The U.S. Department of Justice recently filed a notice of intent to sell 2,933 bitcoins seized from convicted Silk Road dealer Ryan Farace. The current value of BTC is approximately $117 million and is expected to be auctioned in the near future.
TLDR
- The U.S. government plans to sell approximately $117 million worth of Bitcoin seized from convicted Silk Road drug trafficker Ryan Farace.
- Farace was previously convicted in 2018 of selling Xanax on dark web marketplaces like Silk Road and receiving more than 9,000 bitcoins in the transaction.
- Farace claimed he no longer had access to the bitcoins, but while in prison he worked with his father Joseph to transfer nearly 2,900 bitcoins to his accomplices.
- The government recovered 2,900 bitcoins, currently worth about $117 million, from Faraces.
- Some of the bitcoins were also linked to Shaun Bridges, a former Secret Service agent who stole bitcoins during the Silk Road investigation.
Farace was previously convicted in 2018 of conspiring to rake in 9,000 bitcoins from buyers by selling Xanax under the name “Xanaxman” on dark web marketplaces like the infamous Silk Road. After confiscating 24 bitcoins, worth about $16 million at the time, to authorities, Farace claimed he no longer had access to his cryptocurrency funds while incarcerated.
But federal officials discovered that Farace was conspiring with his father, Joseph, to secretly transfer approximately 2,900 bitcoins out of the country to an accomplice. The conspiracy included illegal use of cell phones for coordination while Farace was in prison. Officials intercepted their communications and recovered the Bitcoin, which has now soared in value to about $117 million.
Both Faraces pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy charges. Ryan Farace was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison, and his father was sentenced to 19 months.
Some of the bitcoins originated from Shaun Bridges, a former Secret Service agent who abused his position on the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force to steal bitcoins from site administrators. Bridges was convicted in 2015 and agreed to forfeit stolen cryptocurrency, estimated at the time to be worth $800,000. That amount would be worth over $36 million today.
With no other claims filed for the assets within the allotted 60-day period, the government now has full authority to sell the nearly 3,000 bitcoins combined at auction. The liquidation could put additional downward pressure on the Bitcoin price, which has already fallen significantly in recent weeks.
The high-profile sales include Silk Road, once the Internet’s largest dark web marketplace for illegal drugs and other illicit activities, and cryptocurrencies derived from corruption in law enforcement.