James Zhong has been arrested and jailed after he was found hiding $3 billion in Bitcoin in a popcorn tin and also admitted to “trying to use the appeal of cash and a lavish lifestyle to help him score women”. According to the full details by Daily Mail, James was thrown into jail for a year;
James Zhong, 32, of Gainsville, pleaded guilty to wire fraud last year for illegally obtaining over 50,000 Bitcoin from the now-defunct Silk Road marketplace over a decade ago. He was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison on Friday by a judge in New York.
The raid on Zhong’s home in November 2021 resulted in the largest cryptocurrency seizure ever and the second-largest financial seizure by authorities.
And DailyMail.com can reveal the US government is now in the process of offloading the stolen gains after a judge told the US Marshals Service to liquidate the crypto currency.
Zhong had asked for no jail time, and the Justice Department agreed on the lenient sentence for the 32-year-old due in part to his autism diagnosis, his young age, and his help recovering the billions in Bitcoin.
Zhong wanted the money for sex, according to charging documents prepared by assistant US attorney David Felton.
He converted $700,000 to cash so he could have a ‘case full of money like in the movies’, a psychological assessment filed with the federal court said.
‘He hoped the visual appeal of the cash would impress a female into having sexual relations with him,’ Felton wrote.
‘He stated his plan did not work.’
Prosecutors said Zhong spent ‘lavishly on real estate investments, luxury products, travel, hotels, nightclubs, and other expenses.’
Photos from Zhong’s social media show him posing with bikini-clad girls on a yacht in a city marina and dressed in a suit with two other women in front of a stretch limousine.
Property records show he owned at least seven power boats, including a 23ft 2009 Yamaha.
In a statement filed with the court, Zhong said he ‘always hated school’ and was a victim of bullying, including kids pulling down his pants at a football game.
He said he found solace at home on his computer.
Zhong had obtained millions in cryptocurrencies while studying at the University of Georgia from 2008 to 2014. During that time he drank excessively and used cocaine.
When cops raided his lakeside home in Gainesville, Georgia, in November 2021 they found a hard drive containing thousands of Bitcoin stashed in a Cheetos popcorn tin, wrapped in a towel.
They also seized $662,000 in cash and 11 one-ounce bars of silver and gold.
He had stolen Bitcoin in 2012 from the infamous dark web marketplace Silk Road.
DailyMail.com can reveal the government is trading the seized Bitcoin – billions of dollars of it – through a crypto exchange that it is investigating for a crime.
According to a court filing by New York prosecutors, the first US Marshals sale of the Bitcoin was on March 14.
The government sold it on cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase – just like millions of other crypto traders, who have been characterized as ‘degenerates’ and basement-dwelling geeks in the past three years since digital currencies took off in popularity.
Flip to the next page for pictures of James Zhong living large with multiple women…
