Aurora, Colorado (KDVR) — Was it a theft or a golden opportunity?
Arapahoe County juries will be asked next week when deciding the fate of Mark Singh, who is charged with stealing nearly $9 million worth of cryptocurrency.
A 31-year-old Aurora man has been charged with theft, cybercrime theft and money laundering, due to what prosecutors say he did from his home computer on Aug. 22, 2020.
According to a grand jury indictment obtained by Problem Solvers, Singh discovered an “unintended vulnerability in the revision 9 update” of popular Bitcoin rival cryptocurrency Icon Nation.
Instead of alerting the ICON Foundation/Nation, the indictment states that “Singh changed the voting/delegation selection function 558 times over an 11 hour period to mint unauthorized ICX.” From his personal computer, Singh minted and stole approximately 13,924,045 illicit ICXs from ICON Nation. This roughly corresponds to approximately US$8,988,406.00 at the time of the attack. “
If I mint a new cryptocurrency, is it theft?
“I love this case.
Decker said Singh wanted the jury to decide that his actions were not theft, but an opportunity for everyone to take advantage of.
“Mr. Singh used the code written by this cryptocurrency to create his own mint and mint his own currency. He was creating a new currency,” Decker said.
“I’ve only been doing this job (law work) for 28 years. I’ve never seen a lawsuit like this,” said George Brookler, a FOX31 legal analyst and former 18th Judiciary District Attorney. .
Braukler told Problem Solvers that he doesn’t think the “I just coined a new currency” defense will work.
“I don’t think he can, because he’s guilty. I mean, this guy doesn’t act like he’s doing the right thing. He’s got a lot of different accounts.” He takes the cryptocurrency he “mints” and sends it to other cryptocurrency wallets in an attempt to hide who owns it and how much he owns. there is,” he said.
$7 Billion in Crypto Laundered Through Tornado Cash
Arapahoe County prosecutors allege Singh used a crypto spinning service called Tornado Cash to transfer ICON funds to other crypto wallets to disguise the origin of the funds.
In August, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash to stop it from being used by U.S. citizens. The Treasury Department claimed that Tornado Cash has been used to launder more than $7 billion worth of cryptocurrency since its creation in 2019.
Mr Decker said Mr Singh’s attorneys said, “The fact that I (Shin) moved the gold immediately afterward has nothing to do with the fact that I minted it and that I did not steal it. No,” he said.
However, when asked if Shin’s use of Tornado Cash immediately after minting 14 million ICON coins would appear to the jury to be money laundering, Decker replied: And that’s what the prosecution claims, showing that he knew what he was doing was wrong and illegal. “
Cryptocurrencies are still far from public understanding
Whatever the jury’s verdict on Singh’s guilt or innocence, Decker and Braukler argue that much of the public is still concerned about the safety of cryptocurrency use, and that the case remains out of court. is suspected to have an effect on
“I think this particular act undermines the general concern that people don’t fully understand how these programs work. We don’t fully understand under what circumstances new cryptocurrencies can be minted,” Decker said.
Brawler added, “It[cryptocurrency]drives me crazy. The idea of it fluctuating based on things you can’t really control—and this comes parallel.I like the smell of money.”
The criminal trial against Singh began on Tuesday, May 23, and is expected to go to a jury on Friday, May 26. If convicted, Singh could face two felony sentences, including eight to 24 years for theft and four to 12 years for the felony. about money laundering.
