Czech Justice Minister Receives $45 Million Bitcoin Bribe
Law enforcement officials believe that Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek was given a $45 million bribe in bitcoins.
In May, a scandal erupted after it became known that employees of the Czech Ministry of Justice sold BTC allegedly donated by the founder of the long-closed darknet marketplace Sheep, Tomas Žirikovsky. Officials explained their actions by the desire to attract funding for the digitalization of the justice system and other projects, but this did not quell the wave of criticism against the department, and Blažek resigned.
Recently, the case took a completely different turn. Zhirikovsky was arrested by the police on charges of giving a bribe in the form of 468 BTC worth $45 million at the exchange rate at that time. According to the investigation, Tomas bribed Pavel to avoid a new prison sentence.
Zhirikovsky is being taken to court
Being a competent programmer, Zhirikovsky created Sheep in 2013, but could not resist the temptation and committed exit scam, closing the market and appropriating users’ cryptocurrency. However, he could not escape punishment, because law enforcement officers were on his trail, proving his guilt in the theft of digital assets, drug trafficking, and illegal possession of weapons. For these crimes, Tomasz was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2017, but he was released in 2021 on parole.
Details of the new case against Zhirikovsky are not being disclosed for the time being in the interests of the investigation and witnesses. Most likely, he was caught in some kind of offense after being released from prison, and he gave the bitcoins to Blazhek to avoid being returned to prison.
