AZE.US
A court in Azerbaijan has ordered the confiscation of cryptocurrency in favor of the state for the first time in the country’s judicial practice.
The ruling concerned 830 units of cryptocurrency held in an account with Binance, an international virtual asset service provider. The type and total value of the cryptocurrency were not disclosed.
The criminal case involved two people detained by Azerbaijan’s State Security Service. According to the court, the defendants organized the illegal and concealed transfer of funds from Azerbaijan to foreign countries and from abroad into Azerbaijan, using offsetting arrangements and other settlement mechanisms on an especially large scale.
One defendant was sentenced to two years and five months of restricted liberty and fined 3.62 million manats, or approximately $2.13 million.
The second received three years of restricted liberty and a fine of 31.4 million manats, or about $18.47 million.
The combined fines exceeded 35 million manats, equivalent to roughly $20.6 million.
The court also ordered the 830 cryptocurrency units held in the Binance account to be transferred to the state.
Under Article 99-1 of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code, special confiscation allows the state to seize, without compensation, assets obtained through criminal activity, as well as instruments and property used to commit an offense.
The case establishes that virtual assets can be confiscated when a court determines that they were derived from criminal activity or used as part of an illegal financial scheme. The ruling does not mean that cryptocurrency ownership alone is grounds for confiscation.
AZE.US