It should be noted that cryptocurrency theft situations are not uncommon, with rather strange occasions being invented for them as well. For example, in September 2021, it was reported that at least a million dollars in crypto was stolen in Venezuela. There, a financial analyst staged his own kidnapping to steal his clients’ money.

In December, the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against a former Sony employee who embezzled $150 million and converted it into BTC. Read more about this unusual story in a separate story.

How cryptocurrencies are stolen

The suspect was one Liam Grishoi from Bethesda, Maryland. Liam had spiked his father’s tea with benzodiazepine, a psychoactive substance with strong sedative effects. The young man hoped his father would fall asleep and he could get his hands on the bitcoins in his cryptocurrency wallet.

After the victim fell unconscious, Grishoi used his father’s phone to transfer $400,000 in Bitcoin to his cryptocurrency wallet. He then converted about 60 per cent of those funds into Etherium. Grishoi left his father a note with the following content.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this! I’m going to give you a better pension.

What exactly was meant is unknown. Perhaps the perpetrator wanted to transact in altcoins and make more profit and then share it with his father. After all, Bitcoin usually loses out to altcoins in terms of long term returns. Be that as it may, the occasion to get the coins was far from perfect.

Grishoy’s note

However, the father did not come to his senses immediately after the incident. Two days later, the police were called in to report him missing, and a little later police found the victim still unconscious in his bedroom. Rehabilitation took almost a week as the high dose of sleeping pills caused dehydration and disruption of some of his internal organs.

Grishoy Jr. was detained, after which he confessed to his act. Here is his quote from the interrogation published by the news outlet Decrypt.

I did a lot of crazy and wrong things when I was using. It all stays with me – the guilt and the shame. I want to focus on that and go to rehab.

Suspect Liam Grishoe

It turns out that the victim’s son is an addict who actively uses benzodiazepine and cocaine. According to the father, he often found his son unconscious. He also told the father that he had allegedly become “too addicted” to his cryptocurrencies. Moreover, the father allegedly “should sell” his crypto, Liam claimed. The case is still under investigation, but experts suggest that Grishoi was going to spend some of the money on drugs.

According to the suspect, he did not try to kill or seriously harm his father. In addition, he was frightened when he was still not answering his phone calls a couple of days after the sleeping pills. Grisho turned to his father’s ex-girlfriend, who called the police. Thanks to this, the poisoning victim was found and rescued in time. Investigators do not believe that Grishoi deliberately wanted to kill his father. Here is a quote from Assistant Public Prosecutor Donna Fenton in court.

However, there was intent to cause serious bodily harm through poisoning to the point of unconsciousness. Thank God Mr Grishoi is still with us.

The cup that was laced with sleeping pills

Grishoy Jr. now lives in a drug rehabilitation group. His father is sure that his son will be able to overcome his addiction and already sees progress in this case. Overall, the incident ended relatively well, considering all the consequences. The suspect himself has definitely learned a lesson from what happened. Here’s his line.

I have definitely apologised to my father. But I feel there is so much I can say. I need to show him and myself by my actions how much I’ve changed.

Cryptocurrency scammers


We believe this situation shows the downside of digital assets and their ability to increase in value. This kind of thing attracts the attention of fraudsters and criminals who want to appropriate crypto for themselves. So once again, we would like to remind you that you should only tell your family and closest friends about your relationship with crypto. However, for security reasons, this can also be avoided.