In this post:
- The court granted permission for the US Department of Justice to sell 69,370 Bitcoin that were taken from Silk Road.
- Battle Born Investments requested under a FOIA that the DOJ identify “Individual X.”
- Battle Born continues to assert that the DOJ employed “procedural trickery.”
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was given permission by a federal judge to sell $6.5 billion worth of Bitcoin that it had purchased from the Silk Road marketplace. According to a court document, Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg denied a motion to stop the forfeiture of 69,370 Bitcoin, enabling the Department of Justice to sell the assets.
The new administrator, who promised not to sell the confiscated Bitcoin, will begin office in less than two weeks after the approval. The DOJ had stated that it needed to sell the assets quickly due to the volatility of the Bitcoin market.
The judge denies Battle Born’s bid to reveal “Individual X,” but permits the selling of Bitcoin.
The DOJ’s motion to liquidate 69,370 Bitcoin that were confiscated from Silk Road was granted by a federal judge on December 30. However, Battle Born Investments’ attempt to delay the transaction was unsuccessful as a result of this permission.
It’s unknown why the document surfaced this week, and the DOJ hasn’t yet released an official statement.
Prior to bringing a complaint in court, Battle Born had previously filed a FOIA request to the DOJ to identify “Individual X,” who had consented to the forfeiture of Bitcoin that had been seized from Silk Road.
Nonetheless, the court determined that DOJ had complied with the proper protocols in using FOIA Exemption 7(c) to hide the identify of Individual X. The court highlighted that the holder had compelling reasons to maintain anonymity, especially since the seized assets were tied to criminal activity.
Battle Born Investments even argued that revealing the identity was necessary to uphold accountability and openness regarding government acts and in the public interest; but, the court determined that Individual X’s right to privacy outweighed that.
The court further maintained that Battle Born had not presented sufficient proof of any wrongdoing by the government in concealing the name of “Individual X.”
Battle Born thinks the DOJ concealed the facts of the case through procedural deception.
The Battle Born legal team is still unhappy with how the case turned out. The lawyer for Battle Born even referred to the case as “another egregious example of the DOJ’s abuse of the Civil Asset Forfeiture Process,” alleging that the agency had concealed the truth through “procedural trickery.”
Nonetheless, the US Marshals Service is anticipated to oversee the liquidation, which will mark one of the largest sales of confiscated cryptocurrency to date. However, the court’s approval to sell the seized Bitcoin briefly impacted the market, causing Bitcoin to dip from about $95,000 to $93,800. It has since recovered slightly to $94,454.
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