Bitcoin is increasingly used to pay for contract killings

The U.S. Department of Justice has sentenced to 10 years in prison a woman who attempted to assassinate her husband.

Forty-year-old Jessica Leanne Sledge pleaded guilty to hiring a killer on the dark web. She also admitted that she paid the potential killer in cryptocurrency. The woman made a payment in bitcoin totaling about $ 10,000.

The man was not injured, and Sledge herself disclosed the murder scheme and made public her communications with the potential killer after her arrest. A U.S. District Court judge sentenced Sledge to 120 months in federal prison, followed by three years of probation, and fined her $ 1,000.

By the way, this is not the first time that bitcoin has been used for contract crimes — in June, the US Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced that 25-year-old Scott Burkett from Beverly Hills pleaded guilty to attempted murder. The man paid a hired killer about $ 13,000 in bitcoin for the woman’s death.