An Australian policeman is accused of stealing 81.6 confiscated bitcoins

William Wheatley appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court, pleading not guilty to misusing information he received as a civil servant. Whitley's lawyer, Luke Barker, said that the evidence against his client is circumstantial and that he will contest the charges.

Earlier, the Icarus task force, together with the Victoria State Police and the Australian Federal Police (AFP), conducted searches of people suspected of trafficking steroids. During the raid, it was discovered that the criminals used encrypted messages to sell drugs, and they received payment for banned substances in bitcoins. During the searches, investigators also found a Trezor hardware wallet, which was handed over to the Icarus task force.

Having obtained the permission of the magistrate to access the wallet where 81,616 BTC were stored, Icarus investigators discovered that all crypto assets were moved from the wallet just four days after the device was confiscated. At the time of the raid, the seized bitcoins were estimated at about $450,000, and now their value is more than $ 6 million.

Initially, it was assumed that the bitcoins were stolen by accomplices of drug dealers, but later it turned out that a police officer was involved in the disappearance of the confiscated cryptocurrency. Thanks to new tools that helped identify "foul play" on the part of a law enforcement officer, the case was reopened in 2021.

Investigators have found a connection between the IP addresses and the headquarters of the Australian Federal Police in Melbourne. In the period from January 29 to April 11, 2019, 28 transactions were made on various crypto platforms, which involved the address where the confiscated digital assets were previously sent. In September 2022, part of the funds were withdrawn to Whitley's personal bank account, which was directly involved in the search.

Source: https://bits.media/avstraliyskiy-politseyskiy-obvinyaetsya-v-krazhe-konfiskovannykh-81-6-bitkoinov/