• Four individuals have been sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison for their involvement in a multi-million pound cryptocurrency fraud.
• The group exploited a vulnerability in an unnamed Australian cryptocurrency exchange to siphon off £22 million (equivalent to nearly $26 million as of press time) through Parker’s trading account between October 2017 and January 2018.
• During the investigation, police recovered 445 bitcoin (BTC) — worth $9.5 million as of press time — along with luxury watches, houses, cars and designer goods.
Last week a group of four individuals were brought to justice for their involvement in a multi-million pound cryptocurrency fraud. The group, led by James Parker, had exploited a vulnerability in an unnamed Australian cryptocurrency exchange to siphon off an estimated £22 million (equivalent to nearly $26 million as of press time) through Parker’s trading account between October 2017 and January 2018.
Unfortunately, Parker was not alive to be brought to justice, as he had died in 2021. However, his co-conspirators were brought to trial, with his financial advisor Stephen Boys taking the brunt of the blame. Boys had collaborated with a UK national living in Dubai to exchange the cryptocurrency into fiat money and launder it through foreign-based online accounts.
The success of the fraud led to the group having more money than they knew what to do with, and they started giving away gift cards worth £5,000 to strangers in the street, as well as buying cars for people they met in pubs. Boys himself testified that he spent £1 million in cash by carrying it in a suitcase to buy a villa from Russian nationals, as well as paying £60,000 to corrupt officials in order to be able to continue laundering the hack proceeds.
Fortunately, the group’s activities eventually attracted the attention of law enforcement, leading to their arrest and conviction for fraud and transferring criminal property. During the investigation, police recovered 445 bitcoin (BTC) — worth $9.5 million as of press time — along with luxury watches, houses, cars and designer goods.
Boys was found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, as well as transferring criminal property and money laundering. The other three members of the group were found guilty of failing to report knowledge of criminal property, while one of them was also found guilty of money laundering. In the end, the group was sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison.