relentless and skillful efforts to track the money, the federal government discovered Zhong’s plan and obtained final orders forfeiting more than 51,680 Bitcoin.”
According to the press release, Zhong was able to steal Silk Road’s money by creating numerous fraudulent accounts that concealed his identity. He used the accounts to trick the dark web marketplace’s withdrawal system into releasing the BTC to him by triggering numerous withdrawal requests in quick succession.
However, in November 2021, nearly 10 years later, authorities obtained a search warrant for Zhong’s home in Georgia and were able to seize approximately 50,491 BTC, $661,900 in cash, precious metals such as silver bars and gold coins, and 25 Casascius coins (physical BTC). coins). coins).
In 2022, Zhong began voluntarily surrendering Bitcoin. According to the DOJ, he has given up a total of 1,004 BTC since March 2022.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the government will sell the BTC recovered from Zhong, which is now worth more than $1 billion.
BTC is trading at $30,439 at the time of writing, a fractional gain in the past 24 hours but an exponential increase since it was acquired by Zhong in 2012.
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Featured image: Sensvector/Holmes Su