Sweden's Government Forced to Return $1.5M in Bitcoin to Drug Dealer: Report

That's the difference in value since the time of the dealer's prosecution while he was in jail.

Aug 20, 2021 at 10:52 a.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:42 p.m. UTC

The Swedish government has been forced to return over $1.5 million in bitcoin to a drug dealer after its value surged while he was in custody.

Authorities in Sweden seized 36 BTC from the drug dealer, worth just under $150,000 at the time of his prosecution two years ago, according to a report Friday by U.K. newspaper The Telegraph.
By the time the Swedish Enforcement Authority came to auction off the bitcoin, its value had appreciated to the extent that only three needed to be sold for the original value to be recouped.
The authority must now return the remaining 33 bitcoin to the drug dealer, which prosecutor Tove Kullberg has described as "unfortunate."
"The lesson to be learned from this is to keep the value in bitcoin, that the profit from the crime should be 36 bitcoin, regardless of what value bitcoin has at the time," Kullberg said.

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