Leshan: In Sichuan province, three men convicted of stealing 6 million yuan ($927,553) in virtual currency were sentenced recently to imprisonment of seven and a half to 10 years.
A court in Leshan classified the 29 Bitcoins and 1,258 Ethereum coins as personal property in its legal analysis.
According to the Leshan price certification center, the men had obtained more than 2.64 million yuan ($407,903) in Bitcoins and 3.34 million yuan ($516,029) in Ethereum coins.
The head of the group, surnamed Liang, was in debt in October and came up with the idea of taking Bitcoins from his friend’s wife, surnamed Luo. He conspired with Yuan and Wang, and prepared an unlicensed SUV for the crime.
On Oct 31, the three drove to a parking lot of the residential community where Luo lives. Wang pretended to be a deliveryman and called Luo to the lot, then forcibly dragged her into the car and headed for an open area away from downtown.
In the car they forced Luo to log in to her account oo a virtual currency exchange app. After Liang took her phone and transferred the coins to his own account, the men released Luo. But Liang did not inform his accomplices about the transfer of the Ethereum coins.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
