Filed on March 31 court documents on March 14, 2023, the US government sold 9,861 BTC for a total of $215.7 million. The US government plans to sell a total of more than 41,000 more Bitcoins seized as part of a court case related to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.
A March 31 filing with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York related to James Zhong’s conviction states that US authorities have begun selling approximately 51,352 BTC seized in the Ulbricht case. Authorities sold roughly 9,861 BTC for more than $215 million on March 14, according to the filing. That leaves them with approximately 41,491 BTC left in their possession.
“The government plans to sell the seized Bitcoins in four additional lots over the course of the calendar year.” is stated in the prosecutor’s submission. “According to information from IRS Criminal Investigation – Asset Recovery & Investigative Services, the second round of sales is not planned until following Zhong’s sentencing date.”
In November last year, Zhong pleaded guilty to charges related to carrying out a 2012 Silk Road-related Bitcoin theft scheme. In November 2021, US authorities seized more than 50,000 BTC – worth more than $3 billion at the exchange rate at the time – from Zhong’s home in Georgia. It was one of the largest cryptocurrency seizures by authorities until the 2016 Bitfinex hack-related cryptocurrency recovery. About $3.6 billion worth of cryptocurrencies stolen from Bitfinex in 2016 were recovered in February 2022.
The Silk Road marketplace, which was defunct 10 years ago, originally allowed users to buy and sell illegal goods, including weapons and stolen credit card information. However, the illegal marketplace also attracted the attention of the American authorities, who arrested Ulbricht in 2013. The founder of Silk Road has since been serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.