Texas Court Orders Bitcoin Investor to Surrender Keys to $124 Million Stash

A federal judge has ordered an early Bitcoin investor to surrender encryption keys that could unlock approximately $124 million in crypto, marking an unprecedented move in the U.S. government’s efforts to seize digital assets in tax evasion cases.

According to the order issued by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman on Monday, Ahlgren must disclose all private keys and identify any devices that he used to store crypto, such as hardware wallets.

The order extends beyond just wallet access—Ahlgren and any associates are prohibited from transferring or hiding any digital assets without court approval, though they can use funds for “normal monthly living expenses.”

The order aims to help recover about $1 million in restitution following Ahlgren’s December conviction. Initial coverage of the order first appeared on Bloomberg.

Evading taxes with crypto? Not so fast

In February last year, federal prosecutors released a seven-count indictment against Richard Ahlgren III, also known as “Paco,” marking the first U.S. criminal tax evasion case centered solely on crypto trading.

The Austin, Texas resident faced three counts of filing false tax returns and four counts of illegal structuring of cash deposits. By December last year, Ahlgren was sentenced to two years in prison for falsely reporting capital gains he earned from selling $3.7 million worth of Bitcoin.

“[…] instead of paying the taxes he knew were due, he lied to his accountant about the extent of a large portion of his gains,” stated Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division in a DOJ press release at the time.

Ahlgren “sought to conceal another chunk of his profits” by using “sophisticated techniques designed to obscure his transactions on the bitcoin blockchain,” Goldberg stated.

The indictment meticulously outlines how Bitcoin transactions work, explaining that while the blockchain is public, Ahlgren allegedly attempted to obscure his activities through multiple techniques.

Decrypt has reached out to the DOJ and will update this article should they respond.

Setting a precedent

What makes Ahlgren’s case groundbreaking is its focus on the deliberate manipulation of crypto cost basis calculations and sophisticated attempts to obscure blockchain transactions, effectively creating a playbook for future crypto tax enforcement.

U.S. regulators are taking a more enforcement-heavy approach while Congress struggles to establish clear regulatory frameworks for crypto assets, a 2024 industry review from blockchain forensics firm Elliptic suggests.

At least before major changes in crypto legislation are laid down, the U.S. “remains a challenging regulatory environment for crypto market participants” due to “the lack of progress in passing legislation related to crypto,” compounded by “a regulatory posture that relies heavily on enforcement action,” the report reads.