Twenty two year-old hacker Jimmy Zhong said he never meant to become a criminal billionaire. But that’s what happened in 2012 after he found a way to steal bitcoin from the Silk Road – a dark web exchange then known for some of the most unsavory trade on the internet – drugs, guns and porn. Over the next decade, the coins Zhong stole rocketed in value, ultimately reaching an eye-watering $3.36 billion.
Photos show Zhong on yachts, in front of airplanes, and at big time football games over the decade he confounded law enforcement officers trying to solve the theft. He even bought a weekend lake house to use as a party pad, and decorated it with a giant Trump flag and a stripper pole. But then, Zhong made a phone call that ruined his life.
In this documentary, CNBC’s Eamon Javers speaks exclusively with the IRS-CI, the agency that investigated this billion dollar crime as well as the people who knew Zhong during the decade he evaded law enforcement. Javers’ reporting also uncovers a long, digital trail that leads back to the earliest days of bitcoin and reveals a dark truth about the world of hackers and coders responsible for the creation of bitcoin.
Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
01:18 — Panic Attack
10:28 — The Raid
20:09 — Original Gangster
Correspondent: Eamon Javers
Investigative Producer: Paige Tortorelli
Senior Investigative Producer: Scott Zamost
Senior Field Producer: Bria Cousins
Senior Executive Producer: Ray Parisi
Editor: Candice Goldman
Graphic Artist: Michael Schwartz
Photojournalists: Oscar Molina, Marco Mastrorilli, Alex Herrera, Gerard Miller, Leroy Jackson, David Grogan, Tara McCurrie, and Alex Bedoya
Audio: Juan Merlo, Everette Wong, Peter Redding, and Francesco LoCascio
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How To Steal And Lose More Than $3 Billion In Bitcoin | CNBC Documentary
26 Comments
I see. Bet #sbf just belched a fart of hope on this one. Unfortunately, for him, there's no such thing as an #Autistic Person living in The Bahamas and throwin' down lavish After-Parties.
Jimmy what a LEGEND✌🏽
how much did they pay for the commision 😂
The true criminal who stole a million dollar and backstabbed a friend is still at large. Man there's no happy ending in life
After hearing "huge amounts Bitcoin were leaking out of the system".
As a programmer in my former life I know that's not physically possible, so yah ain't gonna bother watching.
There's millions of scammers around the world. And the item used "CASH USD , CASH" they might say you're buying land, Bitcoin, whatever they are scamming…
The reality is without the pass phrases if you store it "offline" it's unhackable. #theEnd
Let this be a lesson, never ever trust a cop.
Jimmy the sad little guy with a sad little :::: :(*
I stand with Jimmy. He did nothing wrong when he double-clicked!!
Jimmy jimmy my friend
Mrs Brenna the bitcoin trader is legit and her method works like magic i keep on earning every single week with her new strategy
Japheth's Kingdom crumbling
When he came out of the cell he probably didn’t believe bitcoin went to 69k
Just imagine the horror he will feel if his best and only friend, his dog, dies while he's in jail.
So basically what this tells you is the government are the biggest scummy scammers on the planet and basically scammed this lad and stole his bitcoin
Jimmy is clearly the good guy and the guy who betrayed his trust is the bad guy. Jimmy doesn’t deserve prison for what he did. He found a bug in the system and was told to keep the coins.
Money is dust. Today you consider yourself the ruler of the world and can buy absolutely everything. And tomorrow you won’t be needed by anyone or anything. Russian proverb: Do not renounce the bag or prison. It's sad that people who have received a lot of money do not know how to spend this money.
I feel bad for Jimmy. He is a good guy. He just stole the money from criminals.
One mistake he did was to not keep low.
I think for the first time I can say free this guy and give him back his money 😅 ,I believe jimmy is a good guy who’s stole money from bad guys so who cares 🙌🏼😅
Yeah. Just keep repeating that everyone on silk road was the scum of the earth….
This is a great video I really appreciate the dedication in each video you post, I learn a lot watching your videos and it has always been helpful to me. Building a steady income is quite difficult for newbies.. Thanks to Mrs. Aubrey Richardson for improving my portfolio. keep up with the good videos.
This is a robbery by the Government, as if they really care about those criminals in the dark web. They just wanted the money of Jimmy
FKC THIS GOVERNMENT FOR STEALING HARD EARNED MONEY BY THIS HACKER. Let’s not act like he stole money from good people
What an unsympathetic interviewer 28:30… I wonder how this documentary could turn up still pretty good, even though he clearly has no idea what he is talking about. The people over at SR were not "awful people". Some, sure, as always in society, but you can't just wipe them all at once off the table as "awful people".
#FreeJimmy
Unbelievable
"Why'd you steal the money, Jimmy?"