{"id":6613,"date":"2025-01-08T10:32:17","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T10:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=6613"},"modified":"2025-01-08T10:32:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T10:32:17","slug":"uk-authorities-to-seize-4-3-million-in-bitcoin-from-fugitive-crime-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=6613","title":{"rendered":"UK Authorities To Seize $4.3 Million In Bitcoin From Fugitive Crime Boss"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A UK judge has ordered the seizure of $4.3 million in Bitcoin (BTC) from a British crime lord known as \u201cDon Car-Leone.\u201d The ruling comes after the fugitive failed to prove the crypto holdings weren\u2019t related to criminal activities.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fugitive Crime Boss Claims Bitcoin Fortune Is Lawful<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UK High Court judge Mr. Justice Timothy Mould recently granted the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) the right to seize \u00a33.5 million worth of Bitcoin, around $4.3 million, from convicted crime boss Alexander Surin, also known as \u201cDon Car-Leone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to The Telegraph\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2025\/01\/06\/don-car-leone-crime-boss-to-have-35m-drugs-cash-seized\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">report<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the time, he and his wife accepted that the \u00a34.5 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.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, he claims his Bitcoin holdings were earned lawfully by trading <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/cathie-wood-predicts-bitcoin-boom-1-million-by-2030\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \">gold<\/a> bullion in Dubai. The fugitive argued that the Bitcoin was made through two sales with a trader operating out of \u201csmall rooms in shops or buildings\u201d at Dubai\u2019s gold souk.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Surin added that the trader allegedly doesn\u2019t have a website or bookkeeping record to prove the sales, as he conducts his business \u201cbased on trust and reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Judge Orders Seizure Of BTC Holdings<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CPS\u2019 representative, Martin Evans KC, told the High Court that \u201ccompelling evidence\u201d suggested the money was made through illicit activity. Evans cited two large transfers into Surin\u2019s Coinbase Kenya account proceeded from Christian Hargreaves, who was convicted and sentenced to 17 years for \u201cconspiracy to supply class A drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the report, The CPS told the court that apart from two fake invoices, Surin didn\u2019t provide records that explained how he became so wealthy after having previous assets seized.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moreover, Evans argued that Surin and Hargreaves being British created the \u201csufficient connection to England and Wales\u201d required to launch proceeds of crime action to seize the Bitcoin sitting in the <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/coinbase-ceo-slams-anti-crypto-sec-commissioner-urges-senate-to-vote-her-out\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \">Coinbase<\/a> Kenya account.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through email, Surin responded to the CPS\u2019s claims, stating there was \u201cno evidence to show my involvement in any criminality to suggest that the bitcoin were the proceeds of crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, Mr. Justice Mould <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/uk-judge-freezes-7-6m-of-craig-wright-assets-in-bitcoin-authorship-trial\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener \">dismissed<\/a> his claims and ruled that Surin\u2019s Bitcoin holdings were laundered money from illegal drug trafficking, granting the CPS the right to seize the crypto assets:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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\u2019s) alternative explanation, that each was a legitimate gold bullion sale to Panache Jewels LLC, lacks any credibility in the face of the (CPS\u2019s) evidence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-362017 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/BTCUSDT_2025-01-07_10-38-22.png?w=980&amp;resize=980%2C524\" alt=\"bitcoin, BTC, BTCUSDT\" width=\"980\" height=\"524\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/BTCUSDT_2025-01-07_10-38-22.png?w=1102 1102w, https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/BTCUSDT_2025-01-07_10-38-22.png?w=640 640w, https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/BTCUSDT_2025-01-07_10-38-22.png?w=768 768w, https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/BTCUSDT_2025-01-07_10-38-22.png?w=980 980w, https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/BTCUSDT_2025-01-07_10-38-22.png?w=750 750w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A UK judge has ordered the seizure of $4.3 million in Bitcoin (BTC) from a British crime lord known as \u201cDon Car-Leone.\u201d The ruling comes after the fugitive failed to prove the crypto holdings weren\u2019t related to criminal activities. Fugitive Crime Boss Claims Bitcoin Fortune Is Lawful UK High Court judge Mr. Justice Timothy Mould [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-6613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6613\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}