The United States obtained a conviction in a historical crypto-Dark web fraud

A man who once value Bitcoin worth over 3 billion

James Zhong's actions go back to September 2012 when he received illegitimate over 50,000 bitcoins from the now notorious dark website, which accepted cryptocurrency in exchange with drugs and other illegal objects.

The announcement is the latest indication that the law enforcement agencies are becoming increasingly refined when combating illegal activities in a crypto industry that has grown significantly since the Silk Road Market Square was closed in 2013.

Your founder Ross Ulbricht, who called himself "Dread Pirate Roberts", was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2015, and the court referred to all Bitcoins that passed the Silk Road payment system.

"For almost ten years, the whereabouts of this huge piece of missing bitcoins had become a mystery of over $ 3.3 billion," said the US lawyer for the southern district of New York, Damian Williams.

"Thanks to state -of -the -art cryptocurrency tracking and good old -fashioned police work, the law enforcement authorities have found and regained this impressive cache with income from criminal offenses."

The Bitcoin received by Zhong, 32 in 2012, before the crypto industry experienced a significant bull run. Although the price of Zhong's illegal stocks had risen to around $ 3.3 billion until the end of November 2021 and, despite this year's collapse of the cryptom market, is worth over $ 1 billion after today's prices.

Mr. Zhong gave back all bitcoins that he had acquired illegally.

According to the Ministry of Justice, Zhong carried out a multi-stage scheme for the fraud of Silk Road, including the establishment of approximately nine Silk road accounts, to obscure its identity, and the transmission of the Bitcoin to separate addresses under his control to prevent discovery and veiling the money source.

According to a search command, IRS official made the Bitcoin from Zhong's house in Gainesville, Georgia, sure, some of which were kept on a simple computer that was hidden in a pop cornds and in a safe.

In addition to the stolen bitcoins, the law enforcement authorities have regained over $ 660,000 in cash.

ZHONG omitted on Friday, November 4, guilty in front of the US district judge Paul Gardephe and is expected to be convicted in February of next year.

Michael Bachner, a lawyer at Zhong, pointed out that he was convicted of transactions that "took place over 10 years ago when [Zhong] was just 22 years old".

"Mr. Zhong put back all of the bitcoins that he had acquired illegally," added Bachner.

"Ironically, in view of the increase in Bitcoin value in the past ten years, the value of the Bitcoin he gave back, exponentially."