{"id":1508,"date":"2019-02-01T01:37:50","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T06:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.silvermillerlaw.com\/?p=1508"},"modified":"2023-06-09T11:34:18","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T11:34:18","slug":"boston-virtual-currency-thief-gets-10-year-prison-term-in-california","status":"publish","type":"news_posts","link":"https:\/\/www.silvermillerlaw.com\/press\/in-the-news\/boston-virtual-currency-thief-gets-10-year-prison-term-in-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Virtual Currency Thief Gets 10-Year Prison Term in California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joel Ortiz, a UMass Boston student from Allston who was arrested in California last year for stealing $5 million in cryptocurrencies, has pleaded guilty and will accept a 10-year prison sentence.<\/p>\n

Ortiz is a 2016 valedictorian of\u00a0Another Course to College<\/a>,\u00a0a small Boston pilot school that specializes in college prep classes. He was arrested at a Los Angeles airport in July as he was about to fly to Europe, with $250,000 in cryptocurrency in his possession. Prior to his attempted departure, Ortiz had gone on a $150,000 spending spree that included lavish parties in rented mansions.
According to investigators in Santa Clara County, Ortiz tricked wireless phone companies into giving him control of his victims\u2019 cell phone accounts, a crime known as \u201cSIM swapping.\u201d He used his access to change the passwords to the victims\u2019 social media and financial accounts. These included accounts holding computer-generated cybercurrencies such as bitcoin and Ether. Ortiz then withdrew funds from the cryptocurrency accounts. <\/p>\n

Investigators said that Ortiz stole $10,000 in bitcoin from a veteran tech executive in California, then phoned the victim\u2019s wife and texted his daughter to demand more money. In another instance, he tricked the friend of one of his victims into \u201clending\u201d Ortiz an additional $100,000 worth of digital currency.<\/p>\n

Erin West, deputy district attorney of Santa Clara County<\/a>, said she was \u201csurprised and delighted\u201d that the judge hearing Ortiz\u2019s case agreed that a 10-year sentence was reasonable. \u201cWe don\u2019t always know how judges are going to handle cases where there\u2019s no physical injury…This sets a bar for this kind of case.\u201d<\/p>\n

West said that her office is prosecuting four other alleged SIM swappers who have ripped off victims in her jurisdiction. None of these are connected with the Ortiz case. \u201cIt\u2019s a nationwide epidemic,\u201d she said. Investigators from West\u2019s office have made arrests as far away as New York City. West said that one reason her office is bringing so many SIM swapping cases is because the federal government has so far failed to prosecute anybody for the crime.<\/p>\n

West is also still searching for Ortiz\u2019 suspected accomplices, who may have helped him steal the identities of his victims. She declined to say whether Ortiz is cooperating in the investigation.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile,\u00a0<\/strong>David Silver<\/strong><\/a>, a Florida attorney representing SIM swapping victims, called Ortiz\u2019 guilty plea \u201cthe first step in the right direction.\u201d But Silver said the wireless phone companies bear most of the blame for the cybercurrency thefts. \u201cThe phone companies are providing the keys to the hacking criminals to steal the proverbial car,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the full article:<\/p>\n

Boston Virtual Currency Thief Gets 10-Year Prison Term in California<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1789,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news_categories":[10],"class_list":["post-1508","news_posts","type-news_posts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_categories-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBoston Virtual Currency Thief Gets 10-Year Prison Term in California - SilverMillerLaw.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.silvermillerlaw.com\/press\/in-the-news\/boston-virtual-currency-thief-gets-10-year-prison-term-in-california\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Boston Virtual Currency Thief Gets 10-Year Prison Term in California - SilverMillerLaw.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Joel Ortiz, a UMass Boston student from Allston who was arrested in California last year for stealing $5 million in cryptocurrencies, has pleaded guilty and will accept a 10-year prison sentence. 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