A man has been given a prison sentence for stealing more than £2 million worth of digital assets following an international investigation.
Wybbo Wiersma, a 40-year-old from Oxford, admitted to the crime of theft on the second day of his arrest in 2019.
The victims were among the first to have their financial and business savings stolen.
Wiersma, originally from Gorredijk in the Netherlands, was sentenced to four years and six months in Oxford Crown Court.
The police investigation, which involved more than 100 victims from around the world, involved taking computer systems, drugs, and money during a raid on a property in Oxford on January 23, 2019.
It was found that Wiersma had acquired IOTA cryptocurrency tokens since January 2018, which are managed by an 81-character code.
The police said Wiersma had created a website under an alias to generate and manage the tokens.
The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) said a total of £2,156,000 worth of cryptocurrency was stolen.
Following his arrest and release on bail, Wiersma returned to the Netherlands, where he was extradited from in 2021.
‘Seized funds’
Det Insp Rob Bryant from SEROCU said: “This was an exceptionally complicated investigation involving more than 100 victims from all over the world.
“Wiersma deprived people of money which they had invested in cryptocurrency, moving it through a network of trading accounts and causing some to lose businesses and life savings.
“We will do everything possible to ensure that victims of crime are reunited with any funds seized by police as part of our investigation.”
The criminal inquiry also included the Hessian state police in Germany and Europol.
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