Hundreds of wallets linked to the PlusToken scam that had been dormant for over three years are moving “large amounts” of ether, according to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain.
The ether funds started moving early Wednesday morning and were traced back to the “PlusToken Ponzi 2” wallet, Lookonchain stated, which dispersed 789,533 ETH, now worth nearly $2 billion, in 2020— which had not previously been moved since April 2021.
The ether was among crypto assets seized by Chinese police during a crackdown on the PlusToken Ponzi scheme in 2020.
A total of 194,775 BTC, 833,083 
ETH +1.08% , 1.4 million LTC, 27.6 million EOS, 74,167 DASH, 487 million XRP, 6 billion DOGE, 79,581 BCH and 213,724 USDT were seized by Chinese law enforcement from seven convicts, according to a November 2020 court judgment — worth $4.2 billion at the time and over $14 billion in today’s prices.
The court said in 2020 that the seized cryptocurrencies would be “processed pursuant to laws” and “forfeited to the national treasury,” without elaborating on how they would be processed.
It is unclear why the funds have been moved and whether or not they remain in the control of Chinese authorities.
The PlusToken criminal case was initially ruled on in September 2020 by a lower-level district court in the city of Yancheng in China's Jiangsu province.
Local media reported at the time that the masterminds behind the crypto Ponzi scheme defrauded more than 2 million people for more than 50 billion yuan, or $7.6 billion.
According to the 2020 ruling by the Jiangsu Yancheng Intermediate People's Court, the PlusToken operation officially started in May 2018 and advertised a non-existent crypto arbitrage trading platform. It promised users attractive daily payouts but would require them to deposit at least $500 worth of crypto assets in order to participate.
Between April 6, 2018, and June 27, 2019, the pyramid scheme lured in over 2.6 million members across 3,293 layers, the court said.
A total of 15 people were convicted in connection to the PlusToken case. They were sentenced to between two to 11 years behind bars with fines between $100,000 to $1 million.
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