- The US declares a remarkable recovery of $3.36 billion stolen ten years ago.
- Defendant James Zhong pled guilty to committing wire fraud, stealing over 50k BTC.
- IRS prosecutor said Zhong executed a sophisticated crypto heist.
The United States justice department has announced a remarkable recovery of over $3.3 billion previously stolen in cryptocurrency ten years ago.
According to a press release yesterday, November 8, US attorney Damian Willams said defendant James Zhong pled guilty to committing wire fraud in 2012, unlawfully obtaining over 50,000 Bitcoin.
Zhong agreed to the charge levied on him last Friday before US District Judge Paul G. Consequently, he may be spending a maximum of 20 years in prison.
According to the prosecutors, Zhong committed the crime against Silk Road, a dark web internet marketplace, tricking its withdrawal-processing system into releasing approximately 50,676 Bitcoin. However, given the current market value of BTC, the stolen coins are worth about $1,001,205,732.
Attorney Williams said in the official report:
James Zhong committed wire fraud over a decade ago when he stole approximately 50,000 Bitcoin from Silk Road. For almost ten years, the whereabouts of this massive chunk of missing Bitcoin had ballooned into an over $3.3 billion mystery.
Williams’s co-prosecutor, Tyler Hatcher, a special agent in the Internal Revenue Service, commented that Zhong successfully executed a sophisticated crypto heist and attempted to hide his spoils through a series of complex transactions.
In 2021, the US justice department authorized a search warrant into Zhong’s residence in Gainesville, Georgia. The enforcement team located 50,491 Bitcoin in an underground floor safe and on a single-board computer submerged under blankets in a popcorn tin stored in a bathroom closet. It also recovered $661,900 in cash, four one-ounce silver-colored bars, three one-ounce gold-colored bars, four 10-ounce silver-colored bars, and one gold-colored coin.
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