He Stole $3.4 BILLION - But Made One Mistake

In this documentary, I tell the true story of James ‘Jimmy’ Zhong. In 2012, while studying Computer Science at the University of Georgia, he found an exploit on the most notorious darknet market allowing him to take Bitcoins directly from the site. As the years went on and Bitcoin soared in value his loot had increased to a staggering $3.4 billion dollars. For nearly a decade he avoided the FBI & IRS, but in 2019, he made one single mistake leading them directly to his door. Jimmy's case is the second-largest seizure in the Department of Justice's history.

Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:50 - Making An Outcast
2:16 - Poor Choices
5:50 - Stealing Billions
9:28 - Bragging Rights
11:19 - SilkRoad Takedown
15:07 - Block Size Wars
19:41 - Spending Millions
21:14 - Downfall Begins
23:59 - NordVPN Ad
25:38 - Downfall Continues
29:24 - The Raid
31:02 - Outcome

[Luhchristian]

Dude called the cops to report 700K while u sitting on 3.4B in crazy

[tomahawkANDscopZ]

Government: "Taking money from a criminal enterprise is a crime"
Also the Goverment: "We'll be taking the money from that criminal enterprise right about now."

[Void-wmhh]

I love how the judge speculates on what could happen in the future instead of focusing on the facts of the case.

[jess]

the craziest part of this story was the irs basically pillaging everything even though they technically didn’t have the legal right

[Seed]

The US has no rights to the coins... I don't see how it is an issue. 9.9 million coins is like half of all the bitcoin.

[conspirateur]

This is heartbreaking. The guy just got destroyed for nothing. All they wanted was his money, not justice. 😢

[justmoritz]

The IRS/US is the real villain in this piece tbh.

[JS_Jordan]

The justice system is pure evil, Jimmy has every right to those coins. It’s common practice for ethical hackers to find exploits and request a bounty payment. Anyone in the same situation would have done the same. He even told them what the bug was and didn’t keep rinsing them

[kanybis]

They didn't care about him, what he was sentenced with or what his crimes were. They wanted the money.

[so_s_]

The US legally had NO right to those coins, and Jimmy didn't even obtain them illegally, he just found a bug in the system. The fact he even forfeited it seems ridiculous to me. He was not a drug dealer, he was just a kid and was alone, I don't blame him for anything he did and it's incredibly depressing how his life turned out. I hope he's ok

[markreishus]

this is the best and most detailed doc on this case. It has details not available in any other done sir.

[AlludeNoir]

poor dude man, I hope to god jimmy gets back on his feet and recovers, he did not deserve this.

[Rick]

10/10 quality (mini)documentary! I feel for the guy. Always left out of society and when he was finally fitting in, it was just because people wanted his money.

[MarioGoatse]

Man I was rooting so hard for Jimmy. I wanted him to “win” so hard.

[CameronStPeter]

Dude could work out a ton, start learning how to socialize, and could be a successful author/speaker if he set his heart to it. He has so many crazy experiences that could still be turned around into a cool life.

[vesanius]

I usually skip the sponsor part, but you made it so smooth that I decided to watch through it. It was brilliant.

[ImOnYouTube]

Jimmys a good guy. The modest house, flying his friends out. I hope hes doing okay

[CyanicCore]

I can understand seizing drug money, but surely there was a way to separate his legitimate earnings. Taking it all is borderline despicable.

[HoesLoveGoat]

I have never waited & rewatched any youtube channel more than crumb in my entire life

[angelosayende]

I like the way you talk, you end your sentences reasonably instead of drawing the syllables out. I enjoy your videos. 😊