Overview

• The substitute judicial clerk in Marbella admitted to stealing nearly €19 million in cryptocurrencies from court custody after being detained by the National Police.
• The digital assets were initially confiscated in September 2024 during Operation Geld, Europe’s largest crypto seizure targeting an international money-laundering network.
• Authorities discovered the theft in January 2025 when the ORGA in Madrid attempted to convert the seized cryptocurrencies into euros and found the wallets empty.
• Investigators traced the breach to the clerk, who had stored the wallet access keys in a secure digital wallet; searches of his properties uncovered a paper containing the recovery phrases.
• The case underscores vulnerabilities in the judicial chain of custody for digital assets and highlights the challenges of securing cryptocurrencies in law enforcement operations.