Jimmy Zhong, initially a victim of a cryptocurrency theft, has emerged as the criminal mastermind behind one of the most colossal bitcoin thefts in history, ending the mystery of a $3 billion theft from the dark web’s infamous marketplace, Silk Road.that in the college town of Athens, Georgia, a 911 call in March 2019 marked the beginning of an extraordinary investigation.
The investigation took a dramatic turn when a small mistake revealed a monumental secret. Zhong’s name surfaced in a transaction linked to 50,000 bitcoins stolen from Silk Road, a dark web marketplace, in 2012. This discovery led to a meticulous operation by the IRS Criminal Investigation unit, unveiling Zhong as not just a victim, but a pivotal figure in the cryptocurrency saga.
Finally, Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics company that was tracing the digital wallets containing the stolen Silk Road assets, saw the hacker made a tiny mistake. He transferred around $800 worth to a crypto exchange that followed established banking rules, including so-called know your customer processes, requiring real names and addresses of account holders.
The account was registered in Zhong’s name. The transaction took place in September 2019, six months after Zhong’s 911 call to the local police. After a long and exhaustive investigation by law enforcement agents and the IRS, charges were brought against Zhong over his illicit riches. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges and was sentences to a year and a day in jail.