Arkham Intelligence analysts have recorded the confiscation of 3,940 BTC (~$249 million) from drug dealer Banmit Singh in favor of the US government.
$250M of BTC seized by the US Government is now on Arkham.
The US Government acquired 3.94K BTC from narcotics trafficker Banmeet Singh, forfeited at trial in January 2024. pic.twitter.com/dCwyvT9gZl
The procedure was carried out as part of the January trial. Then a 40-year-old Indian citizen pleaded guilty to selling narcotic substances on darknet marketplaces and agreed to pay $150 million.
According to the case file, from 2012 to 2017, Singh operated on the already closed platforms Silk Road, Alpha Bay, Hansa and others, accepting payments in cryptocurrency. He personally organized the delivery of drugs to Europe and the United States by mail.
"Today's guilty plea, which includes the confiscation of approximately $150 million in cryptocurrency, demonstrates that the Department of Justice intends to prosecute criminals who violate U.S. law, regardless of how they conceal their activities," said Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri.
Singh was detained in April 2019 in London, and the United States secured his extradition in 2023. The operation to identify the drug dealer was carried out in cooperation with law enforcement and tax authorities of different countries.
The man also pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy and money laundering. In April, the court sentenced him to five years in prison.
According to the Arkham dashboard, the US is the largest bitcoin whale among governments and at the time of writing owns 216,811 BTC worth ~$13.7 billion.
The U.S. government's cryptocurrency balance sheet, Data: Arkham.In December 2023, the Court of Appeal formalized the confiscation of 69,370 BTC (~$3 billion) belonging to Silk Road.
Later, the US government notified about the planned sale of 2,875 BTC seized from drug traffickers Ryan Faras and Sean Bridges.
Recall that in April 2024, a wallet controlled by the American authorities initiated the transfer of ~ 2000 BTC to the address of the Coinbase Prime platform.