"DOJ Says It Seized Billions in Bitcoin Stolen by Hacker From Silk Road Darknet Marketplace"
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) searched the home of James Zhong, a hacker who pleaded guilty to charges related to incidents involving the now-defunct Silk Road darknet marketplace. This was the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the DOJ's history. According to the DOJ and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the 32-year-old committed wire fraud in September 2012, stealing more than 50,000 Bitcoin from Silk Road. The stolen funds were seized in November 2021 during a raid on Zhong's Gainesville, Georgia home. The US Attorney Damian Williams said the whereabouts of this massive chunk of missing Bitcoin had ballooned into a $3.3 billion mystery for nearly ten years. Law enforcement was able to locate and recover this cache of crime proceeds because of the use of cutting-edge cryptocurrency tracing and old-fashioned police work. Court documents reveal that Zhong stole the funds by finding a way to get around Silk Road's processes. From 2011 to 2013, the marketplace was used to trade illegal goods worldwide. Ross Ulbricht, the platform's founder, was sentenced to life in prison in 2015. While the marketplace was open, Zhong set up nine accounts and executed more than 140 transactions in quick succession to trick Silk Road's withdrawal-processing system into releasing funds from its Bitcoin-based payment system. In order to conceal his identity, he transferred the Bitcoin into several different accounts. Zhong never used the platform to list or buy anything illegal, instead only funding the fraudulent accounts with initial deposits ranging from 200 to 2,000 Bitcoin. This article continues to discuss the DOJ's seizure of cryptocurrency stolen by a hacker from the now-defunct Silk Road darknet marketplace.