Australian Federal Police (AFP) Seizes Man’s 25 BTC Suspected of Bitcoin Theft ⋆ ZyCrypto
The post Australian Federal Police (AFP) Seizes Man’s 25 BTC Suspected of Bitcoin Theft ⋆ ZyCrypto appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Advertisement     The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have seized the assets of a Queensland man, suspected of Bitcoin theft, confiscating a waterfront property, a Mercedes-Benz sedan, and 25 BTC worth around $2.6 million. Local news outlets have identified the man as Shane Stephen Duffy. The seizure of assets comes after Luxembourg authorities tipped off AUSTRAC, Australia’s financial intelligence agency, that the Queenslander was involved in a major Bitcoin theft. AFP further announced that the Bitcoin was seized some time ago, so the value of the crypto may have been priced at a different level when the AFP sold the tokens. Australian authorities also claim that the man had been previously convicted of hacking an American company. “A CACT investigation”, announced the AFP, “began in September 2018, after law enforcement partners in Luxembourg contacted AUSTRAC regarding suspicious Bitcoin transactions, linked to a Queensland man previously convicted of hacking a gaming company in the United States. The investigation identified suspected links between the man and the theft of 950 Bitcoin from a French cryptocurrency exchange in 2013. No criminal charges eventuated; however, the Commonwealth’s proceeds of crime laws allow the CACT to restrain suspected proceeds of crime, regardless of whether there is a related criminal prosecution”. The AFP announced on their website that federal authorities seized around $4.5 million in assets, including a beachfront mansion, a luxury car, and Bitcoin. The investigation began in 2018 by the AFP’s Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT), which was able to link stolen Bitcoin to the Queenslander. CACT can seize assets despite no conviction, because the Australian Proceeds of Crime Act allows federal police to seize assets suspected of being connected to criminal activity. The AFP argues that his wealth far exceeded the amount of his legitimate earnings. They used this reasoning to seize all…
Filed under: News - @ May 20, 2025 11:29 pm