Bitcoin Depot Sues Texas Sheriff's Office, Alleges Wrongful Money Seizure

Republished By Plato

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An 82-year-old woman in the city of Crawford, Texas has lost $15,000 to crypto scammers. The good news is that she’s gotten her money back, but the incident has sparked a serious feud between the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office and Lux Vending (operating as Bitcoin Depot), the crypto ATM company that served as the medium of transfer for the potentially illicit activity.

Bitcoin Depot Says It’s the Victim

The sheriff’s office wound up seizing cash from the machine and giving it back to the victimized person. While she’s walked away relatively unscathed from the incident, Bitcoin Depot isn’t happy about the decision made by law enforcement. It’s now suing the officers, claiming the money was wrongfully taken.

In a statement, Houston attorney John MacVane – who’s representing Lux Vending – explained:

While the company is sympathetic to the victimized customer, as stated in the petition, the actions taken by the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office are unlawful and violate Bitcoin Depot’s rights under both the Texas and U.S. constitutions. Bitcoin Depot looks forward to making our arguments in court and seeking the return of our property.

Parnell McNamara – a McLennan County sheriff – offered a rebuttal by saying that all his officers overseeing the situation did everything right and that the company can “go to hell.” Discussing the present lawsuit, he said:

It’s a bunch of hogwash. As far as I am concerned, they are a bunch of vultures who want to take the money back from this person who has already been victimized. I think it is a real travesty. The money does not belong to them. It was scammed. It still belongs to the lady who put it in there, so I think it is preposterous that they have filed this lawsuit… but it will be a cold day in hell that they get this money back from our good citizen, who has already been scammed and traumatized.

Don’t Get in the Way!

He also said that Bitcoin Depot did everything it could to prevent the officers from taking the machine. For example, when law enforcement agents arrived to serve a search warrant, an armored car – allegedly hired by the firm – was there to get in the way. He commented:

While we were there with the search warrant, the armored car people came, and we served them with the search warrant. We were going to get in the machine one way or the other because we had a legal search warrant. The $15,000 she put in the machine was still in the wallet that she had put it in, so we retrieved that $15,000 and brought it back to the office. We photographed it, put it into evidence, and ultimately got it back to the victim so she wouldn’t be further traumatized by these creeps.