Paraguayan Justice System Achieves Conviction for Power Theft Crime Linked to Cryptocurrency Mining
The Paraguayan justice system has reached a milestone by achieving its second conviction related to a power theft crime linked to cryptocurrency mining. Carlos Raul Rojas, the owner of a dwelling where over 1,000 cryptocurrency miners operated, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for causing over $1.5 million in losses to the National Power Administration (ANDE).
Paraguayan Government Convicts Individual on Cryptocurrency Mining Power Theft Charges
The Paraguayan government is now prosecuting power theft cases related to cryptocurrency mining. The Paraguayan justice system has achieved its second conviction linked to energy theft associated with cryptocurrency mining activities. Three individuals were initially identified during the investigation. However, Lucas Albert Dos Santos and Rafael Boragina Morais were not charged because they accepted a conditional suspension of the proceedings.
However, Carlos Raul Rojas was sentenced to spend 18 months in prison for the mentioned crime. Rojas owns the dwelling where the illegally connected cryptocurrency mining operation was located, where the National Power Administration located over 1,000 cryptocurrency mining siphoning energy directly from the power grid, bypassing power metering devices. Additionally, three power transformers were also seized by authorities on March 23 2023, when they raided this location that was masqueraded as a chicken farm.
According to local reports, this farm brought losses of up to $66,000 monthly to the National Power Company of Paraguay (ANDE). According to estimations from the authorities, the farm had been operating for two years before its intervention, which would yield a loss of over $1.5 million.
The conviction comes in a period where ANDE has been battling illegal crypto mining harshly, having already stopped several of these operations using advanced technology, including supervisory and control systems (SCADA) and artificial intelligence (AI) software to monitor power consumption.
Last month, the Paraguayan Senate gave a significant tool to ANDE and national tribunals, passing a law assigning penalties of up to 10 years in prison for crypto-linked energy theft crimes. Energy theft for other purposes can also be punished with up to three years in prison.