Historic seizure! US seizes $3.4 billion worth of Bitcoin linked to Silk Road marketplace

The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, announced on Monday that the authorities seized $3.4bn worth of 50,676 Bitcoins linked to the darknet marketplace Silk Road. These Bitcoins were stolen by James Zhong about 10 years ago. Defendant Zhong was detained and arrested for this crime in 2021, but the fate of Bitcoins has remained unknown to this day. However, Zhong accepted his crimes under the supervision of United States District Judge Paul G. Gardephe on November 4, 2022.

U.S. Attorney: "James Zhong committed wire fraud, stealing about 50,000 bitcoins from Silk Road"

U.S. Law Enforcement seized 50,676 Bitcoins last year on the search of Zhong’s property in Gainesville, Georgia. Besides the seizure of Bitcoins, the government seized 80% of Zhong’s investments that worth $661,000 in cash and with precious metals.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated: “James Zhong committed wire fraud over a decade ago when he stole approximately 50,000 Bitcoin from Silk Road.  For almost ten years, the whereabouts of this massive chunk of missing Bitcoin had ballooned into an over $3.3 billion mystery." 

"Thanks to state-of-the-art cryptocurrency tracing and good old-fashioned police work, law enforcement located and recovered this impressive cache of crime proceeds. This case shows that we won’t stop following the money, no matter how expertly hidden, even to a circuit board in the bottom of a popcorn tin.” he added.