Man behind £1.2m crypto heist has bitcoin seized in Scottish legal first

Prosecutors have made Scottish legal history after using proceeds of crime legislation to seize and convert a cryptocurrency stash into physical cash.

John Ross Rennie, 29, will now have to hand over a total of £109,601 after his legal team agreed with Crown lawyers that he made the sum from criminal activities.

Prosecution lawyers took Rennie, of Cambuslang, to court using proceeds of crime legislation earlier this year.

However, judge Lady Ross continued the case from last Monday because the original proposed settlement was entirely in cryptocurrency – 23.5 bitcoin.

Lady Ross continued the case because she wanted legal authority about how proceeds of crime cases could be settled with cryptocurrency.

But on Monday, at the High Court in Edinburgh, lawyers in the case agreed that the sum should be converted into physical cash and agreed that the sum should be £109,601.

Rennie was given a community payback order last year with 150 hours unpaid work and six months supervision after he was acquitted of assault and robbery but convicted of reset of stolen property.

The sentencing judge, Lord Scott, told him; “The fact that you are a first offender, albeit involved in an elaborate scheme to launder the proceeds of a robbery, is significant.

“It seems to me that your role in what happened was pivotal, even if the jury decided that it did not extend to participation in the plan to carry out the robbery,” he said.

Rennie was found to have had the digital currency in an account after a late-night raid at a house in Blantyre, on March 18, 2020.

During the robbery a woman was badly injured after being struck with a personalised Toblerone chocolate bar.

It became the first raid in Scotland where police tracked stolen cryptocurrency and specialist officers followed the funds, which showed Rennie was responsible for the bitcoin wallet that received them.

A proceeds of crime case was then launched against Rennie.

Lady Ross wanted lawyers to address her on whether cryptocurrency could be seized by a court. This was because such an order to seize proceeds of crime had never been made before.

However, lawyers managed to resolve issues and told Lord Summers on Monday that the amount earned by Rennie was £109,601 – the same amount that could be seized.

Lord Summers then made an order for the amount to be handed over to the authorities.