Drug dealer Clifton Collins, 49, invested his earnings in bitcoin, eventually racking up $60 million. For safekeeping, he printed the PIN codes to access his accounts and stored them in a fishing rod case at his house. But after Collins was busted on a weed charge and sent to jail, his landlord had all of Collins’s stuff hauled to the dump. From The Guardian:
According to the Irish Times, which first reported the story, workers at the dump told the Irish police force, the gardaí, they remembered seeing discarded fishing gear. Waste from the dump goes to Germany and China to be incinerated. The fishing rod case has never been found.
Collins, 49, has apparently told the gardaí he has come to terms with the loss of the fortune and considers it punishment for his own stupidity.
The high court in Dublin ruled this week that Collins had forfeited the accounts because they were proceeds from crime…
The Criminal Assets Bureau thought it had hit the jackpot when it confiscated the accounts. Authorities hope they may some day access them.
“Irish drug dealer loses £46m bitcoin codes he hid in fishing rod case” (The Guardian)
And in case you missed this excellent tale:
• “‘I Forgot My PIN’: An Epic Tale of Losing $30,000 in Bitcoin” by Mark Frauenfelder