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The man who stole over 50,000 bitcoins from the Silk Road marketplace has pleaded guilty. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, \u201cthe seizure was then the largest cryptocurrency seizure\u201d in the history of the DOJ and \u201cremains the department\u2019s second-largest financial seizure ever.\u201d<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n The DOJ explained that law enforcement conducted a search at Zhong\u2019s house in Gainesville, Georgia, on Nov. 9, 2021, and \u201cseized approximately 50,676.17851897 bitcoin, then valued at over $3.36 billion,\u201d elaborating:\n<\/p>\n This seizure was then the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice and today remains the department\u2019s second-largest financial seizure ever.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \n Besides the BTC<\/a> seized at his house, Zhong began \u201cvoluntarily surrendering to the government additional bitcoin\u201d beginning in March this year, the DOJ revealed, adding that \u201cIn total, Zhong voluntarily surrendered 1,004.14621836 additional bitcoin.\u201d<\/p>\n The government is seeking the forfeiture of \u201capproximately 51,680.32473733 bitcoin,\u201d the DOJ noted. At the time of writing, BTC<\/a> is trading at $20,641.28, so the amount sought by the government is about $1.07 billion.\n<\/p>\n \n Zhong deposited 500 bitcoin into a Silk Road wallet. Less than five seconds after making the initial deposit, Zhong executed five withdrawals of 500 bitcoin in rapid succession \u2014 i.e., within the same second \u2014 resulting in a net gain of 2,000 bitcoin.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \nOn Monday, the U.S. government filed an Amended Preliminary Order of Forfeiture in the United States v. Ross Ulbricht case \u201cseeking to forfeit approximately 51,351.89785803 bitcoin traceable to Silk Road, valued at approximately $3,388,817,011.90 at the time of seizure.\u201d Silk Road\u2019s founder, Ross Ulbricht, was convicted in 2015 and is currently serving<\/a> a double life sentence, plus 40 years without parole.<\/p>\n U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe also entered a Consent Preliminary Order of Forfeiture on Friday for 154.4268793000044 BTC<\/a>, $661,900 in cash, 25 Casascius coins (physical bitcoin) worth about 174 BTC<\/a>, various metals, and Zhong\u2019s 80% interest in Memphis-based RE&D Investments LLC. The metals seized consisted of \u201cfour one-ounce silver-colored bars, three one-ounce gold-colored bars, four 10-ounce silver-colored bars, and one gold-colored coin,\u201d the Justice Department highlighted.<\/p>\n Following the DOJ\u2019s announcement, some people on social media began noticing that one of Zhong\u2019s BTC<\/a> addresses revealed in a court document matches one posted by Bitcointalk user \u201cLoaded.\u201d Bitmex Research tweeted<\/a>: \u201cIn March 2017, Bitcointalk user \u2018Loaded\u2019 signed a message from an address with 40,000 bitcoin, asking to do a 1 to 1 swap for \u2018Bitcoin Unlimited\u2019 with Roger Ver. It now appears these funds have been seized by the U.S. authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n Commenting on Loaded\u2019s Bitcointalk post, Bitcoin.com founder Ver, stated: \u201cAs I recall, he never replied to my DMs about making the bet.\u201d<\/p>\nSilk Road Exploiter Pleads Guilty<\/h2>\n
\nThe U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced<\/a> Monday that James Zhong pleaded guilty on Friday \u201cto committing wire fraud in September 2012 when he unlawfully obtained over 50,000 bitcoin from the Silk Road dark web internet marketplace.\u201d The Justice Department also announced a \u201chistoric $3.36 billion cryptocurrency seizure\u201d in connection to the case.<\/p>\n\n
\nZhong also had about 3,500 more bitcoins from exchanging into BTC<\/a> over 50,000 bitcoin cash (BCH<\/a>) which he received following the bitcoin blockchain hard fork in August 2017. He used an overseas cryptocurrency exchange for the conversion.<\/p>\n![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/us-attorney-tweet1.jpg\" "\\"US")
<\/a><\/p>\nZhong\u2019s Scheme to Defraud Silk Road Marketplace<\/h2>\n
\nZhong executed a scheme to defraud the Silk Road marketplace of its money and property in September 2012, the DOJ said, adding that he \u201cwas able to withdraw many times more bitcoin out of Silk Road than he had deposited in the first instance.\u201d For example, the Justice Department detailed that on Sept. 19, 2012:\n<\/p>\n\n