Australian feds seize mansion, Bitcoin allegedly linked to crypto exchange hack

An Australian man from the state of Queensland has forfeited Bitcoin, a waterfront mansion and a Mercedes-Benz car after Australian Federal Police claimed the assets could be linked to the proceeds of crime.

The AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) said in a May 18 statement that it seized nearly 25 Bitcoin (BTC), alongside the mansion and car, which are together worth a total of 4.5 million Australian dollars ($2.88 million).

The AFP said its investigation began in September 2018 after law enforcement in Luxembourg shared information about suspicious Bitcoin transactions that the agency claimed were connected to the Queensland man, who was previously convicted of hacking a US gaming company.

The AFP claimed its investigation also linked the man to the theft of 950 Bitcoin stolen from a French crypto exchange in 2013.

No criminal charges were laid over the Bitcoin theft; however, the AFP obtained a court forfeiture order of the property, car and Bitcoin in April under the claim that they could not be linked with “identifiable legitimate earnings.”

Local media outlet 7NEWS reported that the owner of the confiscated assets is Shane Stephen Duffy, who pleaded guilty to fraud and computer hacking in 2016 for selling the personal data of League of Legends players.

A cyberattack on League of Legends developer Riot Games in 2011 saw hackers obtain the details of more than 5 million users; Duffy was not accused of being involved in the hack, with prosecutors saying he got a copy of the data online and sold it for profit.

Duffy was also accused of hacking the X account of Riot Games president Marc Merrill to publicize his data-selling business, which offered to sell access to the accounts of other League of Legends players. 

Related: Aussies lost $122 million to crypto scams in the last 12 months: AFP

AFP Commander Jason Kennedy said in a statement that the agency has “unique powers” under the Proceeds of Crime Act to “restrain and forfeit” assets it suspects to be proceeds of crime, including cybercrime.

“The profits derived from criminal activities are also often used to fund further criminal acts, which is why the AFP works closely with our partners in the CACT to target the proceeds of crime and ensure they are reinvested in the community,” he said. 

The proceeds from selling the assets will be sent to a special purpose fund that supports crime prevention and law enforcement-related measures, the AFP said. 

Since July 2019, the CACT has used its power to restrain over $1.2 billion in assets, including houses, cars, yachts, crypto and fine art.

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