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Drug trafficker Dark Web Mathew Phan will have to bid farewell to the Bitcoin reserve he had stored on a computer before his arrest by Canadian law enforcement in 2015.
On Wednesday, April 3, Justice Jane Kelly of the Superior Court asked the appropriate authorities to seize 281.41 bitcoins found on Phan's computer and hand them over to the Ministry of the Attorney General.
At the time, the market value of bitcoin seized rose to nearly $ 1.4 million.
The largest confiscation of bitcoins in Canada
Local media claim that it could be the biggest confiscation of Bitcoin ever made in the country.
Kelly J.'s order came after the court found sufficient evidence to support the claim that Phan was using his Bitcoin hiding for perfidious purposes. More specifically, for the buying a gun and illegal narcotics on the dark web.
In December 2018, Phan pleaded guilty to a number of charges, including an attempt to illegally import a firearm and possession of narcotics such as cocaine, ketamine and PCP with the intention of traffic.
However, Phan opposed the confiscation argument presented by Crown Attorney Erin Pancer, saying that all of his bitcoins were not used for illegal activities.
Some of the Bitcoin found on Phan's computer, according to his lawyer, were used to buy and sell gold. In addition, the defendant also argued that he had also used bitcoin, now confiscated, to effect transactions on various cryptocurrency exchanges.
Acknowledging that she had not denied that Phan had exchanged Bitcoins, Kelly JA rejected the accused's argument, saying that the evidence presented to the court did not explain why he possessed such a large amount.
"There is overwhelming evidence that suggests that Mr. Phan was using dark markets to buy illegal items such as guns and silencers."
She added:
"It is reasonable to infer that payment for these illicit drug sales was made using bitcoins found in Mr. Phan's digital wallet, in the Evolution and Agora online markets. , which are used to buy and sell contraband. "
Bitcoin confiscated overexploited 29 times after Phan's arrest
Canadian law enforcement agencies conducted their initial research on Phan's hard drives in 2015. At that time, the bitcoins seized amounted to about $ 65,885, almost 29 times less than the market value of the stock.
Their dollar equivalent has increased by more than $ 500,000 since the adjournment hearing held last February.
In the same vein, at the height of the cryptography boom at the end of 2017, Bitcoins seized in Phan surpbaded the $ 5 million mark.
For those who are interested, Blokt recently covered 4 of the biggest cracks on the Web with a Bitcoin connection.
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