Russia starts selling 1,032 Bitcoins seized in Infraud hacker case

Russia has begun selling bitcoins seized in its 2023 investigation into the Infraud hacker group. The move suggests Moscow is looking to convert more than 1,000 bitcoins into fiat currency. Russian state news agency TASS confirmed the development, saying Moscow will start by selling nearly $10 million worth of bitcoins seized from former Russian Investigative Committee investigator Marat Tambiev. Last year, Tambiev was convicted of accepting bribes from the hacker group. Prosecutors found hundreds of bitcoins on his computers and storage devices. The former investigator was convicted of accepting 1,032.1 bitcoins from the group and sentenced to 16 years in prison. However, the bailiffs' efforts to liquidate all 1,032.1 bitcoins were complicated by legal obstacles. Tambiev appears to have divided the bitcoins into several smaller amounts. This means the bailiffs must submit a separate court ruling to allow Moscow to access the bitcoins. However, the bailiffs have successfully persuaded the court to allow them to sell the first batch of bitcoins. They said Tambiev stored the bitcoins in a Ledger Nano X hardware encryption wallet. (Cryptonews)