Germany seizes 50,000 bitcoins from illegal movie download site
German authorities seized 50,000 bitcoins (about €2 billion) on an illegal movie download portal called movie2k.to. According to an official statement, the Dresden Public Prosecutor's Office, the Saxon State Criminal Police Office and the tax investigation of the Leipzig Tax Office were involved in the seizure process. The investigation was also supported by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the FBI and a computer forensics company from Munich.
The bitcoins were seized after one of the accused voluntarily transferred them to official wallets provided by the BKA.
The Saxony police report that ongoing investigations into the alleged unauthorized commercial exploitation of copyrighted works and subsequent money laundering, among other things, are directed against two individuals. One of German nationality, 40 years old, and another, of Polish nationality, 37 years old.
The Police report that a final decision on the use of bitcoins has not yet been made.
The investigation was directed against a man aged 40 and 37. According to the LKA, the two are suspected of collaborating until the end of May 2013 with a “leading German” portal regarding illegal copies.
They are said to have bought Bitcoins with the profits. To be more precise, there is “suspected unauthorized commercial exploitation of copyrighted works in accordance with the Copyright Law and subsequent commercial money laundering.”
According to Spiegel, between the fall of 2008 and May 2013, more than 880,000 illegal copies of films and television series were distributed on movie2k.to. In 2020, the site's programmer, detained since 2019, handed over bitcoins worth 25 million euros to the authorities as compensation for damages.
Fuente: Observatorioblockchain.com
