TechFlow, November 6 — According to Cointelegraph, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Michael Prime, a former convict, against the government. Prime, previously convicted of identity theft, claimed that the FBI seized and wiped a hard drive containing over 3,400 bitcoins, currently worth approximately $345 million.
The court dismissed Prime's lawsuit because he had previously denied owning a significant amount of cryptocurrency. Before entering his guilty plea in November 2019, Prime claimed to possess "about 3,500 bitcoins," but afterward stated he owned only "between $200 and $1,500 worth of bitcoin." After being released from prison in July 2022, Prime requested the return of the hard drive, but the FBI had already wiped it according to standard procedures.
