Bitcoin Thief Who Stole Nearly $5 Million And Was Photographed In Cash-Filled Bathtub Gets 4 Years In Prison

On Thursday, Gary Harmon, a resident of Ohio, was sentenced to a four-year prison term after he pled guilty in January to stealing more than 712 Bitcoin BTC/USD from a computer seized by the federal government. 

According to a release from the Department of Justice, Harmon must also give up "specific properties," including the crypto holdings, which are valued at over $20 million.

In April 2020, Harmon used the credentials of his older brother, Larry Harmon, to recover 713 Bitcoin that been stored on a device the latter had used as part of a darknet-based cryptocurrency money laundering service. The Bitcoin was valued at about $4.9 million at the time. 

Larry Harmon was charged in February 2020 with laundering over $300 million worth of Bitcoin by operating the Darknet-based service Helix. He pled guilty 18 months later.

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

A court filing reveals that prosecutors and Gary Harmon's lawyer had differed over the sophistication required to pull off the theft. 

"While the conduct was certainly illegal, it is practically no different and no more sophisticated than obtaining a key to a safe deposit box and taking the contents of that box," Gary Harmon's lawyer wrote, according to Bloomberg. 

The prosecutors countered, writing that "[while] physical world analogies often fall short when describing cyber incidents, the defendant's conduct is more analogous to using powerful tools to silently tunnel into a bank vault from a neighboring building and siphon out all of the funds while law enforcement was futilely trying to unlock the bank's front door." 

Prosecutors said Gary Harmon used 68 Bitcoin as collateral for a $1.2 million loan and spent some to buy a luxury condo in Cleveland. The Justice Department also found a photo of him in a nightclub bathtub full of dollar bills on his phone. 

The department said that the 712 BTC would be worth just under $21 million at today's prices.

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