A tech entrepreneur from France has reportedly been brought into custody, over charges against illegally acquiring more than 1 million euros in Bitcoin (BTC), from his former coworker. 

Specifically, on December 22, the anonymous Frenchman has received charges from a judge in Paris, for what assumed to be an “act of revenge”. The charges include theft, money laundering and fraudulently accessing data processing systems. 

The underlying motive for the man’s criminal act – causing financial damage equivalent to 182 Bitcoin (roughly $1.3 million) in total – is to compensate for the “humiliating” feeling he had after being outcasted from his former companies. 

The Frenchman has reportedly served at a France-based startup, whose founding in 2013 Le Parisien credited for its ambition to become a member of the “closed club of overvalued unicorns” in the 2.0 tech universe. 

When the personnel in charge of the firm did not see eye to eye any longer, strategy-wise, the suspect, along with a few member of the executive board, was released from the company. 

The suspect has then embarked on a more criminal path, going from a crypto enthusiast to a crypto hacker, and began to attack his fellow executives’ Bitcoin account, via making numerous illegal Bitcoin transactions, each of which did not exceed the standard amount that would set off an internal alarm of the system. 

Currently, the suspect’s computer and private keys are in the possession of the police, along with a sum of the illegally acquired funds. The prosecutor’s office in Paris is reportedly trying to push for the suspect’s detention ahead of his trial.