[AugustoCAS]

I only skimmed through the article, but if I understood correctly the scammers made $23m, now have to repay $3.3m (which probably will never happen) and some of their assets were taken. They were given 4 and 6 year prison sentences (which might be cut short for good conduct I assume).

So in 3 years these blokes come out, with probably ~5m-10m stashed away? Not a bad ROI :(.

[paulgb]

> In addition to the jail time, both convicts had to forfeit multiple possessions related to their crimes, including bank accounts, several pieces of real estate, and cars.

Sounds like the money was already spent.

[iudqnolq]

The sidekick got around 6M and forfeited around 2M [1]

[1] From the plea agreement at https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/... . Add up bank accounts, blue book car value, and redfin estimate of the house. I didn't include the Sonoran Hills parcel because it didn't have a valuation.

[qingcharles]

This was federal court in the USA, so they must serve a minimum of 85% of their sentence to be eligible for release.

You have to do something crazy while locked up to go over the 85%.

Prison is no joke at any level, but they will be in a minimum "camp" I assume.

[paulpauper]

yeah, first-time non-violent offenders are typically sent to camps for sentences under 10 years.

[rtkwe]

Generally any assets available are seized so they’ll have to successfully hide them from the court.

[paulpauper]

I am guessing that as part of the plea deal they would have to account for all of it. Just having assets go 'missing' would not fly.

[ZoomerCretin]

Finally, a real world use case for crypto.

[yuliyp]

I think people knew the crime real world use case for crypto from the beginning.

[that_guy_iain]

Problem is they‘re going to be doing audits constantly when you get out to recover the money. The lawyers will never give up. Buy a house and they‘ll goto court to get the house. Buy a car same deal if new and worth a few thousand second hand. Go on a bunch of holidays get audited by IRS since you‘re meant to be broke, is that unreported income?

[paulpauper]

This is easy to bypass. Such as move to another country, use cash, use corporations, use aliases, etc.

[that_guy_iain]

Using cash would be found. forsensic accountants are a thing.

Moving country only works if you goto a country with no extradition.

Corporations and aliases just get you some nice fraud charges.

[ge96]

I think it's funny the mindset of a scammer.

I could do the things being done here as well (technically capable) but I don't want to.

As in bots that automate mass production of garbage content, voice overs, stolen content, etc... and just play numbers/wait till they're reported.

[paulpauper]

I am guessing that as part of the plea deal they had to account for all of the money.