On Friday, The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed an indictment charging Shon Morga and Dominic Pineda for planning to invade a home to steal “millions of dollars in bitcoin.” The two accused were arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday in Virginia.
The court document says that the accused were part of the plan from May 18 to May 24, 2020. They planned to break into an Irvington residence in New York to rob its residence of hard cash and Bitcoin.
Attorney Damian Williams also mentioned that at the time of the invasion, bitcoin was trading at about $10,000 per coin. Bitcoin peaked in November 2021 when it breached the $64,000 mark. It has since more than halved in value.
The defendants participated in a violent plan to break into a family’s home in the middle of the night and force its residents to provide the code to what the defendants believed was tens of millions of dollars in bitcoin currency.
The Justice Department said that the accused are charged with conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1951. The two accused can be looking at at least 20 years in prison.
Robbery is defined as stealing/robbing “by means of actual or threatened force,” as per the Hobbs Act.