The Northern District of Ohio has obtained more than $19 million from the sale of bitcoins seized in a fraud case, according to the Toledo Blade, citing Acting U.S. Attorney Bridget Brennan.
The cryptocurrency was seized from a 37-year-old state resident, Mark Simon. He was involved in manufacturing and selling counterfeit identification cards for Bitcoin.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in March 2018 prosecutors добивались forfeiture of 500 BTC. At the rate at the time, they were worth $5.1 million.
According to the report, in May 2019 Simon pleaded guilty and turned over the cryptocurrency to the federal government. At that time the seized bitcoins were worth about $2.9 million.
According to Brennan, the digital assets were sold for $19.23 million. This was the largest amount ever recovered by the Northern District of Ohio in its asset-forfeiture program. Simon was sentenced to 24 months in prison.
In April, authorities in Monmouth County, New Jersey sold confiscated digital gold from 2018 for $198 000. Additional profit from the sale of bitcoins amounted to nearly 250%.
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