More than $4.2m in Bitcoin, a beachside mansion, and a luxury car and are among the assets forfeited from a Queensland man after police identified the goods as suspected proceeds of crime.

Authorities started investigating 32-year-old Shane Duffy in 2018 after the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre was tipped off to “suspicious Bitcoin transactions” linked to a “Queensland man previously convicted of hacking” in the US.

Led by the Australian Federal Police’s (AFP) Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT), the investigation identified suspected links between Duffy and the theft of 950 Bitcoin from a French cryptocurrency exchange in 2013.

While no criminal charges eventuated, the Commonwealth’s proceeds of crime laws allowed CACT to target the assets.

“The Commonwealth's proceeds of crime laws allow the CACT to restrain suspected proceeds of crime, regardless of whether there is a related criminal prosecution,” wrote the AFP.

On Sunday the AFP reported the value of the combined assets at more than $4.5 million, though the value of Bitcoin has since climbed approximately 5 per cent at the time of writing.

Assets frozen before forfeiture

In July 2023, the CACT obtained asset-freezing restraining orders for a waterfront home in Beachmere, a 2019 black Mercedes Benz sedan and 24.99454224 Bitcoin (valued $4.26 million).

CACT obtained the restraining orders on the basis it was reasonable to suspect the assets were proceeds of crime and were “not commensurate with identifiable legitimate earnings”.

Last month, CACT successfully applied to the District Court of Queensland to have the assets forfeited.

Aaron Lane, Senior Lecturer in Law at RMIT explained that proceeds of crime legislation can facilitate forfeiture orders without a criminal finding of guilt.

“You have this sort of weird relationship in that you might not have a conviction for a serious offence, but the court might nevertheless be convinced that an offence has taken place because there's a different, civil standard of proof,” Lane said.

“Even if someone was acquitted of the offence, the court can still make those forfeiture orders in certain cases.”

Police seized $4.5m in Bitcoin from the 32-year-old Queensland man. Photo: Shutterstock

Lane added that although the proceeds of crime legislation are “very powerful acts of Parliament”, the proof needed is still serious.

“In civil proceedings, if you allege serious things you've got to have serious proof,” he said. “Courts are not going to make these orders lightly.”

In 2016, Duffy pleaded guilty to separate charges related to a hacking campaign against prominent videogame developer Riot Games.

After acquiring and selling access to personal details from a dataset of more than five million online gamers, Duffy was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail with immediate parole.

Crypto isn’t a safe haven

Since July 2019, CACT has restrained more than $1.2 billion in criminal assets, including houses, cars, yachts, fine art, luxury goods and cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are wildly popular among criminals for their decentralised and pseudonymous trading capability, with blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis finding illicit cryptocurrency addresses received approximately $63.5 billion (US$40.9 billion) in 2024.

Lane explained while criminal actors might benefit from “bypassing the traditional banking network and all of its protections”, cryptocurrency is ultimately “traceable”.

“Law enforcement and other private investigators are able to trace and track cryptocurrency payments,” said Lane.

“While people might see these things as anonymous, if you can get enough information over time that links a cryptocurrency address to a cryptocurrency exchange, that will enable law enforcement to get somebody's real identity.

“The idea that cryptocurrency is a safe haven is overstated.”

AFP Commander Jason Kennedy said AFP “remained committed” to targeting alleged proceeds of crime, while authorities will dedicate the revenue from the future sale of Duffy’s forfeited assets to a special purpose fund that supports crime prevention and law enforcement-related measures.

“Criminals are driven by greed at the expense of honest Australians and businesses who are losing their hard-earned money to cybercriminals,” said Kennedy.

“The profits derived from criminal activities are also often used to fund further criminal acts, which is why the AFP works closely with our partners in the CACT to target the proceeds of crime and ensure they are re-invested in the community.”