Ping Fai Yuen accuses his ex-wife, Fun Yung Li, of orchestrating the theft of 2,323 BTC, estimated at around 60 million dollars in August 2023, at the time of the events, now exceeding 172 million with the recent rise in the price of Bitcoin.
Contrary to what one might imagine, no sophisticated hacking would have been necessary. According to the evidence presented in court, the wife simply used the surveillance cameras installed in their own home.
Her objective was to capture her husband's seed phrase, the sequence of 12 or 24 words that gives total control over a Bitcoin wallet, regardless of the physical medium.
Once she had this key in her possession, Fun Yung Li would then have imported the wallet into another wallet before transferring all the funds spread across 71 distinct addresses to complicate any attempt at analysis, definitively emptying the wallet with no possibility of return.
Since the events, no transfer has been detected; the funds have remained stagnant since December 2023. A crucial detail, which complicates establishing Fun Yung Li's actual involvement in the theft. Indeed, if the husband's seed phrase was captured by a surveillance camera connected to a Wi-Fi network, it is not excluded that a hacker could have accessed the recordings remotely.
Nevertheless, warned by his daughter of his wife's intentions, Ping Fai Yuen himself installed microphones in his house. According to him, several recordings would confirm the involvement of his ex-wife.
The confrontation between the two former spouses quickly escalated. In 2024, Ping Fai Yuen was arrested and then convicted of assault causing bodily harm after discovering the disappearance of his funds.
For her part, the wife has seen her home searched by authorities, and several physical wallets and cryptocurrency-related media have been seized. However, in the absence of sufficient material evidence, no direct criminal charges have been brought against her.
From a civil standpoint, the case raises a real legal conundrum. The defense relies on the notion of 'conversion,' a concept in English law historically reserved for physical goods. An approach that the judge deems unsuitable for digital assets like BTC.
However, the magistrate even believes that the plaintiff (the husband) has a high probability of success. But beyond the verdict, the restitution of the funds remains uncertain. Without access to the private keys, no court can enforce a transaction on the Bitcoin network.
If Fun Yung Li is not found guilty, a tracking of the funds will then be implemented until they are linked to the activity of an identified individual. For example, the hackers of the Bitfinex platform, who had stolen several tens of thousands of Bitcoins, were ultimately found years later after having conducted transactions via an exchange platform.
