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Comment by dogman144 | Hacker News Reader

Fwiw, the FBI couldn't recover the XMR it paid as part of entrapping a Navy nuke officer who was leaking sub secrets. Source is the indictment.

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Even before crypto "if you're good you're good". People have always gotten away with these things. It's just usually because they either didn't make a mistake (very rare) or the authorities didn't care enough (very common).

One would think the FBI counterintel team chasing international nuke sub secrets sales would be in the "if you're good you're good" bucket, but who knows. the raw indictment for that case is worth a read if you're interested in this space.

I'm referring to the skill (luck?) of the criminal. Yes, every once in a while there's going to be the "perfect murder", the "perfect heist", etc.

I read the indictment. They were arrested and charged. We'll see how the defense plays out but from a read of the indictment they made plenty of mistakes and will (likely) end up going to prison given the conviction/plea rate of federal prosecutors.

Once convicted a federal judge can order them to give up the monero (as I said in my original comment). On top of their time in sentencing for the original crime they can be held indefinitely until they comply with the court order.

In the end they'll go to prison and the government will squeeze them for whatever they can get.

Yes, but new technology makes it easier. Think of all the logistics associated with burying $10,000 in a hole in the ground and the skills you need to do it properly, and compare to the relative ease of acquiring and stashing $10,000 in cryptocurrency.

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