She watched. She waited. Then she vanished with his $163m bitcoin fortune

Among many stories of family disputes over bitcoin (BTC) and crypto holdings, the most recent stands out with its spy-movie-like scenario and a hefty sum.

According to a filing in the UK’s High Court of Justice, a man, Ping Fay Yuen, currently a resident of Thailand, accused his now-estranged wife, Fun Yung Li, of stealing 2,323 BTC ($163 million) in 2023, alleging that she, and possibly her sister, Lai Yung Li, secretly recorded the seed phrase of his wallet, and possibly, working with a hacker, gained access to the funds.

What's more, after a tip from his eldest daughter, the man also secretly recorded his wife, obtaining "proof beyond doubt" that Fun Yung Li, a Hong Kong resident, obtained the seed phrase and stole BTC.

The private keys to the stolen bitcoin were stored in a password-protected Trezor hardware wallet, while the seed phrase, or a combination of 12–24 words, provides access to the whole wallet. Subsequently, according to the filing, the stolen bitcoin was eventually distributed among 71 addresses.

The filing also provides quotes from the recording about how the wife was considering how to realise a very large sum of money, associated risks, such as being reported to the police for money laundering, and problems of proving where the money came from. The discussions also included possible options of buying things in Hong Kong or using the funds in small amounts.

When Ping Fay Yuen discovered that his BTC had been stolen, he confronted his wife and assaulted her. He was later convicted upon guilty pleas of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two offences of common assault.

Meanwhile, the wife was also arrested. Police searched her home and seized property, including a number of valuable watches and 10 hardware wallets. However, she was later released on bail.

"The Claimant’s case is straightforward," Judge Barry Cotter concluded as the civil case is now set to go to trial. However, the key question here is how to handle digital assets in similar lawsuits, as the current English legal system still needs to be updated to properly defend the rights of owners of digital assets.

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