Charlie Shrem. A former business partner of the Winklevoss twins, Shrem has reportedly stolen bitcoins worth 5,000 from them.
According to the New York Times crypto lead Nathaniel Popper, Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss have filed a suit alleging that in 2012, Shrem stole bitcoins form them that are currently worth more than $31 million and were valued at nearly $100 million at their Dec. 2017 peak. An excerpted portion of the filing reads:
“Either Shrem has been incredibly lucky and successful since leaving prison, or — more likely — he ‘acquired’ his six properties, two Maseratis, two powerboats and other holdings with the appreciated value of the 5,000 Bitcoin he stole.”
Moreover, the publishing suggests that Shrem may owe and a staggering amount of $950,000 to the government in restitution stemming from his 2014 plea agreement, and the judge who oversaw that trial has “agreed to freeze some of…Shrem’s financial assets.” The 28-year-old Bitinstant founder was accused knowingly selling bitcoins to people who said that they wanted to use the funds to purchase drugs on now-defunct dark web marketplace Silk Road.
While the court found him guilty and punished him to serve time in federal prison, Shrem pleaded that he has virtually no money. However, contrary to his claim, he has been enjoying an affluent lifestyle since the two years of his release, acquiring millions of dollars in property, as well as multiple Maseratis and powerboats.
Apart from courts’ order of freezing his financial assets, US District Court Judge Jed S. Rakooff allowed the Winklevoss twins’ to freeze any bitcoin funds that Shrem was holding at Xapo and Coinbase, these accounts are suspected to contain the missing BTC as per the twins’ private investigator.
In response to the twin’s allegation, Shrem’s lawyer, Brian Klein, stated that the claims “could not be further from the truth” and Shrem will “quickly clear his name” in court. He told the publishing:
“The lawsuit erroneously alleges that about six years ago Charlie essentially misappropriated thousands of Bitcoins. Nothing could be further from the truth. Charlie plans to vigorously defend himself and quickly clear his name.”
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