Vernon
Return those bitcoin not belong to you.
MIAMI, Feb. 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On February 17, 2023, Judge Kenneth A. Marra of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued an order imposing contempt sanctions against The Ren Project ("Ren") for its willful violation of the Court's Order for Asset Freeze Injunction and to Transfer the Stolen Bitcoin ("Permanent Injunction"), in a class action lawsuit filed by customers of Project Investors, d/b/a Cryptsy. Cryptsy was an online exchange which held digital currencies on behalf of its customers. North Field Technology, Ltd., a subsidiary of Themis Recovery AG which does business as Token Recovery, is endeavoring to recover the stolen coins for the class.
The underlying judgment in this case arises from the conduct of Paul Vernon, the founder and former operator and Chief Executive Officer of Cryptsy. Vernon stole all of his customers' coins and then used various services and exchanges to launder those coins so that they would be difficult to trace. Using an advanced tracing technology, Token Recovery identified Ren as a service used to launder a substantial number of the stolen coins. When Ren refused to turn over the stolen coins to Token Recovery, Token Recovery pursued contempt sanctions against Ren for its violation of court orders.
Ren did not contest the requested sanctions and failed to appear for a hearing on February 17, 2023. At that hearing, Judge Marra ordered Ren to immediately transfer the 685 BTC of the Stolen Bitcoin in its custody - with an approximate value of US $17,066,501, to a digital wallet held by Token Recovery or produce the cash equivalent in U.S. dollars. The Judge also imposed a daily fine of $500.00 (equivalent to approximately 0.020 BTC) for every day following the entry of the contempt order that Ren fails to comply by turning over the 685 BTC to Token Recovery.
Separately, Defendant Vernon is facing criminal charges in Miami, where a 17-count indictment accuses him of a complex scheme to exploit his control over Cryptsy to steal customer funds before abruptly moving to China and later destroying company records in an attempt to cover his tracks.
Cozen O'Connor, representing Token Recovery, is tremendously proud of the work we have done on behalf of the many unsuspecting Cryptsy customers who have fallen victim to Defendant Vernon's brazen theft. Sadly, as this type of criminal activity is all too common in the digital currency world, Token Recovery, is determined to relentlessly pursue those bad actors in an effort to provide some justice for the many innocent people who have become victims of fraud and had their digital assets stolen. The Cozen O'Connor team is honored to support Token Recovery in its efforts.
North Field deploys Token Recovery, a proprietary tracing and recovery mechanism trademarked by Themis Recovery AG. Token Recovery aims to bring the law to digital assets and offers a unique end-to-end technological solution to assist in the recovery of all lost or stolen digital assets such as Bitcoin. This solution, which encompasses technical, legal, financial and investigative expertise, in conjunction with financial backing and litigation funding, seeks to not only recover digital assets, but to also increase the retail, institutional and enterprise adoption of blockchain structures and digital assets by fostering confidence in these powerful systems.
