Is Bill Cosby trying to hide his fortune by buying Bitcoin?

American stand up comedian and actor, Bill Cosby, 81, is scheduled for sentencing on 24th September and will likely head to prison, having been found guilty of sexual assault. In the meantime, according to Radar Online, he’s turned to cryptocurrencies to hide whatever he has left of his $500 million fortune.

Cosby has been under house arrest since his 26th April conviction, and from there he has allegedly put $5 million into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in a bid to keep it away from his creditors, the government and his wife Camille.

A source close to Cosby

Radar Online claims an “insider” told it that Cosby “moved close to $5 million in Bitcoin after an expert told him it’s practically untraceable and impossible for anyone but him to retrieve. The expert said it couldn’t be taken in a divorce, bankruptcy or by the government in any liens!”

READ MORE: Former child actor Brock Pierce wants to save Puerto Rico with blockchain

The showbiz gossip website adds the source told it that Cosby has no plans to pay the $25 million he owes in legal fees for his failed criminal defence. He has also reportedly taken out mortgages on his homes in Los Angeles and New York.

‘How to Disappear’ author gives his opinion

Privacy expert and author of New York Times bestseller “How to Disappear” Frank Ahearn told Radar Online that these actions by Cosby suggest he may be planning to escape.

READ MORE: KevCoin: The Movie raises crypto chuckles

“To me, it raises a huge red flag. Cryptocurrency has decreased in value, and you’d have to be crazy to buy Bitcoin now. However, it’s a great tool if you’re planning an escape,” Ahearn said. “He could basically have a middleman in another country receive the money. He’d just need to go there to collect it.”

Ahearn’s comments were refuted by Null TX, a San Francisco-based website founded in 2014 focusing on crypto, finance and technology news in an article entitled “Here’s why it’s unlikely Bill Cosby bought $5M worth of Bitcoin”.

READ MORE: London police to receive cryptocurrency training

Firstly, according to Null TX, Ahearn proved he “knows very little about how Bitcoin actually works”. The website adds that Ahearn says “some very silly things indeed”, noting that one of the cryptocurrency’s main characteristics is that you do not require a middle person nor do you need anybody to collect the money for you to collect later.

It points out that Bitcoin is no longer a tool for escapes because “law enforcement officers have already figure out how to track Bitcoin transactions. And buying millions of dollars worth of BTC with USD tends to create a solid, traceable trail”.

READ MORE: US-Canada ‘Operation Cryptosweep’ results in over 200 investigations

It concludes by noting that the only way Cosby could have bought Bitcoin untraced was with cash. “And when the time comes to convert his crypto to fiat, good luck getting around KYC (Know your Customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) practices”.