- In California, the trial of 38-year-old Christy Lynn Felkins of Nevada has concluded. She tried to order her husband’s murder for bitcoins.
- The woman paid for the order, but it was never fulfilled. She ended up getting five years in prison and was remorseful for what she did.
- The 12 BTC she handed over for the murder is worth $350,496 as of this writing.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California says 38-year-old Christy Lynn Felkins of Nevada received five years in prison for attempted contract murder. A woman paid 12 BTC to hire a hitman on a darknet site, but fell for common scammers.
The incident took place in 2016. Felkins tried to order her own husband’s murder on the Besa Mafia darknet site. For this, she was charged $5,000 in bitcoins (12 BTC).
The woman paid the entire sum. In the order, she specified that the case should be framed as an accident, but refused to pay an additional $4,000 for it. The site’s administrator soon got in touch with her and said the killer had been found.
The case file states that Felkins expected to benefit financially from her husband’s death:
“I want his pension, our house and, if I can, the insurance payout.”
The order was never fulfilled, however. A short time later, the woman was arrested by the police. In March 2022, she pleaded guilty. The Besa Mafia portal turned out to be a common fraud scheme, according to the case file.
The DOJ did not explain how it got on Felkins’ trail. The prosecutor’s office demanded a 10-year prison sentence for her, but the court took into account the convict’s willingness to cooperate and commuted her sentence.
The trial, which ran through July 20, 2023, was attended by the woman’s ex-spouse, named Gabriel. He called his ex-wife a “wonderful mother” and noted that he never suspected her true intentions.
At the end of the hearing, the convict stated the following:
“I thank God that Gabe was not hurt. I can’t tell you how glad I am to have fallen for the scammer.”
It’s noteworthy that the 12 BTC Falkins paid is $350,496 at the current exchange rate.
The cryptocurrency community is rife with mysterious or simply high-profile criminal cases. These include, for example, the murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee and “cryptocurrency queen” Ruja Ignatova.