United States

Case 3:20-cv-07811-VC United States v. Approximately 69,370 Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Gold (BTG) Bitcoin SV (BSV) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) (3:20-cv-07811)

• On approximately April 9, 2013, the Bitcoin addresses that received the 70,411.46 Bitcoin from Silk Road sent 69,471.082201 (approximately $14 million at the time of transfer) to 1HQ3Go3ggs8pFnXuHVHRytPCq5fGG8Hbhx (hereafter “1HQ3”).
• On November 3, 2020, the United States took custody of the Defendant Property from 1HQ3.

On January 31, 2022, law enforcement gained access to Wallet 1CGA4s by decrypting a file saved to LICHTENSTEIN’s cloud storage account, which had been obtained pursuant to a search warrant. The file contained a list of 2,000 virtual currency addresses, along with corresponding private keys.

Blockchain analysis confirmed that almost all of those addresses were directly linked to the hack. Between January 31, 2022, and February 1, 2022, law enforcement obtained approval to execute a lawful seizure supported by probable cause under exigent circumstances and used the private keys from LICHTENSTEIN’s file to seize Wallet 1CGA4’s remaining balance of approximately 94,636 BTC, worth $3.629 billion. On February 2, 2022, the government requested, and on February 4, 2022, a court issued a seizure warrant authorizing the seizure of those funds. Those funds remainsecured in the U.S. Government’s possession.

Cost is based on the closing price of BTC on November 4, 2022 (date of the guilty plea) of $21,150.

Dates and quantities of seizure of BTC traceable to Silk Road (see second link):

• November 9, 2021 – 50,491.06251844
• March 25, 2022 – 825.38833159
• May 25, 2022 – 35.447008

[...] JAMES ZHONG pled guilty to committing wire fraud in September 2012 when he unlawfully obtained over 50,000 Bitcoin from the Silk Road dark web internet marketplace. ZHONG pled guilty on Friday, November 4, 2022, before United States District Judge Paul G. Gardephe.

With respect to the 51,351.89785803 Bitcoin forfeited in the Ulbricht case before Judge Schofield, the Government has begun liquidating (selling) it. On March 14, 2023, the Government sold 9,861.1707894 BTC (of the 51,351.89785803 BTC) for a total of $215,738,154.98. After $215,738.15 in transaction fees, the net proceeds to the Government were $215,522,416.83. Of the Bitcoin forfeited in the Ulbricht case, there remains approximately 41,490.72 BTC, which the Government understands is expected to be liquidated in four more batches over the course of this calendar year.