The Lancashire gang who stole £21m worth of Bitcoin after exploiting glitch on cryptocurrency trading website

What did they do?

James Parker, from Blackpool, discovered a glitch in 2017 which allowed him to steal money from an Australian cryptocurrency trading website.

Over three months, Parker withdrew dishonestly obtained crypto assets worth £15 million from his trading account.

His associates, Kelly Caton and Jordan Kane Robinson, dishonestly withdrew £2.7 million and £1.7million respectively, from their accounts.

Parker’s corrupt financial adviser Stephen Boys, who earned the nickname ‘Rodney’ from ‘Only Fools and Horses’, helped launder the stolen funds.

The gang made so much money they handed out £5,000 gift cards to people in the street, with Parker buying cars for people he met in the pub.

“The scale of the fraud in this case is absolutely staggering and led to the suspects literally having more money than they could spend,” Det Sgt David Wainwright, of Lancashire Police’s Fraud Unit, said.

How were they caught?

Lancashire Police worked closely with international law enforcement, including in Australia and Finland, and the Crown Prosecution Service to bring the gang to justice.

During the investigation, police recovered 445 Bitcoin – then worth £22m – along with luxury watches, houses, cars and designer goods, along with more than £1m in bank accounts.

The assets will be returned to the victim.

James Parker died before he could be prosecuted and brought to justice in January 2021.

Stephen William Boys, 58, Kelly Caton, 44, Jordan Kane Robinson, 23, and James Austin-Beddoes, 27, were found guilty of fraud, converting and transferring criminal property.

They were sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison after appearing at Preston Crown Court on Friday (January 13).

How long were they jailed for?

- Stephen William Boys, 58, of Winster Court, Clayton le Moors: Six years for converting criminal property.

- Jordan Kane Robinson, 23, of Poulton Road, Fleetwood: Four-and-a-half years for conspiracy to commit fraud, two years for acquisition of criminal property and two years for converting criminal property.

- Kelly Caton, 44, of Livingstone Road, Blackpool: Four-and-a-half years for conspiracy to commit fraud, two years for acquisition of criminal property and two years for converting criminal property.

- James Austin-Beddoes, 27, of Brighton Avenue, Lytham: One-and-a-half years for conspiracy to commit fraud. One year for acquisition of criminal property and one year for converting criminal property. His sentence has been suspended for one year.

What did Lancashire Police and the CPS say?

“I would like to pay tribute to all the agencies who worked closely together to bring these people to justice,” Det Sgt Wainwright added.

Jonathan Kelleher, of the CPS, said “cyber-enabled crime presents an increasing threat to international economic stability.”

“These offenders used the internet from the comfort of their own homes to obtain tens of millions of pounds worth of Bitcoin which did not belong to them,” he added.

“The CPS advised our police partners throughout this international investigation.

“Painstaking analysis of vast amounts of digital material and collaborative liaison with the Australian and Finnish authorities enabled us to mount a successful prosecution against these criminals.”