According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has detained two individuals who participated in “a violent scheme to break into a family’s house in the middle of the night” to steal bitcoin valued tens of millions of dollars. They might face twenty years in prison. During the planned home invasion, bitcoin was trading for approximately $10,000 per coin. In November of 2021, Bitcoin reached an all-time price high of $68,891. Since then, its value has decreased, and it is currently trading at $20,892.
Friday, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the unsealing of an indictment accusing Dominic Pineda and Shon Morgan with “planning to commit home invasion robbery for tens of millions of dollars in bitcoin.”
Thursday in Virginia, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested the two individuals.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams provides specifics:
The defendants participated in a scheme to violently break into a family’s home in the middle of the night and demand the code to what they believed to be tens of millions of dollars worth of bitcoin cash.
According to the court filing, from May 18 to May 24, 2020, the defendants participated in a plot “to break into a residence in Irvington, New York and steal the residents of cash and bitcoin.”
Pineda, 21, of Manassas, Virginia, and Morgan, 21, of Centreville, Virginia, are each charged with conspiracy to commit a Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1951, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
The Hobbs Act defines robbery as the unauthorized taking of another’s property using real or threatened force.
