A UK judge has ordered the seizure of $4.3 million in Bitcoin (BTC) from British crime kingpin known as “Don Car-Leone.” The decision comes after the fugitive failed to prove that the cryptocurrency was not related to criminal activities.
Fugitive Crime Boss Says Bitcoin Fortune Is Legit
UK High Court Judge Mr. Justice Timothy Mold recently granted the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) the right to seize £3.5 million worth of Bitcoin, about $4.3 million, from convicted crime boss Alexander Surin, also known as “Don Car-Leone.”
According to The Telegraph, Surin fled to Dubai after being convicted in France in 2015 of drug trafficking. After his conviction, the National Crime Agency (NCO) confiscated his luxury cars, money, and several properties in London.
At the time, he and his wife accepted that £4.5 million in seized assets, worth around $5.6 million, were proceeds of crime. In addition, Surin, who seems to have earned this nickname for his luxury cars, has millions of Bitcoins in a Coinbase Kenya account.
However, he claims his Bitcoin money was legitimately earned by trading gold bullion in Dubai. The fugitive claimed that the Bitcoin was made in two auctions with a trader operating in “small rooms in shops or buildings” in the Dubai gold market.
Surin added that the trader allegedly does not have a website or bookkeeping record to prove sales, as he does his business “based on his credibility and reputation.”
Judge orders liquidation of BTC Holdings
CPS counsel, Martin Evans KC, told the High Court that “overwhelming evidence” suggested the money had been made illegally. Evans cited two large sums transferred to Surin’s Coinbase Kenya account from Christian Hargreaves, who was convicted and sentenced to 17 years for “conspiracy to supply class A drugs.”
According to the report, CPS told the court that apart from the two fake invoices, Surin did not provide any records detailing how he got rich after the previous foreclosure.
In addition, Evans asserted that Surin and Hargreaves are British and created “sufficient connections in England and Wales” necessary to initiate the proceeds of crime to seize Bitcoin sitting in the Coinbase Kenya account.
In an email, Surin responded to the CPS’s claims, saying “there is no evidence of my involvement in any crime that suggests bitcoin is the proceeds of crime.”
However, Mr Justice Mold dismissed his claims and ruled that Surin’s Bitcoin Holdings had been seized from illegal drug trafficking, giving the CPS the right to seize the crypto assets:
The evidence adduced by the (CPS), that in each case those transactions were carried out by the Hargreaves with the knowledge of the accused with the intention of laundering the proceeds of illegal drug trafficking, is compelling. (Surin’s) alternative explanation, that each was sold in legal gold bullion at Panache Jewels LLC, lacks credibility in the face of (CPS’s) evidence.
Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $100,456 in the one-week chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
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