Silk Road Bitcoin Thief, Worth $3.4 Billion, Gets 1-Year Jail Term

James Zhong, who stole over 50,000 Bitcoin from the Silk Road marketplace in 2012, has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison for wire fraud. In 2021, US police discovered approximately 50,676 Bitcoin worth more than $3.36 billion in Zhong's home. Zhong used a simple glitch on Silk Road's website to steal the funds. Before being arrested, he spent $16 million of the stolen BTC on real estate investments, luxury hotels, nightclubs, and Lamborghinis. Prosecutors have asked the judge to give him less than two years in prison, citing his youth, his autism, and his help in recovering the stolen crypto.