Skip to main content

Russian Court: Bitcoin Theft Not a Crime

A Russian district court has dismissed bitcoin theft as a crime since cryptocurrency is not regulated in Russia and there is no legal status for bitcoin.The accused were found guilty, sentenced to prison, and ordered to return only the fiat money stolen — not cryptocurrencies.
St. Petersburg’s Petrogradsky District Court has announced the verdict in a theft case involving bitcoin filed in December, the joint press service of the judicial system of St. Petersburg announced on Tuesday.
The two accused, Peter Piron and Yevgeny Prigozhin, disguised as officers of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) in 2018, forced the plaintiff to transfer cash and cryptocurrencies to them. Under the threat of torture, the cryptocurrency owner transferred five million rubles and cryptocurrencies, including 99.7035 bitcoins. The BTC was worth more than 48 million rubles ($680,640) based on the exchange rate on June 3, 2018, the court announcement details. Currently, this amount of BTC is worth about $908,024. The other cryptocurrencies amounted to approximately 7 million rubles, bringing the total loss suffered by the plaintiff to more than 60 million rubles.
The victim sought the return of all properties stolen. The court admitted that cryptocurrencies were transferred to the accused under threat. However, citing information from the central bank, the Bank of Russia, and the criminal code, the court concluded:
Cryptocurrency [theft] is not a crime against property. Due to the lack of legal status, it is not possible to recognize it as an object of civil law.
“This type of virtual money does not fall into any category and is not a recognized means of payment in the territory of the Russian Federation. The legislator has assigned it to surrogates of funds,” the court added.

Prigozhin was sentenced to eight years and Prion 10 years in a maximum-security prison. They have also been ordered to return the five million rubles, but the cryptocurrencies worth 55 million rubles at the time of the theft were excluded from the verdict.
Russia still has no cryptocurrency regulation even though a bill on digital financial assets was submitted to the State Duma back in March 2018. Recently, a bill was proposed to outlaw cryptocurrencies with a jail term, but several ministries do not support this bill.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Real Winner of the Democratic Debate: President Obama   More Sanders Snarks as Democratic Debate Gets Heated Democratic Candidates Court Black Voters at Debate Clinton and Sanders Walk a Careful Line on Women at Debate There were only two Democrats on the debate stage in Milwaukee on Thursday night, but they should have brought a third podium for President Obama. Coming back from a landslide defeat in the New Hampshire primary, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doggedly criticized Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders on areas where he’d split with Obama while duct-taping herself to the President’s legacy on issues as varied as foreign policy , health care and Wall Street . Sanders, for his part, did his best to hold his ground, justifying his criticism of the President and presenting himself as a change agent while pointing out Clinton’s own differences with Obama. Their heated exchanges over Obama’s legacy reflected how the President has b...
Post a Comment
Read more

MAN CITY SET NEW PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD IN SWANSEA THRASHING

Manchester City passed Swansea City off the pitch on Sunday to set a new Premier League benchmark.  The Etihad Stadium had a party atmosphere this weekend as the new champions took to the field for the first And those celebrations apparently filtered down to their players, who enjoyed every minute of a vintage 5-0 victory over the Swans It marks the first time since 2003-4 that a team have managed so many completed passes, and contributed to a dominant 83% share of possession which is also a new 14-year high as the visitors barely touched the ball over the 90 minutes. Swansea in comparison attempted just 202 passes, less than a fifth of the 1015 tried by their opponents - the first time any side have beaten the thousand mark. One of City's goalscorers was Kevin De Bruyne, who has had a season to remember at the heart of the side's midfield.  De Bruyne netted from outside the area for the fifth time this season in the Premier League, more t...
Post a Comment
Read more

‘Glee’ actress Naya Rivera is missing after renting a boat with 4-year-old son in Lake Piru

Officials are looking for actress Naya Rivera after she rented a boat with her 4-year-old son in Lake Piru. (Taylor Jewell / Associated Press) Officials are searching for actress Naya Rivera after her 4-year-old son was found alone on a boat she rented Wednesday afternoon, officials said. Rivera rented the boat about 1 p.m. and had an afternoon of swimming with her son, who was the last to see her before she went missing, said Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Eric Buschow. Buschow said the boy got back onto the boat after a swim but his mother did not follow. “We’re going on the belief that she did go in the water and we have not been able to locate her. So this may well be a case of drowning,” Buschow told reporters. The 4-year-old was found sleeping on the boat by himself by other boaters in the lake. “He’s in good health,” Bushow said of Rivera’s son. The boy was initially reported by authorities to be a 3-year-old girl. “The family is going through a ver...
Post a Comment
Read more