- Silk Road Founder may be relieved from the charges as he would pay the debt to the United States Government.
- The now shut down illegal Marketplace used Bitcoin (BTC) to sell drugs and other illegal things.
- The Marketplace was taken down years ago, after which the founder was sentenced to life in prison.
According to a court filing, roughly $3 Billion in seized Bitcoin (BTC) would vindicate Ross Ulbricht from the $183 Million debt he owes to the US Government.
Ross Ulbricht is the mind behind the formerly functioning illegal Marketplace by the name Silk Road. The Marketplace made use of the crowned cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) to sell drugs and other illicit items.
The Government Seized The Hacker’s BTC in 2020
Prior to the taking down of the Marketplace, someone managed to carry out a hack on it, which was worth around 69,370 BTC.
The Marketplace was shut down in the year 2015, following which the founder was sentenced to life in prison without parole and was obliged to pay in restoration regarding the total sales of Silk Road.
The government managed to confiscate the hacker’s 69,370 BTC in November 2020. In the court filing, which was filed in February last year, the founder renounced his rights to the BTC and is now utilizing it to pay the government’s debt.
The court filing highlights that the Silk Road founder further relinquishes all the right, title, and interest in the hacked BTC and agrees that the said property should be forfeited to the US and would be disposed of in accordance with the law.
Although there are no specifications as to when the auction for the seized Bitcoin would take place, it is to look forward to when and how it would occur.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/04/23/seized-silk-road-bitcoin-might-help-the-founder-to-settle-183-million-debt/