News He mines bitcoins in the school basement, but things don’t go according to plan…
Published on 03.02.2023 at 16:10
To save on electricity bills, the municipal worker chose to mine bitcoins at school. However, after months of heavy mining and amassing a few BTC, the establishment discovered the scam.
He secretly mines bitcoins at school.
A former city worker from Cohasset, Massachusetts, is accused of mining bitcoin using electricity from the city’s school. To do this, the man likely set up a bitcoin mining farm in the sanitary facilities of Cohasset High School.
It was in December 2021 that a pot of roses was discovered during a simple routine visit. At the time, the city’s property manager was surprised to find “electric wires, cables and numerous computers that appeared to have been moved” inside the facility, according to The Washington Post.
The underground mining farm was set up in an elevated area next to the school’s boiler room. It was then that the manager decided to contact the city’s IT manager, who confirmed to him that this was a cryptocurrency mining farm. Unsure of the culprit, management informed the authorities.
However, this underground bitcoin mining is believed to have lasted almost 9 months before being discovered. Because the bitcoin mining system is extremely energy intensive, the dozen machines used for mining cost the school a lot. In total, the electricity bill increased by $17,500 during this period, but school staff were no longer alert.
Cohasset Police Station – Mining devices in question
Suspected municipal employee
After months of investigation, the name of Nadeem Nahas, the former deputy director of the municipality for facilities, surfaced.
The first suspect in this case was considered to be a 39-year-old man who had access to these premises. Several incriminating elements indicate that Nahas is at fault. First of all, the person concerned multiplied the mentions of the crypto ecosystem in his Twitter account. To make matters worse, his credit card could be used to purchase various equipment needed for cryptocurrency mining, such as 48-liter Coleman coolers or even flexible insulated pipes.
Thus, he was called to the first hearing in 2022 to explain himself. After that, the former municipal employee finally became the object of the complaint.
But Nadim Nahas still denies the facts and, when he was supposed to appear in court on Thursday, February 23, he did not appear in court. Thus, an arrest warrant was issued for a man suspected of mining $18,000 worth of bitcoins at school. He ultimately pleaded not guilty the following day in Quincy District Court.