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Bitcoin

Drug Dealer Loses $58M in Bitcoin After Landlord Accidentally Throws Codes Out (cnet.com) 128

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Between 2011 and 2012, 49-year-old Clifton Collins bought 6,000 Bitcoin using money he earned from growing and selling weed, reports The Irish Times. At the time, the cryptocurrency's price varied between $4 and $6. Today it stands at over $9,700. But Collins isn't enjoying any euphoria for the windfall -- because his landlord threw out his Bitcoin codes. The Irish Times reports that Collins was arrested in 2017 for growing and selling weed, and was subsequently hit with a five-year prison sentence. Following this, his landlord sent many of Collins' possessions to a local dump during the process of clearing out Collins' room. One such item was a fishing rod case, which housed a pice of A4 paper with â53.6 million ($58 million) in Bitcoin codes printed onto it.

Cryptocurrency is bought through so-called cryptowallets. Once you buy Bitcoin, the cryptowallet issues you a code that's needed to access it. Anyone who gets that code can access and potentially steal the cryptocurrency, so buyers are usually encouraged to hide their codes somewhere safe. In 2017, Collins spread his 6,000 Bitcoin across 12 accounts in order to guard against losing his crypto-fortune, according to the Times. He printed out the codes to his Bitcoin stash on a piece of A4 paper, the same paper he stuffed into the aforementioned fishing rod case.
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Drug Dealer Loses $58M in Bitcoin After Landlord Accidentally Throws Codes Out More

Drug Dealer Loses $58M in Bitcoin After Landlord Accidentally Throws Codes Out

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  • 12 accounts and 1 piece of paper (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ardmhacha ( 192482 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @09:08AM (#59760448)

    "In 2017, Collins spread his 6,000 Bitcoin across 12 accounts in order to guard against losing his crypto-fortune, according to the Times."

    Great idea

    "He printed out the codes to his Bitcoin stash on a piece of A4 paper, the same paper he stuffed into the aforementioned fishing rod case."

    Not so bright.

    • Re:12 accounts and 1 piece of paper (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Dallas May ( 4891515 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @09:14AM (#59760474)

      And then just left them in his apartment and stopped paying rent.

      Actually really dumb.

      So dumb in fact that it's highly unlikely to be true at all.

      • Re:12 accounts and 1 piece of paper (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Firethorn ( 177587 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @09:43AM (#59760572) Homepage Journal

        And then just left them in his apartment and stopped paying rent.

        He was sentenced to 5 years in prison. He probably wasn't given the opportunity to properly close down his apartment, being in jail and all that.

        That said, people need to realize that it is incidents like this that precisely causes bitcoin value to inflate. If people weren't losing it left and right due to carelessness, it wouldn't be worth as much today.

        It's like "collectible" crap. Baseball cards and such only become valuable because of rarity, which went out the window once their being "collectible" and valuable became a "known" thing and people started taking the precautions to preserve them.

        • Re:12 accounts and 1 piece of paper (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Immerman ( 2627577 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @10:37AM (#59760768)

          He had access to a lawyer, and probably visitation or phone calls with fiends or family as well. Plenty of opportunity to ask someone to rescue "his father's fishing pole with great sentimental value"

          >That said, people need to realize that it is incidents like this that precisely causes bitcoin value to inflate.

          Well, it's certainly a contributing factor, but it only accelerates the fact that Bitcoin is inherently a deflationary currency - there's a finite amount of bitcoin that will ever be "created", with mining rewards diminishing at a predictable rate. So long as the value of bitcoin transactions continues to increase faster than the amount of bitcoin in circulation, the value will continue to increase.

        • That's an interesting take. Bitcoin's value is because there is a limited limit on the number available. What happens as people lose them? How different is it from the issue when people lose gold?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

          He was sentenced to 5 years in prison. He probably wasn't given the opportunity to properly close down his apartment, being in jail and all that.

          Actually, while you're arrested and in jail, you are allowed to talk with someone to help take care of your affairs while you're locked up. That can include paying rent, paying mortgage, keeping the place tidy, etc. You might be in jail, but that's not a free pass for everything you did to wiped away. After all, 5 years in jail, most banks will close such accounts

      • Don't forget that he told a reporter that he is the stupidest person in the world.

        Yeah, I don't believe any of this bullshit.

      • And then just left them in his apartment and stopped paying rent.

        Actually really dumb.

        So dumb in fact that it's highly unlikely to be true at all.

        Do you seriously think he only grew and sold the stuff but never used it himself? This story is more than plausible for a typical pothead.

        • Someone sounds salty... Everyone is high around you, they just don't tell you because you are a square.

    • Yeah, I feel like this is something you'd save to your OneDrive or something.

    • Re:12 accounts and 1 piece of paper (Score:5, Funny)

      by K. S. Kyosuke ( 729550 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @10:10AM (#59760624)
      If he were smart, he would have printed a backup copy on the other side of that paper.

    • He probably heard about investment "diversification" but didn't go far enough.

      Clearly, he should've also printed the codes on Letter and A3 paper as well.

  • Cognitive Dissonance (Score:4)

    by Dallas May ( 4891515 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @09:10AM (#59760458)

    So... The guy has $58 million in assets just kinda layin' around his apartment... ... But also has a landlord that was "clearing out his room"?

    Yeah, something doesn't quite match up here.

    • Re:Cognitive Dissonance (Score:5, Funny)

      by 605dave ( 722736 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @09:13AM (#59760470) Homepage

      You obviously haven't spent that much time around weed dealers. This sounds completely plausible to me.

      • ... and Trevor from GTA5 was realistic! :)

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

        Definitely plausible and piece by piece Bitcoin dies because people are sloppy with their keys.

        • > Definitely plausible and piece by piece Bitcoin dies because people are sloppy with their key

          Gold doesn't become less valuable because there are shipwrecks full of it lost at the bottom of the sea; as long as there is demand, the existing supply becomes more valuable. The OG "boating accidents" actually happened.

          Bitcoin is currently divisible to eight decimal places. A hardfork could change that to any other divisor. It's conceivable that only one bitcoin left could run an economy. That's a silly r

        • piece by piece Bitcoin dies because people are sloppy with their keys.

          Lost keys increase the value of bitcoins.

      • You obviously haven't spent that much time around weed dealers. This sounds completely plausible to me.

        Well, losing 53 million this way seems plausible.. But HAVING 53 Million to lose? That doesn't sound soo plausible..

    • Re:Cognitive Dissonance (Score:4, Interesting)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @09:18AM (#59760494) Homepage Journal

      He got a 5 year sentence... For selling weed, seems a bit disproportionate but okay. So when he went in maybe the bitcoins were not worth all that much. He might be lying too, maybe he has fewer than claimed.

      Anyway, having lived in Ireland I can believe this. I remember reading about some armed robbers who were dobbed in to the police by their mum when they came home with the cash. We are not taking Lex Luther grade criminal masterminds here.

      • If he had $58m in assets from weed... he sold A LOT OF WEED. 5 years is at least appropriate.

      • >He got a 5 year sentence... For selling weed, seems a bit disproportionate but okay.
        Actually that seems like a very minor sentence for dealing enough to make tens of millions of dollars.

        It would certainly be disproportionate for a corner dealer - but even then not terribly unusual. The war on drugs is an ugly thing, and there is no drug more illegal to sell or possess than weed.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Did he make the money with bitcoin? It's not clear. And it might have been with a few hundred Euro when he made it, such is the volatility of bitcoin.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by guruevi ( 827432 )

        Drug dealers rarely go hand in hand with good business practice. Add-on at least assault and other violent crimes, tax evasion, conspiracy to commit crimes, influencing minors etc

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Again though... Weed. Either the laws are very harsh or he must have been into other stuff.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by guruevi ( 827432 )

            Again though, assault, violent crime, selling drugs to minors, tax evasion. Those are compound sentences, if he was selling weed without a license he'd probably would've gotten him 20 hours community service, this was in Ireland. But he according to some records they seized thousands of euros in cash and $1.5M in Bitcoin. This guy was part of a gang, not a small time weed grower.

          • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Well, when you discover that this "landlord" was his mom and this "apartment" was her basement, it makes sense.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by XXongo ( 3986865 )

      So... The guy has $58 million in assets just kinda layin' around his apartment... ...

      It wasn't worth $58 million at the time he went to jail. It only got to be worth that much when the price of bitcoin rose by a factor of ~ two thousand.

      But also has a landlord that was "clearing out his room"?

      He went to prison and stopped paying rent.

    • The bitcoin wasnâ(TM)t worth 58 million when he went to jail. And he was arrested, no way to sell the bitcoin, and any money he would have got would have been taken away as âoeproceeds of crimeâ.

    • Perhaps lack of access to someone who can launder it. He may have been just smart enough to realise that if if buys himself a nice new house or rents an expensive apartment without legitimate income, it risks attracting the eye of the law. One thing which ensures the eager attention of the police is the possibility of assets they can seize.

    • He was sent to prison, doesn't anyone even read the summary anymore?

      The real story here is that the guy has $58m in assets and yet continues to grow and sell weed, despite the risks involved.

      • Yeah. He could have spent $1m/year for the rest of his life and not have run out of money. $3m-$4m was "quit while you're ahead" territory. Dude went an order of magnitude above that.

        I think the take of Icarus should be required reading in school.

    • Dude gets arrested and put in cuffs. No time to clean out the apt. or secure his items off premises even if the arrest happened inside his unit.

      5 year prison sentence. The landlord is not going to hold his apartment rent-free for even a fraction of that time.

      Dude is stupid and not encrypting a digital copy of the codes, and uploading it to the internet (best if it is in a .zip file for a game or something and renaming the encrypted file to look like one of the game files). Even if it's to a service

  • I guess there is no way the tale is a misdirection intended to keep the fuzz away from the stash.

  • So just cleaning someone's old stuff out is legal? I mean sure if you have someone just up and vanish, but this dude was accounted fro, wasn't he?

    • Re:Interesting (Score:4, Informative)

      by LatencyKills ( 1213908 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @09:28AM (#59760526)
      Presumably he wasn't paying his rent, so the landlord would have to file an eviction request (note, my only experience being a landlord is in NY and NH, so I have no direct knowledge of what the laws in Ireland might be like) which, given that he's in jail and won't appear in court, would be granted, and the subsequent order of the court would deal with the possessions in the apartment which could be liquidated for back rent, or perhaps the court would draft a request to contact any relatives to collect items of sentimental value prior to disposition of the apartment contents. The landlord would be under no legal obligation to store them in any fashion for any prolonged period of time. Of course all of this might take a year or so to filter its way through the court system, but TFS says he was in for five years, which is plenty to complete an eviction process.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kokuyo ( 549451 )

        I'm ju8st saying he should have been given a chance to organize someone to get his possessions... If that happened and he didn't move his butt, it's on him. If nobody contacted him, he's owed almost 6 million IMO.

        • Never been in an Irish prison, but I suppose he would have had access to a phone at some point and could have called up someone and said, "Hey, Mate, go pick up my fishing gear." He had to know after a few years that his apartment probably wasn't just waiting for him untouched.

    • And a landlord will get in trouble.
      And even if it is abandoned, it mist be turned in to the lost & found office. Which wait 3 months for you to turn up (or call) and then auction it off or throw it away.

      But good luck reporting the police stealing and/or throwing away your shit *to* the police.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by v1 ( 525388 )

      If you stop paying rent you get evicted. Part of this is being told to come get your stuff. Anything you leave there after the eviction date is considered abandoned and can be dealt with as the landlord sees fit. They usually just leave it sitting on the curb for you to come get, but if there's no curb (or after some number of days sitting on the curb) they usually throw it away. Note that while on the curb it could easily be taken by any passer-by. If it gets stolen or rained on while it's out on the

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by XXongo ( 3986865 )
        I am surprised at all the Americans making detailed comments about the processes of British law.

        ...All that being said, I'm skeptical this happened. He had a lawyer, even if only one provided by the courts,

        British courts don't automatically provide a barrister to indigent defendants. He would have to have applied for legal aid, which is means-tested (and not guaranteed), to get a solicitor.

    • The way evictions work in my neck of the woods is that the defaulting tenant has 1 day to clear out his stuff, failing that the landlord has the stuff hauled away by the city, who then throws it out.
      The chain of responsibility ends there. Everyone can then shrug their shoulders and point at each other.
      The landlord didn't throw out anything, he gave it to a "responsible" party.
      Perfectly legal.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by guruevi ( 827432 )

      If nobody claims it (depending on the asset, it could be anywhere from 3 months to 7 years), it is considered abandoned and you can indeed claim it or trash it in most jurisdictions. Typically the possessions in someone else's house (eg. your landlord) are worth ~3 months, claiming an abandoned house or property could be up to and over 7 years and in most cases also requires you pay at least the property taxes on it.

      In case of a landlord, they put it in storage for you and unless you pay the storage fees or

  • It has about as much real-world purchase power, after the coke-headed gamblers raped it, before going back to startup "valuations".

    • I could cash out $50,000 in bitcoin at any exchange right now.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by leonbev ( 111395 )

        The problem is that the "good" Bitcoin exchanges like Coinbase will report your sale to the IRS, and the shady offshore Bitcoin exchanges might just keep your money instead of paying it out. Sounds like Johnny Drug Dealer loses out either way.

        • Better just to pay the taxes.

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by necro81 ( 917438 )

            Better just to pay the taxes.

            In the choice of having nothing, or having $5Ml minus taxes, I would definitely take the latter. However, having a $58M mountain of evidence of illegal behavior (seeling drugs, potential money laundering), it becomes a much harder choice.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by leonbev ( 111395 )

            For most people, but not Johnny Drug Dealer. Johnny is going to have trouble explaining to the feds where the $50,000 came from when his last W2 from Denny's last year said that he made $15K.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ahodgson ( 74077 )

          It's not illegal to make money on Bitcoin. Just pay your 20% capital gains tax.

    • ... might aswell say Monopoly money.

      ... or Dollars, Euros, etc. The creation of state-backed currencies is way goofier than the creation of Bitcoins.

      • ... might aswell say Monopoly money.

        ... or Dollars, Euros, etc. The creation of state-backed currencies is way goofier than the creation of Bitcoins.

        Those currencies at least have some armies & police behind them that are willing to enforce their usage and defend their value. No one will defend nor protect bitcoin.

        • No one will defend Dollars, Euros or any other state-backed currencies either. Certainly not the military or the police. Central banks have the task of keeping these currencies under control, but hardly have any power to do so. Lots of countries have been speculated to smithereens in the last few decades.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by ahodgson ( 74077 )

            In 2000 Saddam Hussein started selling oil for Euros instead of US dollars. I'm sure it's a complete coincidence that the US invaded and killed him a couple of years later. The US military certainly does protect the dollar's reserve status.

      • or Dollars

        Dollars may not be backed by gold; but they are backed by Uranium and Plutonium.

  • Landlord's actions are just a side story (Score:5, Interesting)

    by WoodstockJeff ( 568111 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @09:32AM (#59760548) Homepage

    In most countries, you aren't allowed to keep the proceeds from illegal activities. Had the codes not been thrown out, the government would have the bitcoin; The weed dealer lost it when he was convicted.

    • In theory, yes; in practice, as long as you have your keys and you manage to keep your account anonymous how can they confiscate it?
      • They can confiscate it as soon as you spend money. In Germany for example if you buy a new car the inland revenue will know, and they check if you declared income to pay for it, and if not itâ(TM)s tax evasion and they take the money until you explain where it came from.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Terwin ( 412356 )

          They can confiscate it as soon as you spend money. In Germany for example if you buy a new car the inland revenue will know, and they check if you declared income to pay for it, and if not itâ(TM)s tax evasion and they take the money until you explain where it came from.

          If only there was some way for him to spend this 'bitcoin' from an account without his name on it without it immediately being tracked back to him. Perhaps some sort of hidden network? some sort of dark-web even?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Binestar ( 28861 )
        This guy Criminals!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jrumney ( 197329 )

      Whats the bet he magically finds a backup after he gets out of jail and police have lost interest in trying to seize it.

    • In most countries, you aren't allowed to keep the proceeds from illegal activities. Had the codes not been thrown out, the government would have the bitcoin; The weed dealer lost it when he was convicted.

      Already done. [www.rte.ie]

      This guy got royally fucked. He got picked up with a small amount of pot, the cops went fishing and found some more pot. Then they somehow figured out that he was a Bitcoin lottery winner and started salivating over all that delicious seizable money. Suddenly he's the biggest drug lord since Escobar.

      On the other hand there's zero chance Barney McFife will ever see a penny of the alleged $50M. Without the private keys (which are either destroyed or well-hidden) you can't "seize" Bitcoin with

  • Well, proponents wanted a deflationary currency that increased in value over time, and having large blocks of it routinely exit circulation like this would contribute to that.

  • Go get it (Score:4, Funny)

    by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @09:40AM (#59760568)
    It's the 21st century. Scientists have discovered that throwing something in the trash doesn't actually make it disappear.

    The paper is still sitting there in the fishing rod case, somewhere.
    Fifty. Eight. Million.

  • My guess is the case and the codes and the coins don't exist. Instead he wants people to start crawling through the garbage at the dump looking for them.

  • One such item was a fishing rod case, which housed a pice of A4 paper with â53.6 million ($58 million) in Bitcoin codes printed onto it.

    This guy is truly an idiot. Only one piece of paper, and no backup? When I used to dabble in cryptocurrencies, I kept two printed copies, one at home and another one in a safe box, plus PDF scan copies encrypted (using phrase's SHA512 hash as the key) saved as attachments in an online vault (don't ask me, won't say which, wink wink).

    Probably the latter part (the encrypted PDF scans) is a bit too much for the general computer user, but c'mon, if you are going to dabble in cryptocurrency, you gotta develop

    • I mined a couple coins when bitcoin first came out to see what it was about then just kind of forgot about it and lost my wallet when a my old pc crashed of course I'm kicking my self right now I could have an extra $20-$30k in my pocket.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      if you are going to dabble in cryptocurrency

      That's why they call them Dunning-Krugerrands.

  • The one I remember well is by Sujatha, a Tamil writer. A dying old man says in his last gasping breath, "The queen ... head ... down .." as the clue to where his fortune was hidden. The desperate heirs dig through anything related queen or queen's head in his run down mansion. He had bought the rare postal stamp where the head of Queen Victoria was printed upside down. [dailymail.co.uk] which was being thrown away as garbage .

    I have also seen the same theme as a puzzler of a spy smuggling a fortune into England during

    • Are you old enough to remember the movie Brewster's Millions? Richard Pryor inherits from a rich uncle, and is given a choice; take a million and done, or take a challenge to spend 30 million dollars in 30 days 'with nothing to show for it but the clothes on your back' in order to inherit a full 300 million.

      One of the things he does is buy a rare stamp, the Inverted Jenny, then use it to mail a letter, thus dropping it's value to zero.

      • Not the original. But a knock off in Tamil, starring the Superstar.

        Same deal. Rajnikant starts a political party to spend the money in the required deadline, a set up to portray the levels of corruption pervasive in Indian political system.

  • ...there's no cure for stupid. If you have a piece of paper worth $58 million, maybe you don't hide it in a stupid place?

    Of course, this was money that he earned illegally, so the government would have taken it anyway. $58 million is a lot of weed.

    • Was probably more like $30k.

    • Of course, this was money that he earned illegally, so the government would have taken it anyway. $58 million is a lot of weed.

      The first and second sentence of the summary cover this. "At the time, the cryptocurrency's price varied between $4 and $6. Today it stands at over $9,700." He invested $30k in Bitcoin.

  • He came down and took my flash drive with $35billion in bitcoin on it.

    Prove me wrong.

  • No, not for the money. But with that much at stake, why not buy a safe deposit box and keep your papers there with the Bitcoin list stuffed in amongst other innocuous personal papers?

    • Yes, he should have. But I'm not sure it would have helped. Most likely his safety deposit box would be searched as part of the financial investigation, and the Bitcoin would be confiscated.

      • You're right. Reading the article it states, " Ireland's Criminal Asset Bureau seized the cryptocurrency, on the grounds that its purchase was funded by illicit activity, The Irish Times reported Friday."

  • ... because his landlord threw out his Bitcoin codes.

    Bet that wouldn't have happened if he had kept his $58M in cash, like a normal drug dealer. :-)
    Technology man...

  • In related news ... (Score:3)

    by PPH ( 736903 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @11:33AM (#59761022)

    ... our garbage truck driver just retired and bought himself a brand new fishing boat.

  • Sorry, I'm confused. Why was this story submitted as a cnet (pronounced cunt) article when it's clearly just a plagiarised version of the original article on the Irish Times.

    Link the original.
    https://www.irishtimes.com/new... [irishtimes.com]

  • Story ought to be printed/sent/emailed to certain lazy-practice companies/shops/sysadmins. Also... weed or not, hire a little Chinese girl with eidetic memory [see? the movies are way ahead]

  • Welcome to the age of bitcoin, where it's now possible to see hundreds of millions of currency go puff because you or your landlord got up on a wrong foot today.

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