Silk Road Pirate Accuses Government Of Stealing His Bitcoin Booty

Silk Road Mastermind Ross Ulbricht

Ross Ulbricht or better known by his silk road alias of “Dread Pirate Roberts” has accused the government of being the real pirates, by for the first time admitting the government took his 173,000 or so of his encrypted virtual currency. When he was first arrested in October for allegedly masterminding and running the illegal website known as Silk Road, he claimed that the “feds arrested the wrong guy’. Now Ross Ulbricht has filed legal papers in a Manhattan Federal Court claiming he has an interest as the owner of the 173,000 or so Bitcoins, which are worth around $33.6 million.

In a statement made by Ulbricht in December he claims that the virtual currency should be returned to him because Bitcoins are not subject to seizure by federal law. However Attorney Jeffery Alberts, who used to work and specialize in asset-forfeiture actions says that Ulbricht will have a difficult time proving his argument because usually anything of value can be seized in money laundering cases. With the Bitcoins in question being taken by the government as assets they will allege were used to facilitate money laundering in support of a host of crimes. These include six failed assassinations, the sale of cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs over the internet through the Silk Road website. With the virtual currency of Bitcoins only getting bigger this case will likely set a president for cases later on involving all types of virtual currency in regards to illicit activities and the profits from those activities.

Thanks you News.com.au for providing us with this information.

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