Mark Alex Simon continues to make news, even 2 years after his arrest. Today, federal authorities in Ohio are selling 500 bitcoins (BTC), which have seen a sixfold increase in price since they were seized in his case.
Bitcoin fills US Treasury coffers
Federal authorities in Ohio are profiting from the HODLing of Bitcoin. Indeed, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, Bridget Brennan made an offbeat announcement on July 1, indicating that she had come into her Bitcoin bag. The value of nearly 500 BTC, seized two years ago after the conviction of Mark Alex Simon, would have been multiplied by 6 before its recent sale. This last one would have brought exactly 19 227 204 dollars, that is a profit of more than 16 million dollars.
However, the Fed did not disclose how the proceeds from this sale were distributed. These types of proceeds are typically used to compensate victims and are distributed among federal agencies and local law enforcement agencies that assisted in the investigations. The remainder of the money is expected to go to the U.S. Treasury.
A cooperative criminal
Who is Mark Alex Simon? This 37-year-old man is from Toledo, Ohio. He had set up a website selling fake identification documents issued by the states of Ohio, Michigan and Utah. All his customers had to do was send in a photo and the information to be put on the document. They would then pay for the service in bitcoins.
The investigation into the case began in 2015, after the fake documents were discovered. Simon had pleaded guilty and was therefore sentenced to 24 months in prison. He handed over his BTC worth $2.8 million to the authorities in May 2019.
Recall that confiscating BTC is technically impossible unless a person agrees to give the authorities the private keys to the wallets involved.
In the SilkRoad case, for example, the seizure of $1 billion worth of bitcoins would not have been feasible if an individual X had not given investigators access to the wallets. In Germany, the authorities had also “seized” 50 million euros in BTC, without really being able to get their hands on it. Indeed, the owner had refused to hand over his private keys.
These seized bitcoins, which were used as a means of payment for criminal activities, sully the image of the doyenne of the cryptocurrencies and its cadets. And the situation is not likely to get any better with the massive ransomware attack in the United States and the response ordered by Joe Biden. At least this time, all’s well that ends well for the victims… and for the Fed.
