Slashdot Mirror
Feds Moving Quickly To Cash in on Seized Bitcoin, Now Worth $8.4 Million (arstechnica.com)
A federal judge in Utah has agreed to let the US government sell off a seized cache of over 513 bitcoins (BTC) and 512 Bitcoin Cash (BCH). At current prices, that would yield approximately $8.4 million for the bitcoins and nearly $1 million for the BCH. From a report: In a court filing, prosecutors noted that due to the volatility of the Bitcoin market, both coins risk losing value. Both the BTC and the BCH have already been transferred to government-controlled wallets. The new round of seized digital currency belonged to a Utah man named Aaron Shamo, whom prosecutors say led a multimillion-dollar ring of counterfeit pharmaceuticals, including oxycodone and alprazolam that were sold on Dark Web marketplaces. Shamo was arrested over a year ago -- his trial has not yet been scheduled. On Tuesday, US District Judge Dale Kimball allowed the sale to proceed. Once sold, the money would go to an account held at the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture.
America, land of the free, and you have RIGHTS... HA HA HA! Meanwhile we will steal your stuff and sell it, putting it into the government's pockets, before you are even convicted of the crime. What good do your guns do you now to defend against tyranny?
Or the other defendant is innocent, and the assert will be worth 10x the original value the day the judgement is made and the defendant cannot sue the government for the loss because the people choose to fuck with his investment strategy why pursuing an ill advised prosecution.. US dollars, 6 tons of guns, 12 cases of wine or half a ton of gold bars would remain unchanged, this is not a pile of cabbage that will rot away. Perhaps the government has no place in controlling someones assets that may have been generated outside of a crime. Outside of fraud and ponzi schemes, Perhaps defendants should be able to control the allocation of their liquid asserts until the case is rightfully decided.
I'm not a liberal. I don't hate the first responders. I just don't think the seized money belongs to them. It doesn't seem like "finders keepers" should apply when the are paid by tax dollars to do the finding. There is also a significant conflict of interest when they are allowed to keep what they find. Spending drug money on drug rehab programs or some other way that directly benefits society seems fairer.
civil forfeiture is theft, plain and simple.
the idea that YOUR ASSETS are on trial, and you have no standing is absolutely fucking weapons grade bonkers.
they could continue to increase in value -- but, in any event, the guy or Government won't lose money
The 5th amendment demands just compensation for the taking of private property for use by the government.
ONE of the rights you have as owner of property is the right to control and direct the Timing of when and if you sell it or convert it into US fiat, based on your expectation of what the market price will be.
So if it DOES continue to increase in value sufficiently, then the guy could make the claim he intended to HODL the coins and be due $10 Billion US, the cash equivalent, if for some reason the government's unable to return his property in the same condition as they found it, or if it DECREASES in value, then the guy could claim he intended to sell and thus demand PROPERTY + Compensation for his loss caused by the government interfering with his rights to direct regarding the disposition of his property.
I'm glad the Framers added the right to speedy sale of BTC, but they could have also added one for trials.
It could be his defense team requesting the delay.
Civil forfeiture is used for nearly every drug crime prosecuted (not convicted -- prosecuted). The process goes all the way back to the US prohibition on Alcohol. The chemical substance may have changed, but the process is the same: Property is seized during "drug" activity, the Police get the assets to buy equipment, facilities, or salaries.
It's one reason you never travel with a large amount of cash in the US. In some states, police can often just claim "we have probable cause that the cash is drug money" and seize it. Zero recourse.
Richard Thornburgh, Reagan's attorney general, said:
It's now possible for a drug dealer to serve time in a forfeiture-financed prison after being arrested by agents driving a forfeiture-provided automobile while working in a forfeiture-funded sting operation.
Many politicians love the idea - make the police self-funding by letting the Police keep seized assets, and then cut taxes.
What could possibly go wrong when the Police are financially motivated to seize property, and don't need to convict the owner to seize it?
-- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.