A UK judge has ordered the seizure of $4.3 million in Bitcoin (BTC) from a British crime lord known as “Don Car-Leone.” The ruling comes after the fugitive failed to prove the crypto holdings weren’t related to criminal activities.
Fugitive Crime Boss Claims Bitcoin Fortune Is Lawful
UK High Court judge Mr. Justice Timothy Mould recently granted the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) the right to seize £3.5 million worth of Bitcoin, around $4.3 million, from convicted crime boss Alexander Surin, also known as “Don Car-Leone.”
According to The Telegraph’s report, Surin fled to Dubai after being convicted in France in 2015 for drug trafficking. After his conviction, the National Crime Agency (NCO) seized his high-end car fleet, money, and several properties in London.
At the time, he and his wife accepted that the £4.5 million seized assets, worth around $5.6 million, were acquired with money from criminal activities. Moreover, Surin, who seemingly earned the nickname from his luxury car fleet, holds millions in Bitcoin in a Coinbase Kenya account.
However, he claims his Bitcoin holdings were earned lawfully by trading gold bullion in Dubai. The fugitive argued that the Bitcoin was made through two sales with a trader operating out of “small rooms in shops or buildings” at Dubai’s gold souk.
Surin added that the trader allegedly doesn’t have a website or bookkeeping record to prove the sales, as he conducts his business “based on trust and reputation.”
Judge Orders Seizure Of BTC Holdings
CPS’ representative, Martin Evans KC, told the High Court that “compelling evidence” suggested the money was made through illicit activity. Evans cited two large transfers into Surin’s Coinbase Kenya account proceeded from Christian Hargreaves, who was convicted and sentenced to 17 years for “conspiracy to supply class A drugs.”
According to the report, The CPS told the court that apart from two fake invoices, Surin didn’t provide records that explained how he became so wealthy after having previous assets seized.
Moreover, Evans argued that Surin and Hargreaves being British created the “sufficient connection to England and Wales” required to launch proceeds of crime action to seize the Bitcoin sitting in the Coinbase Kenya account.
Through email, Surin responded to the CPS’s claims, stating there was “no evidence to show my involvement in any criminality to suggest that the bitcoin were the proceeds of crime.”
However, Mr. Justice Mould dismissed his claims and ruled that Surin’s Bitcoin holdings were laundered money from illegal drug trafficking, granting the CPS the right to seize the crypto assets:
The evidence advanced by the (CPS), that in each case those transactions were made by Hargreaves with the knowledge of the defendant with a view to laundering money derived from illegal drug trafficking, is compelling. (Surin’s) alternative explanation, that each was a legitimate gold bullion sale to Panache Jewels LLC, lacks any credibility in the face of the (CPS’s) evidence.
