Unity man in cryptocurrency theft to lose house, begin 3-year prison sentence in January

A Unity man who is to start serving a three-year prison sentence Jan. 2 after pleading guilty to being part of a California cryptocurrency theft ring, may need a new home when he gets out of jail.

The federal government intends to sell the house he purchased for $942,500 in February 2018, according to court documents.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco notified Anthony F. Faulk on Dec. 6 that it planned to dispose of his house at 1405 Farmview Court in the East High Acres II housing plan, as well as other property it determined was purchased from money extorted from the victims of the cryptocurrency theft.

The government had filed a notice in December 2019 with the Westmoreland County Recorder of Deeds that it intended to seize the property, thus blocking any sale.

After Faulk’s guilty plea in March to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, he was sentenced in August to prison and ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution to his victims. He also was charged with interstate communication with intent to extort when indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2019.

Faulk and two accomplices were able to convince cellphone companies to port numbers from SIM cards held by about a dozen victims to devices he and his other conspirators used, the Justice Department said.

In addition to seizing Faulk’s house, the U.S. Attorney said it will take $18.8 million Faulk had in two JP Morgan Chase bank accounts, a 2018 Nissan Rogue, a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado, a 2018 Mercedes Benz, a Rolex, a diamond tennis necklace, a Louis Vuitton designer bag, a white gold cross, diamond earrings and the royalty rights to 20 songs.