A 25-year-old man based in Maryland has been charged for spiking his father’s tea with benzodiazepine, a depressant, in order to access his phone and steal Bitcoin (BTC) worth $400,000.
As reported today by Washington Post, the accused named Liam Ghershony, gave his father the spiked tea and lied that it was to serve as an energy booster.
As soon as the innocent father drank, he got knocked out as expected, which gave the accused a full chance to perpetrate his planned evil.
According to the report, Liam transferred all the BTC worth $400,000 into his personal wallet after tapping through the father’s two-factor authentication (2FA) successfully.
After the theft, the son went ahead to convert two/third of the stolen Bitcoin (BTC) to Ethereum (ETH). According to the son, he intended to save his father from losing his accrued gains due to the falling price of Bitcoin.
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The Whole Plan Backfired
After the perpetration, the boy left his father in horrible condition, hoping that his father will recover from the overdose naturally, but things failed to go as planned.
On the second day, every attempt of the accused to contact his father failed. So, he was left with no other choice than to call his father’s ex-girlfriend to check on him.
His father’s ex-girlfriend then reported the case to the police after failed attempts to reach him on phone. This led the authorities to break into the house and saw the victim lying on the floor breathing but unresponsive.
The mother of the accused, Christine Prefontaine, reportedly made the investigation into the matter seamless. Liam Ghershony’s mother called the police that her son had admitted to dosing his father, leading to the son’s arrest.
The report reads in part as follows:
“Ghershony, now 25, was initially charged by police with attempted murder — a count prosecutors soon learned overstated his intentions. He pleaded guilty to felony assault, spent 125 days in jail and was spared further punishment by undergoing two months of residential drug and mental health treatment. The sentence reflected his lack of a criminal record, his parents’ wishes and Lease’s calculation that rehab was the best course.”
What Led To The Theft?
According to the report, it was the son that introduced his father to crypto investment. The father agreed to invest $100,000. They cashed out part of the investment in 2018 and earned an after-tax profit of about $350,000.
As years passed, the younger Ghershony’s use of drugs started to rise. The report says he took massive amounts of benzodiazepines coupled with Adderall and cocaine. The father started to think he was going to lose him.
The father who wants to remain anonymous said the plummeting price of their Bitcoin holdings began to bother his son. He continuously asked for a selloff to save the profit but the father refused to sell.
The father, who was concerned over his son’s judgment, decided to put the two-step lock on their investment accounts to prevent his son from selling the coins without his consent.
The father recalled the son saying, “Dad you need to sell.” But responded, “No, you need to stop doing drugs.” This led to Liam Ghershony’s launch of his hacking plan.
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