A British individual, Graham Darby, aged 50, was incarcerated for nearly five months after he failed to reveal his substantial Bitcoin assets amid a legal conflict with a fellow cryptocurrency trader.
Darby was initially handed an 18-month prison term for contempt of court, but was released after serving 146 days upon issuing an apology, as reported by Wales Online.
The legal tangle began following a botched cryptocurrency exchange between Darby and Zi Wang, a 22-year-old trader from Australia.
The arrangement was to trade 30 Bitcoins for Tezos, but Wang claimed Darby did not return the Tezos as agreed, causing losses estimated between £900,000 and £1.3 million.
Wang accused Darby of severing communication on Telegram and reneging on their deal as the value of Tezos surged.
Darby refuted these claims, suggesting that Wang simply fared poorly from the deal. The situation escalated to the High Court, where it emerged that Darby had not disclosed possession of 100 Bitcoins, valued at approximately £8 million.
During the proceedings, cybercrime expert Richard Sanders provided crucial evidence, mapping Darby’s network of digital wallets.
Despite Darby’s claim of having forgotten the passwords to these wallets, Sanders’ testimony swayed the court to see otherwise. After failing to appear at a critical hearing, Darby was found in contempt by Judge Keyser KC.
He later attended a subsequent hearing, citing difficulties in obtaining legal representation, but was sentenced to prison, with a stipulation allowing for early release upon an apology.
While incarcerated, Darby experienced a mental breakdown, and with his daughter’s assistance, he secured legal aid, confessed to the contempt charges, apologized, and resolved his dispute with Wang.
Lord Justice James Dingemans, upon reviewing the appeal, recognized Darby’s mental health and legal challenges, subsequently reducing his sentence to time already served.
Upon his release, Darby drew parallels between his ordeal and the notorious UK Post Office scandal, criticising the system’s failures.
His case underscores the complexities and the critical need for full financial disclosure in legal disputes involving cryptocurrencies.
