Analysts at Arkham Intelligence have documented the confiscation of 3940 BTC (approximately $249 million) from drug trafficker Banmeet Singh by the US government.
$250M of BTC seized by the US Government is now on Arkham.
The US Government acquired 3.94K BTC from narcotics trafficker Banmeet Singh, forfeited at trial in January 2024. pic.twitter.com/dCwyvT9gZl
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) May 7, 2024
The procedure was conducted as part of a court case in January. At that time, the 40-year-old Indian national pleaded guilty to selling narcotics on darknet marketplaces and agreed to forfeit $150 million.
According to case materials, from 2012 to 2017, Singh operated on now-defunct platforms such as Silk Road, Alpha Bay, Hansa, and others, accepting payments in cryptocurrency. He personally organized the shipment of drugs to Europe and the US by mail.
“Today’s guilty plea, which includes the forfeiture of approximately $150 million in cryptocurrency, demonstrates the Department of Justice’s commitment to holding criminals accountable for violating US law, regardless of how they conceal their activities,” stated Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri.
Singh was arrested in April 2019 in London, and the United States secured his extradition in 2023. The operation to identify the drug trafficker was conducted in cooperation with law enforcement and tax authorities from various countries.
The man also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and money laundering. In April, the court sentenced him to five years in prison.
According to the Arkham dashboard, the US is the largest Bitcoin whale among governments, holding 216,811 BTC worth approximately $13.7 billion at the time of writing.
In December 2023, an appellate court officially confirmed the confiscation of 69,370 BTC (approximately $3 billion) linked to Silk Road.
Later, the US government announced plans to sell 2875 BTC seized from drug traffickers Ryan Farace and Shaun Bridges.
In April 2024, a wallet controlled by US authorities initiated the transfer of approximately 2000 BTC to a Coinbase Prime address.