The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it seized about $3.36 billion worth of decade-ago stolen Bitcoin from an illegal Silk road marketplace. It is said to be the DOJ’s second-largest financial seizure to date, following its seizure of $3.6 billion in cryptocurrencies associated with the 2016 hack of Bitfinex.
According to authorities, James Zhong of Gainesville, Georgia pleaded guilty to wire fraud for stealing bitcoin from the illegal Silk Road marketplace, a dark web forum on which weapons, drugs, and other illicit products were bought and sold with crypto.
Silk Road was launched in 2011 but the FBI shut down in 2013. Its founder Ross William Ulbricht is now serving a life sentence in prison. In this case, however, Zhong pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Most recently, the DOJ also charged three Miami-based people for $4 million defraud. This was another case of wire fraud, along with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated in a press release that for over ten years, the whereabouts of this massive chunk of missing Bitcoin had ballooned into an over $3.36 billion mystery.
As per the Southern District of New York, Zhong pulled this theft by taking advantage of the marketplace’s vulnerabilities.
