Ohio Man Sent to Jail in Bitcoin Theft Case; He will lose $20 million worth of cryptocurrency – WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio
WASHINGTON, DC – A 31-year-old Ohio man was sentenced Thursday to four years and three months in prison for stealing more than 712 bitcoins, the proceeds of the darknet bitcoin mixer Helix and subject to forfeiture in an ongoing criminal case, an assistant attorney general said for the Ministry of Justice’s criminal division.
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Gary James Harmon, 31, of Cleveland, carried out a scheme to steal cryptocurrency that was the subject of an ongoing criminal forfeiture case in the case of his brother, Larry Dean Harmon, according to documents in US District Court in Washington, DC
Kenneth Polite Jr., Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, United States Attorney Matthew Graves for the District of Columbia, Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran of the FBI’s Cyber Division, Special Agent David Sundberg of the FBI Washington Field Office, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Kareem Carter, IRS The Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Washington, DC Field Office made the announcement.
In February 2020, Larry Harmon was arrested for operating Helix, a darknet-based cryptocurrency laundering service known as a “mixer” or “tumbler”. Helix laundered more than 350,000 bitcoins — valued at more than $300 million at the time of the transaction — on behalf of clients, with the largest volume coming from darknet markets, Polite said.
Law enforcement seized various assets, including a cryptocurrency storage device containing Larry Harmon’s illegal income generated through the operation of Helix, which was subject to forfeiture in the criminal case. However, law enforcement was initially unable to recover the bitcoin stored on the device due to the device’s additional security features.
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Gary Harmon knew that authorities were seeking to recover the bitcoin stored on the seized device for forfeiture in Larry Harmon’s criminal case. million at the time, to their own wallets. He stole these funds and obstructed the ongoing criminal proceedings.
Gary Harmon further laundered the proceeds through two online bitcoin mixing services before using the laundered bitcoins to finance large purchases and other expenses.
Gary Harmon agreed to forfeit cryptocurrencies and other property derived from the fraudulent proceeds, including more than 647.41 Bitcoin (BTC), 2.14 Ethereum (ETH) and 17,404,400.64 Dogecoin (DOGE). Due to the increase in market prices, the total value of these forfeited properties exceeds $20 million.
In August 2021, Larry Harmon pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy in his case.
The FBI and IRS-CI District of Columbia Cyber Crime Unit investigated the case.
