Ohio Man Imprisoned For Stealing Seized Bitcoin
An Ohio man was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for stealing over 712 bitcoin that was subject to forfeiture in the Helix admin’s case.
Gary James Harmon
According to the DoJ, the bitcoin that 31-year-old Gary James Harmon of Cleveland stole, had been seized during the investigation of his brother, Larry Dean Harmon, the creator and admin of Helix, a now-defunct darknet-based bitcoin tumbler.
Larry Harmon admitted he helped dark web users launder funds by operating Helix from 2014 to 2017. Helix helped its users move over 350,000 bitcoin, valued at over $300 million at the time of the transactions. Federal agents arrested Larry Harmon on February 6, 2020, and seized several hardware crypto wallets. The investigators were not able to gain access to the wallets.
In April 2020, shortly after Larry Harmon was released pending trial, Gary Harmon reportedly recovered the wallets seized from his brother. He then moved a total of 712.6003 bitcoin in eight transactions to wallets under his control.
The Bitcoin transfers
The transactions were discovered by the investigators monitoring the seized wallets resulting in an emergency hearing on April 28, where Larry Harmon was ordered to give the investigators access to the wallets. The investigators gained access to 16 wallets and seized a total of over 4168 bitcoin from eight of the wallets. The investigators discovered that the other eight had been emptied.
In August 2020, Gary Harmon began moving the bitcoin he had stolen through undisclosed bitcoin mixers. He also started cashing out and making large purchases.
Gary Harmon was charged in a 10-count indictment filed on June 28, 2021. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and obstruction of justice on January 6, 2023.
In addition to the 4 years and three months in federal prison, US District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell handed Gary Harmon three years of supervised release and ordered him to forfeit 647.41 bitcoin, 2.14 Ethereum, 17,404,400.64 dogecoin, and other assets.
Larry Harmon pleaded guilty to money laundering in August 2021 and agreed to forfeit more than 4,400 bitcoin. His sentencing hearing’s date has not been determined.
