Featured Image Credit: U.S District Court for the District of Columbia
Topics: Crime, Money, Social Media, True crime, Bitcoin, US News
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Crime, Money, Social Media, True crime, Bitcoin, US News
Court records have revealed a man who posed in a bathtub full of banknotes is planning to plead guilty to remote stealing Bitcoin.
If there was ever a moral lesson for why you should never boast and brag, then this is it.
On 22 December, Gary Harmon from Ohio will appear in federal court for allegedly stealing Bitcoin stored on his older brother's computer after the device was seized by the government.
The 31-year-old is expected to plead guilty at his upcoming 'plea agreement hearing'.
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In February 2020, Gary's brother Larry was arrested on money laundering charges - accused of having used Darkweb sites to clean around $311 million (£250 million) in cryptocurrency transactions, as per Bloomberg UK.
In order to make it harder for anyone to trace the money back to him, Larry allegedly jumbled together many different crypto tokens - a practice known as 'mixing'.
He was the first person in the US to be charged with such crimes.
After learning his brother's stash of over 4,800 Bitcoin weren't able to be accessed by prosecutors while attending Larry's two bail hearings, Gary decided he'd have a crack at getting the funds back himself.
In April 2020, Larry was released on bail and prosecutors believed he had gone about stealing back the Bitcoin himself.
However, Larry then pointed the finger at his brother for having remotely stolen the crypto - Gary having previously worked for his brother and allegedly struggling to get by on unemployment checks and coronavirus economic relief payments.
An image of Gary in a bathtub full of cash on his phone seen by law enforcement agents was the final nail in his coffin, leading to his arrest in July 2021 on suspicion of a multitude of crimes including money laundering.
Court filings claim Gary took control of the Bitcoin on Larry's Trezor device in the evidence locker by using another device - using a special combination known as a 'seed phrase' alongside a PIN to get his hands on the crypto.
Gary is accused of having remotely stolen 713 (at the time, worth around $5 million) of the 4,800 of his brother's Bitcoin being held in an evidence locker.
The court filing alleges 68 of the Bitcoin were linked to Gary buying a luxury flat and sorting a $1.2 million loan.
Larry pleaded guilty to the laundering charges he faced soon after his brother's arrest last year and faces up to 20 years in prison as well as a $60 million civil fine.
While having previously turned down two plea offers, Gary is now expected to plead guilty.
Prosecutors demanded he should only be allowed bail if he gives up the seed phrases to the Bitcoin. His lawyer originally argued this would force Gary to admit to the crime and violate his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination.
Gary's trial is currently set to be held in February.