The FBI has arrested two men involved in a “violent scheme to break into a family home in the middle of the night” to steal tens of millions of dollars worth of bitcoin, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. . They could go to prison for 20 years.
2 men charged with planning to steal bitcoin
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday announced an indictment accusing Dominic Pineda and Sean Morgan of “planning to rob a house of tens of millions of dollars in bitcoin.”
The FBI arrested the pair in Virginia on Thursday.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams detailed:
The defendants participated in a violent scheme that broke into a home in the middle of the night and forced its residents to provide passwords, which the defendants believed to be tens of millions of dollars in bitcoin currency.
According to court documents, the defendants participated in a scheme from May 18 to May 24, 2020, to “break into a residence in Irvington, New York and rob its residents of cash and cryptocurrency.”
During the planned home invasion, Bitcoin was trading at around $10,000 per coin. BTC reached an all-time high of $68,892 in November 2021. It has since declined in value and is currently trading at $20,892.
Department of Justice description:
Pineda, 21, of Manassas, Va., and Morgan, 21, of Centerville, Va., were each charged with conspiracy to commit a Hobbes Act robbery, in violation of 18 USC § 1951, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
The Hobbes Act defines robbery as the unlawful taking of another’s property “by the actual or threatened use of force”.
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