Man Gets Prison Time After Feds Discover $3.4B In Stolen Bitcoin Hidden Inside Cheetos Popcorn Tin

The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York has announced that the hacker responsible for the Silk Road marketplace breach has been sentenced to a year in prison for wire fraud charges.

According to a statement released by the office of U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, James Zhong stole over 50,000 Bitcoin BTC/USD from the Silk Road dark web by creating multiple accounts and misleading Silk Road into releasing Bitcoin into his accounts. Zhong allegedly never purchased or sold anything on Silk Road.

"Back in 2012, Zhong committed wire fraud by stealing 50,000 Bitcoin from Silk Road, and for the next ten years, he managed to conceal what he had done and how he obtained his fortune," Williams said in a statement.

Authorities searched Zhong's home in Gainesville, Georgia, in November 2021 and recovered over 50,000 Bitcoin, split between "an underground floor safe and a single-board computer that was submerged under blankets in a popcorn tin stored in a bathroom closet."

Also Read: Will Bitcoin Die With the Online Black Market 'Silk Road'?

Law enforcement also recovered gold and silver bars and more than $660,000 in cash. 

According to the U.S. attorney's office, when the Bitcoin was seized, it was valued at $3.4 billion. Today, it is worth more than $1.5 billion.

A photo shared by the attorney's office shows that the crypto tin was actually a large Cheetos can.

For years, Silk Road operated as an online "darknet" black market. From approximately 2011 until 2013, it was used by drug dealers and other unlawful vendors to distribute massive quantities of illegal drugs and other illicit goods and services to buyers across the world. It was also used to launder funds. In 2015, Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht was convicted by a unanimous jury and sentenced to life in prison. 

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