Two employees of Magang participated in stealing 2.6 million yuan of electricity to run hundreds of mining machines to mine Bitcoin, etc.

On July 23, the Judgment Documents Network released the second-instance criminal verdict on theft by former Magang Co., Ltd. employees Miao Jun and Zhou Xiaojie. The two of them, together with three other people, stole electricity worth more than 2.6 million yuan, which was used to run mining machines for Bitcoin and Litecoin. In the end, the five people were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 4 to 8 years.

Miao Jun, before the incident, was a worker at Pump Station No. 31 of the Energy Control Center of Maanshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Magang Energy Control Center); Zhou Xiaojie, before the incident, was the team leader of Pump Station No. 31 of Magang Energy Control Center; Wang Meng, before the incident, was a car salesman; Yin Zhifang, before the incident, was the legal representative of Nanjing Longshengda Trading Co., Ltd.; Wang Zonghua, before the incident, was an individual business operator.

It is reported that the criminal judgment No. (2017) Wan 0504 Xingchu 69 was made on January 29, 2018 in the case of Miao Jun, Zhou Xiaojie, Wang Meng, Yin Zhifang and Wang Zonghua committing the crime of theft. The original defendants Miao Jun, Zhou Xiaojie, Wang Meng, Yin Zhifang and Wang Zonghua appealed against the judgment.

Five people colluded to steal electricity to run mining machines, and more than 2,000 machines were seized

The original judgment determined that during August and September 2015, Miao Jun of Ma Mou 31 Pump Station met Wang Meng and Yin Zhifang, who needed stable electricity to run mining machines, through the introduction of Li Mou 1.

After checking that electricity could be secretly connected from Ma Steel's No. 31 Pump Station to a rental house south of the Xuejiawa Old Wharf in Yushan District of this city, and the environment for running mining machines in the house, and inquiring about basic information such as electricity prices, Wang Meng and Yin Zhifang knew that the electricity price provided by Miao Jun was lower than the market price. Yin Zhifang and Miao Jun signed a written contract, stipulating that Miao Jun would be responsible for connecting the electricity from Ma Steel's No. 31 Pump Station to the rental house, and Wang Meng and Yin Zhifang would pay a benefit fee of RMB 16,200 to Miao Jun's personal account every month through bank transfer.

Subsequently, Li No. 1 led the workers to connect electricity from Ma No. 31 Pump Station to the rental house through private wiring with the help of Miao Jun. Zhou Xiaojie, the team leader of Ma No. 31 Pump Station, allowed Miao Jun to continue using the stolen electricity after discovering that Miao Jun and others had privately connected electricity from Ma No. 31 Pump Station and used it, and he and Miao Jun and others shared the benefits paid by Wang Meng and Yin Zhifang. After confirming that the electricity was connected to the rental house, Wang Meng and Yin Zhifang jointly invested in purchasing a mining machine and operated it in the rental house.

From October 20, 2015 to June 1, 2016, Wang Meng and Yin Zhifang used the electricity stolen in the above-mentioned way to operate more than 290 sets of Litecoin mining machines owned by the two and more than 10 Avalon mining machines owned by Wang Meng alone. It was determined that the stolen electricity was worth a total of RMB 515,078 and RMB 51,153 respectively.

In April 2015, with the help of Miao Jun, Wang Zonghua privately connected the electricity in the abandoned old pump room to the transformer of Ma Mou's No. 31 pump station. From April 2015 to June 1, 2016, the defendant Wang Zonghua used the electricity stolen by the above method to operate his 63 Ant S3 Bitcoin mining machines. The stolen electricity was found to be worth RMB 193,409. Wang Zonghua paid Miao Jun a monthly commission of RMB 4,500.

In April 2016, with Zhou Xiaojie's consent, Li No. 1 took advantage of Zhou Xiaojie's shift to privately connect the wires in the power distribution cabinet of Magang No. 31 Pump Station to Jiang Chuansheng's home at No. 243 Hengxing Village in this city, and used the stolen electricity to operate 10 Ethereum mining machines placed in Jiang Chuansheng's home for 4 days in May 2016. The stolen electricity was valued at RMB 632. Defendant Zhou Xiaojie received a reward of RMB 2,000 from Li No. 1 for this.

The court also found that Wang Zonghua privately connected the power supply of the No. 8 factory building of Maanshan Shixiye Cement Co., Ltd. in Xuejiawa, Yushan District, to the Wang Zonghua Restaurant in Jiuhua Village, Jiashan Township, Yushan District, Beijing. On June 1, 2016, Wang Zonghua was arrested by the public security organs in his restaurant, and more than 240 mining machines, 2 computer hosts, and 2 routers were seized on the spot by the public security organs.

In addition, Miao Jun, Zhou Xiaojie and Yin Zhifang voluntarily surrendered on June 8, June 6 and August 25, 2016 respectively; Wang Meng was arrested at his residence in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province on June 13, 2016. The next day, the public security organs seized 2,240 mining machines from Wang Meng.

5 people were fined 240,000 yuan and the maximum sentence was 8 years. 100,000 yuan of stolen money was returned to the victim unit

The original judgment held that Miao Jun, Zhou Xiaojie, Wang Meng, Yin Zhifang, and Wang Zonghua all used secret means to steal electricity from others for the purpose of illegal possession. Among them, the defendant Miao Jun stole electricity worth RMB 759,640, which was a particularly large amount; Zhou Xiaojie stole electricity worth RMB 566,863, which was a particularly large amount; Wang Meng stole electricity worth RMB 566,231, which was a particularly large amount; Yin Zhifang stole electricity worth RMB 515,078, which was a particularly large amount; and Wang Zonghua stole electricity worth RMB 193,409, which was a huge amount. Their actions all constituted theft crimes. The original judgment is as follows:

1. The defendant Miao Jun was convicted of theft and sentenced to eight years in prison and a fine of RMB 70,000;

2. The defendant Zhou Xiaojie was convicted of theft and sentenced to seven years and six months in prison and a fine of RMB 50,000;

3. Defendant Wang Meng was convicted of the crime of theft and sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison and a fine of RMB 50,000;

4. The defendant Yin Zhifang was convicted of the crime of theft and sentenced to ten years in prison and a fine of RMB 50,000;

5. The defendant Wang Zonghua was convicted of theft and sentenced to four years in prison and a fine of RMB 20,000;

6. Confiscate the mobile phone used as the crime tool that was transferred along with the case;

7. Order the defendants Miao Jun, Zhou Xiaojie, Wang Meng, Yin Zhifang, and Wang Zonghua to repay the economic losses that their criminal acts have caused to the victim units and have not yet recovered.

After the verdict was announced, Miao Jun, Zhou Xiaojie, Wang Meng, Yin Zhifang, and Wang Zonghua appealed. The Ma'anshan Intermediate People's Court finally heard the case and upheld the first to second and fifth to seventh items of the above verdict.

The third and fourth items are revoked, namely, the defendant Wang Meng is convicted of the crime of theft and sentenced to ten years and six months in prison and a fine of 50,000 yuan; the defendant Yin Zhifang is convicted of the crime of theft and sentenced to ten years in prison and a fine of 50,000 yuan.

The sentence was changed to: Appellant Wang Meng was convicted of theft and sentenced to eight years in prison and a fine of RMB 50,000; Appellant Yin Zhifang was convicted of theft and sentenced to seven years and six months in prison and a fine of RMB 50,000;

The appellant Wang Meng's 50,000 yuan of returned stolen money and the appellant Yin Zhifang's 50,000 yuan of returned stolen money will be returned to the victim unit.