Qld man's waterfront mansion seized by police amid Bitcoin probe
Assets worth $4.5 million, including a waterfront mansion, Bitcoin, and a luxury car, have been seized in relation to a Queensland man previously convicted of hacking a US gaming giant.
After a years-long Australian Federal Police investigation, the District Court last month ordered the assets be forfeited to the Commonwealth.
The AFP launched Operation Gouldian in 2018 after it was contacted by authorities in Luxembourg regarding suspicious Bitcoin transactions linked to Queensland man Shane Stephen Duffy.
Police then identified suspected links between Duffy and the theft of 950 Bitcoin from a French cryptocurrency exchange in 2013. However, the AFP said no criminal charges eventuated.
In 2016, Duffy pleaded guilty to several offences, including fraud and computer hacking, with the District Court in Brisbane hearing he made just over $32,000 in 2013 for selling the details of inactive player accounts for the online game League of Legends, which is produced by LA-based developer Riot Games.
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At the time, Duffy was described in reports as a homeschooled Queensland computer whiz. During his sentencing, his defence barrister said the offences were committed at a time when Duffy was still traumatised by the loss of his father and was withdrawing from the outside world.
Under Commonwealth law, federal police are allowed to seize suspected proceeds of crime, even if a criminal prosecution does not go through.
The AFP obtained restraining orders over the assets, which included a waterfront Moreton Bay home at Beachmere, a 2019 black Mercedes-Benz, and 24.99 Bitcoin. The AFP said they were seized on the basis 'it was reasonable to suspect they were the proceeds of crime, noting they were not commensurate with identifiable legitimate earnings'.
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