Justice Department announces seizure of $3.4 billion in stolen bitcoin

The Justice Department recovered bitcoin once worth $3.4 billion, now valued around $1 billion, that a Georgia real estate developer stole a decade ago from the dark web marketplace Silk Road, the department announced Monday.

James Zhong, the 32-year-old behind the theft, pleaded guilty Friday to a single count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Federal agents tracked down the stolen digital loot a year ago, when they searched Zhong’s house in Gainesville, Ga., and found devices storing the bitcoin in an underground floor safe and under blankets in a popcorn tin stashed in his bathroom closet, prosecutors said in an affidavit.