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The secret life of Jimmy Zhong, who stole – and lost – more than $3 billion (www.cnbc.com)

submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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The secret life of Jimmy Zhong, who stole – and lost – more than $3 billion::CNBC obtained never-before-seen body camera footage that shows how investigators linked Jimmy Zhong to the Silk Road hack

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[–] Porka_911@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Can someone summarise the story. God damn that was a long read and lost interest. What I gathered, Jimmy claimed a robbery of his bitcoins, who then transpired to be the robber?

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 41 points 1 year ago (2 children)

He stole lots of Bitcoin by hacking silk road. One day someone stole a part of them (20 out of 50000) and he called the police which basically said though luck.

Meanwhile the us government was investigating on the theft and they noticed that he accidentally converted $800 from the stolen $3 billions using his real name.

They showed up at his home really friendly saying they're investigating about the Bitcoin theft and he opened everything. Unlocked his PC, showed them all the stash, then the liutenant specified which Bitcoin theft was investigating. Officers immediately placed a jigger on the unlocked PC to prevent automatic inactivity lock, guy was arrested.

Unfortunately the guy was one of the og Bitcoin devs in 2009 so he is filthy rich, got one year of prison for the crime of stealing those 3 billion dollars.

The us government said that anyone can ask back the stolen Bitcoin but nobody applied because those were dirty funds coming from the sales of drugs

[–] mycatiskai@lemmy.one 5 points 1 year ago

An odd part of this story is that he hired a PI to figure out who stole Bitcoin from him. The PI figured out who it likely was and told Jimmy, he refused to believe it because he was friends with the thief.

He just wanted to feel loved and have friends but they were all only there for the money and stuff he bought for them.

[–] Porka_911@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Thank you 👍

[–] justgohomealready@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 year ago

The article you referred to appears to delve into the actions and subsequent consequences faced by Jimmy Zhong, a 28-year-old computer expert from Athens, Georgia. The narrative begins when Zhong reports a theft of a substantial amount of cryptocurrency from his residence, leading to an investigation unveiling one of the most significant cryptocurrency crimes in history ➊.

In 2012, an individual pilfered 50,000 bitcoins from Silk Road, an illicit dark web marketplace. The valuation of these stolen bitcoins soared over time to surpass $3 billion, marking one of the colossal mysteries within the cryptocurrency realm for many years. Nearly a decade post this heist, a grave mistake by the perpetrator enabled the IRS-Criminal Investigation division to resolve the case ➋.

Jimmy Zhong, known for his partying tendencies and also for his exceptional computer skills, was the person behind this massive theft. His downfall was linked to his report about the crypto theft, which was a cover-up, and his robust digital home surveillance system which perhaps played a part in his identification ➌.

Following his conviction in 2022, a raid on his Georgia residence led to the confiscation of approximately 50,676 bitcoins, then valued at over $3.36 billion. Zhong cooperated with the authorities and forfeited the stolen assets ➍.

This tale highlights a significant event within the cryptocurrency community and demonstrates the long-term investigative efforts that can span several years before reaching a resolution.