In a report published today on CoinDesk, a former employee of Tampa-based bitcoin mining operation Digital Mining Investments (DMI) allegedly stole over $165,000 in mining hardware and another 55 BTC ($35,000)in donations from popular bitcoin lending site BTCJam. The company claims that the man, using the assumed name Jon Simms, spent months building up trust within the BTCJam community in preparation for the crime. Additional losses of BTC from DMI wallets may also have taken place, although the company has not confirmed this.
According to DMI operations manager Pat Kenrick, the thefts took place two weeks ago. The man calling himself Simms used his access to the facility and the mining facility’s network to steal the hardware and the bitcoins. The man disappeared after the thefts, leaving few clues about his current whereabouts.
Simms’ profile on BTCJam showed a good track record of loan repayment, seemingly returning 66.55 BTC in loans since April of this year. Even though DMI says he was operating under an assumed name, BTCJam reports Simms as having a fully verified identity and income.
An investigation is currently underway by the Tampa Police. DMI noted that some of the stolen equipment has appeared for sale online, and may perhaps provide police with some much-needed clues about Simms’ true identity. Bitcoin investing service CashInBitcoinOut, which claims to be one of the largest lenders to “Simms” on BTCJam, if offering a 1 BTC reward for information leading to the arrest of the thief and the return of the funds.
