UK Court Allows Bitcoin Theft Suit to Proceed

A UK High Court judge has ruled that a civil lawsuit over the alleged theft of more than 2,323 Bitcoin, now valued at approximately 172 million pounds, can proceed to trial, in a case involving a domestic dispute between a husband and his estranged wife.

The claimant, Ping Fai Yuen, a UK resident, alleges that his wife, Fun Yung Li, secretly used a home security camera in August 2023 to record the 24-word recovery phrase for his Trezor hardware wallet, enabling her to transfer the cryptocurrency without his permission. The funds were dispersed across 71 different Bitcoin addresses through multiple transactions, with no activity recorded since December 21, 2023, according to court documents. Yuen, who had stored the Bitcoin securely offline, claims the theft was worth around 60 million pounds at the time but has since appreciated significantly due to market fluctuations.

Yuen said he became suspicious after his daughter warned him in July 2023 that his wife was attempting to access his digital assets. He then installed audio recording equipment in their shared home, capturing conversations that he alleges implicate Li and possibly her sister, Lai Yung Li, in plotting the theft....