A British judge has ordered the seizure of $4.3 million in Bitcoin (BTC) from a British crime lord known as “Don Car-Leone.” The decision comes after the fugitive failed to prove that the crypto holdings were not linked to criminal activity.
Fugitive Crime Boss Claims Bitcoin Fortune Is Legal
UK High Court judge Justice Timothy Mold recently granted the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) the right to seize £3.5 million worth of Bitcoin, or approximately $4.3 million, from of convicted crime boss Alexander Surin, also known as “Don Car-Leone.”
According to the Telegraph report, Surin fled to Dubai after being convicted in France in 2015 for drug trafficking. Following his conviction, the National Crime Agency (NCO) seized his fleet of high-end cars, his money and several properties in London.
At the time, he and his wife admitted that the £4.5 million in seized assets, worth around $5.6 million, had been acquired with money from criminal activities. Additionally, Surin, who appears to have earned this nickname thanks to his fleet of luxury cars, holds millions in Bitcoin in a Coinbase Kenya account.
However, he claims his Bitcoin holdings were earned legally by trading gold bars in Dubai. The fugitive argued that the Bitcoin was obtained through two sales with a trader operating in “small rooms in shops or buildings” in Dubai’s gold souk.
Surin added that the trader would not have a website or accounting records to prove sales because it conducts its business “on the basis of trust and reputation.”
Judge orders seizure of BTC assets
CPS representative Martin Evans KC told the High Court that “compelling evidence” suggested the money was made through illicit activities. Evans cited two large transfers to Surin’s Coinbase Kenya account from Christian Hargreaves, who was convicted and sentenced to 17 years in prison for “conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.”
According to the report, the CPS told the court that apart from two false invoices, Surin had not provided documents explaining how he became so rich after his previous assets were seized.
Additionally, Evans argued that because Surin and Hargreaves were British, they created the “sufficient connection to England and Wales” necessary to launch a proceeds of crime action to seize the Bitcoin in the Coinbase Kenya account.
Via email, Surin responded to the CPS’ claims, stating that there was “no evidence to demonstrate my involvement in any criminality to suggest that the bitcoins were the proceeds of crime.”
However, Judge Mold rejected his claims and ruled that Surin’s Bitcoin holdings were laundered money from illegal drug trafficking, granting the CPS the right to seize the crypto assets:
The evidence put forward by the (CPS), that in each case these transactions were carried out by Hargreaves with the knowledge of the accused with a view to laundering money from illegal drug trafficking, is compelling. (Surin’s) alternative explanation, that each sale was a legitimate sale of gold bars to Panache Jewels LLC, lacks credibility in the face of (the CPS’s) evidence.
Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $100,456 in the one-week chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com
