TL;DR Breakdown;
- Man sentenced to 12 years in jail for buying weapon with Bitcoin
- Bitcoin, crypto and crime
Jason William Siesser has been sentenced to jail for 12 years. His crime was trying to buy a dangerous chemical weapon on the dark web and pay for it with Bitcoin.
William also intended to use the dangerous weapon to kill at least 300 people. According to authorities that arrested William, he attempted buying the weapon on two different occasions two years ago. He gave the seller a shipping address carrying the name of an underaged person.
In July that very year also he ordered 10 milliliters of the chemical and paid with Bitcoin. After he didn’t get the weapons’ deliveries, he contacted the seller telling him (seller) he plans to use the weapon to murder people. Months after, William still ordered more of the chemicals paid with Bitcoin again. He paid $150 for his last order as estimations with all chemicals he has bought shows he could have murdered at least 300 people with it.
Why William was hell-bent on using Bitcoin purchased chemicals to kill
Investigations showed that William was suffering from severe heartache, anger, and resentment after a breakup. Per a release, it noted that William wanted the person who broke his heart to die.
His criminal intentions were traced back. Rather than chemical weapons be sent to him, he received deliveries of inactive chemical substances sent to him in 2018. However, while his home was searched, toxic elements like cadmium arsenide, cadmium metal, and a sizeable amount of hydrochloric acid were found.
He pleaded guilty to all charges leveled against him and got 12 years jail term.
Cryptos and crime
Being a crypto enthusiast or not, crime is a small unfortunate side effect of the rise of crypto coinage as global law enforcement recognizes that cryptocurrency is the criminal’s playground.
Four primary criminal activity areas for cryptos are tax evasion, money laundering, contraband transactions, and extortion, one of which William was found guilty of.
Cryptocurrencies have led to a massive cat and mouse game with law enforcement, as agencies get better at identifying criminal behavior. In contrast, criminals come up with new evasion techniques and increasingly anonymous cyber currencies.