The US appeals court has ruled that the FBI is not liable for erasing a hard drive on which a convicted man claimed more than 3,400 Bitcoin (BTC) was stored.
The man in question, Michael Prime, claims he has lost a fortune of approximately $345 million as a result. However, the judges state that he denied for years that he even owned so much crypto.
Prime says it has thousands of Bitcoin
When Prime stood trial for identity fraud, computer fraud and weapons possession in 2019, he claimed he owned 3,500 Bitcoin. But that story didn’t last long. In later documents to the government, he stated that he only owned between $200 and $1,500 worth of Bitcoin, which he said was his only remaining asset.
After two years in prison, Prime demanded the hard drive back that the FBI had previously taken upon his release in 2022. However, the drive had already been destroyed, a standard step when closing investigations. Prime spoke of an unlawful act, but the court did not agree.
The ruling states that even if Bitcoin actually existed, it would not be reasonable to compensate Prime for it now.
Judges call statement unbelievable
Prime later tried to explain his low statement by saying that he was talking about the price value of one Bitcoin in 2020. The judges were not satisfied with that. In their opinion, they write that the statement is “completely unbelievable”, given that the Bitcoin price was above $10,000 in February 2020.
In addition, the judges pointed out that Prime continued to maintain for years that he had little to no Bitcoin. Only after his release did he suddenly claim that he owned a huge amount of crypto. “Only later did he claim to be a Bitcoin tycoon,” the judges wrote.
Bitcoin may be lost forever
Because the hard drive has been wiped, the cryptographic key that would allow Prime to access his Bitcoin is also gone. Without that key, it is impossible to ever get the coins back.
Data from Glassnode shows that almost 7 percent of all Bitcoin has been lost forever, approximately 1.46 million BTC in total. Chainalysis estimates that the actual number could even be as high as about 17.5 percent.
Source: https://newsbit.nl/man-verliest-duizenden-bitcoin-door-fbi-maar-krijgt-geen-cent-terug/
