He embezzled his company for $154 million, bought bitcoins and made so much money that the FBI found out.

An employee of a Japanese subsidiary of Sony Corporation caused a file to be filed by the US Department of Justice The company is sued in federal court to return more than $154 million it stole to convert it to bitcoin.

According to a lawsuit filed in California federal court, last May, an employee of Sony Life Insurance Company Ltd. Rei Ishii transferred the sum of millions of dollars to his personal bank account, taking advantage of the movement of funds between the various financial accounts of the company.

To do this, he falsified the transaction instructions of the company, which is headquartered in Tokyo (Japan), to get the money into an account in his name in a bank in California.

with stolen money Ishi bought more than 3,879 bitcoins, which are worth a total or more than $180 million at today’s price, and transferred them to a “cold wallet”, As detailed in the Ministry of Justice statement.

A “cold wallet” is a device used to store cryptocurrencies and is offline.

With this move, the theft allegedly perpetrated by Ishi would have increased in value thanks to the rising prices of the cryptocurrency, which due to its volatile nature has had both highs and lows this year.

In the second half of May, for example, bitcoin traded between roughly $46,700 and $37,000, While this Wednesday, December 22, one bitcoin is worth about $49,000

The investigation into the case has been ongoing for some time and has been involved in the FBI in coordination with Sony, Citibank, Japanese police and judicial authorities in the Asian country. For this reason, a California court last June ordered the confiscation of the transferred funds.

To make it effective, the researchers obtained the private key that allowed access to the bitcoins that had already been seized.

Ishii, for his part, is criminally charged in Japan with embezzlement of the company.

Criminals should realize that they should not rely on cryptocurrencies to hide their illegally obtained income from law enforcement. The United States coordinates extensively with its international partners to prevent crime and recover stolen funds.”Note the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of California, Randy Grossman.

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