- The US government states that it will liquidate the remaining BTC over the calendar year.
- James Zhong’s defense counsel has asked that the court consider several mitigating factors before passing judgment on him.
- The investigation led the US government to believe that James Zhong had transferred the funds to his address via multiple accounts on Silk Road darknet.
The United States authorities have begun selling off the 51,352 BTC seized from James Zhong in 2021.
The United States District Court filing for the Southern District of New York on March 31 stated that the US authorities would start liquidating the seized 51,352 BTC in the Ulbricht case. The filing further claimed that on March 14, the authorities successfully sold 9,861 BTC, worth $215.7 million, leaving 41,491 BTC yet to be sold.
The 51,352 BTC was seized in an investigation following the arrest of James Zhong, a criminal who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and manipulation of the transaction system of the Silk Road back in 2012.
According to the result of the investigation, James Zhong was found to have kept the stolen Bitcoin on a computer hidden beneath blankets in a popcorn tin in a hole in his bathroom floor.
The Bitcoin seizure is known to be one of the largest by the US government, as the stolen BTC was estimated to have been worth over $3 billion at the time of theft.
However, despite the crypto industry’s instability and BTC’s value fluctuation, the US government still looks forward to selling off the remaining BTC in its custody, even if it is only worth half of what it initially was.
The US government claimed that the remaining 41,492 BTC would be liquidated over the year and done in four batches.
“The Government understands the seized BTC is expected to be liquidated in four batches over the calendar year,” the court filing reads.
In the court filing against James Zhong, it was stated that in the 51 months before the extensive search of Zhong’sZhong’s home, Zhong had lavishly spent approximately $16 million of the stolen assets on real estate investments, hotels, travel, and many more.
Additionally, the investigation revealed that Zhong could have carried out his crime through the Silk Road marketplace—a dark website hosting various criminal goods and services—where he transferred 50,000 BTC through the Silk Road addresses he created.
Zhong had exploited the Silk Road’sRoad’s Bitcoin-based payment system, and through the multiple addresses he created on the darknet, he could move the funds into his speech in a matter of days.
In the court filing, the US District Court of the Southern District of New York mentioned that it would take Zhong’sZhong’s conditions, such as his youth, cooperation with the investigation, and his autism, before passing judgment on him.
Conclusion
In what is known to be one of the most significant crimes and crypto seizure in the US government history, the remaining BTC left from the stolen 51,352 BTC will be sold over the following months in 2023 as the criminal, James Zhong, is in the custody of the US government.
