https://www.breitbart.com/tech...lk-road-marketplace/

The U.S. government revealed this week that it seized $1 billion in Bitcoin from the Silk Road, a dark web drug marketplace that was shut down by the FBI in 2013. The funds were uncovered through an agreement between the government and an unnamed hacker that acquired the bitcoin when the marketplace was still active.

United States Attorney David L. Anderson said that the seizure of the funds has closed the door on a question that has lingered since the closure of the marketplace over seven years ago.

“Silk Road was the most notorious online criminal marketplace of its day,” Anderson said. “The successful prosecution of Silk Road’s founder in 2015 left open a billion-dollar question. Where did the money go? Today’s forfeiture complaint answers this open question at least in part. $1 billion of these criminal proceeds are now in the United States’ possession.”

The press release suggests that law enforcement officials were able to seize the cryptocurrency on November 3 from an individual that had acquired the funds from the Silk Road by allegedly hacking the site. It is not clear at this time if the unnamed hacker has been arrested.

The complaint alleges that these funds were traced to a bitcoin address. Further investigation of that bitcoin address by the United States Attorney’s Office and IRS CI agents revealed that the funds were connected to Individual X. It was further determined that Individual X had hacked the funds from Silk Road. Pursuant to that investigation of the hack, law enforcement seized several thousand Bitcoins on November 3, 2020. On November 4, 2020, the seized Bitcoin had a value of over $1 billion.

quote:

do drug dealers get mad if you hack their account for $1 Bil ?

I guess you never saw "Breaking Bad"

Well now, I bet the government has a billion reasons to make sure Bitcoin doesn't go completely belly up anytime soon.

The drug dealer in question is doing life without, so I doubt the hacker would be facing any repercussions.

Tempting stuff, that Bitcoin. Even FBI agents tried to help themselves.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr...ering-and-wire-fraud

Makes me wonder about the details of what the agreement was between the government and said hacker. Jail time for stealing from thieves?

I’m guessing more like some type of percentage.

Now seize all of Sorros's assets too.

quote:

Originally posted by slabsides45:
Makes me wonder about the details of what the agreement was between the government and said hacker. Jail time for stealing from thieves?

"It Takes a Thief"

quote:

Originally posted by mr kablammo:
Tempting stuff, that Bitcoin. Even FBI agents tried to help themselves.

Imagine that, self-serving, corrupt FBI agents. Hard to believe.

I used to teach part time at the Chicago Police Academy.
It was a 1 week course called the "Physch Workshop"
(Long story, but it was a good class...)

Anyway, I did an exercise when it came to money:
What would you do if I stole $1 from you right now?

What would you do if I stole $10 from you right now?

What would you do if I stole $100 from you right now?

What would you do if I stole $1000 from you right now?

What would you do if I stole $10,000 from you right now?

What would you do if I stole $100,000 from you right now?


Now that I have your attention, and you're thinking....
Somewhere between $1 and $100,000 money isn't MONEY anymore, MONEY becomes a motive.
Now you're a group of people that play by a certain set of rules.

Dope dealers "rules" are somewhat askew.
They figure if you stole $1 today, you probably stole from them before, and today you just got caught.
They figure if you stole $1 from them, not much is stopping you from stealing $100,000.
They also figure if they don't do anything about you stealing $1, you and everyone else gets the idea that it's ok to steal from you... So a message needs to be sent.

So, yeah, someone is a little upset about their BILLION DOLLARS being taken from them. Somewhere down the line, someone is gonna pay for that, and it ain't gonna be quick.

Not that I'm a fan of what the FBI has been doing these last few years, but the agents in the article are from the DEA and Secret Service.

Think: Tortuga, Breaking Bad ... x1000

quote:

Originally posted by JoseyWales2:

quote:

Originally posted by mr kablammo:
Tempting stuff, that Bitcoin. Even FBI agents tried to help themselves.

Imagine that, self-serving, corrupt FBI agents. Hard to believe.

Not that "self-serving, corrupt FBI agents" don't exist, but the two people charged in this case weren't FBI agents. They were members of the DEA and U.S. Secret Service.

Any time you have laws that provide opportunities for law breakers to make big profits, you've got the potential for corruption to exist among those employed to identify, arrest, and assist in the successful prosecution of those committing these crimes. If they're members of the FBI, DEA, Secret Service, or any of the other "alphabet soup" agencies, state, local or federal, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for violations of their sworn duty and misusing their positions of public trust. There's no excuse for this type of clearly criminal behavior and no better label for these idiots than CRIMINAL.

Wonder if the unknown hacker was eligible for the 20% finders fee?