Cryptocurrency cashed in for $200K profit after N.J. authorities seized it during drug bust 3 years ago
Updated 3:17 PM;
At least one New Jersey law enforcement agency now has cryptocurrency in the bank.
On Monday, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said it is the first law enforcement agency in New Jersey to complete the forfeiture and liquidation of cryptocurrency assets, which were seized during an illegal narcotics distribution bust out of Long Branch three years ago.
In 2018, investigators executed search warrants at two Long Branch locations used by 39-year-old Giddel Gonzalez-Estrada, who has since pleaded guilty to drug charges in the case and is completing a 10-year prison sentence, officials said. Authorities seized three vehicles, about $32,000 in cash, 500 grams of cocaine, marijuana, a handgun and drug paraphernalia and also found financial documents which revealed Gonzalez-Estrada had Ethereum, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin worth $57,000 in a U.S.-base
The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office completed the forfeiture and liquidation of nearly $200,000 in cryptocurrency from a single case in 2018, the office announced Monday.
That makes it the first state law enforcement agency to liquidate a cryptocurrency seizure, according to a release from the prosecutor s office.
It follows another first: the office became the first New Jersey agency to make cryptocurrency seizures, once in 2017 and the assets from the 2018 case, the office said.
In that latter case, the prosecutor’s office raided two places in Long Branch used by Giddel Gonzalez-Estrada. County detectives seized 500 grams of cocaine worth about $50,000, three vehicles, $32,000 in cash, a .22-caliber handgun and assorted material used for dealing drugs, the prosecutor’s office said.
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enforcement strategies and practices necessary in the emerging new crypto world, Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said.
The Monmouth office said a forfeiture complaint was filed in 2019 following the suspect s guilty plea and sentencing on several drug charges. This will serve as an effective template for the state law enforcement agencies in the cryptocurrency market – a place where we can expect proceeds from crimes to continue to be concealed,” Gramiccioni said.
The office s first cryptocurrency seizure, which has not yet been liquidated, was one year earlier, in 2017.
Dubbed Operation Plastic Army, authorities busted 16 people for defrauding over a dozen financial institutions. Cryptocurrency assets valued at more than $200,000 were seized from a Colts Neck man at the time, and are now valued at more than $1.25 million.