A Georgia resident has been sentenced to a year in prison for stealing $3.4 billion worth of bitcoin, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced April 14.
Silk Road Attacker Receives One Year Sentence for $3.4B Bitcoin Theft
Authorities said James Zhong first committed wire fraud against Silk Road in 2012. Through that action, Zhong stole over 51,680 BTC from the darknet market marketplace. In 2012, this amount was $3.4 billion and is currently $1.57 billion. Zhong originally created several Silk Road accounts and funded those accounts with fewer bitcoins. He then quickly performed over 140 transactions to get the system to transfer bitcoins to his accounts.
Zhong then transferred the stolen bitcoins to multiple addresses to hide his ownership of the funds. He also used bitcoin mixers to thwart tracking attempts. He did not use the Silk Road Marketplace to buy or sell items during the attack. Zhong later benefited from the Bitcoin Cash hard fork in 2017, which brought him additional funds. He traded all bitcoin cash for bitcoin.
Zhong hid his actions for more than a decade, and law enforcement only returned most of the stolen bitcoins in a November 2021 raid on Zhong’s home. Zhong hid his earnings in a floor safe and in a single board computer, hidden under blankets and in a Cheetos popcorn can. Law enforcement officials also seized various other valuables, including cash, precious metals, and physical bitcoins from Casascius. Zhong began to surrender undiscovered Bitcoin in March 2022.
This case is just one of many recent cryptocurrency-related moves by the Justice Department. The agency handled cases related to various scams, another Silk Road case, the Bitfinex theft and people linked to the OneCoin scam.
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