😱 He Stole His Ex's Cryptocurrency! | Learn English with the NEWS (B1 Reading Practice)

Welcome back to JForrest English. I'm  Jennifer, and today we're going to read  

a news article together so you can improve  your fluency in English. Let's get started.

1st I'll read the headline Man Who Likely Stole.

Ex’s.

Cryptocurrency found not guilty, but  Judge urges him to help recover funds.

1st.

Let's talk.

About Ex’s.

A man's.

X.

Is.

The romantic partner.

He is.

No longer.

With but was previously with this is.

Short form for either ex-girlfriend, ex-boyfriend,  

or of course you can have an exwife  or an ex-husband. Now all of these.

Start with ex.

So instead of saying my ex-girlfriend, you  can just simply shorten it and say my ex.

Let's take a.

Look at this example. I ran into my ex  at the mall. When you run into someone,  

run is simply in the past. Simple. When  you run into someone, this is when you  

see someone unexpectedly. So I did not  plan to see who my ex at the mall it.

Was a surprise.

I ran into the my axe at the mall. Now obviously  that can be an awkward situation. Potentially.  

Maybe even more awkward if you say and I was with  my new boyfriend. Because remember, your axe is.

The.

Previous romantic relationship.  It doesn't necessarily mean the.

Immediate previous it.

Could have been 3 boyfriends  or three girlfriends ago.

It is just all.

Previous romantic relationship so this man.

Was accused.

Of stealing.

His ex.

Girlfriend's Cryptocurrency  So Cyber Currency Now Notice.

How it says who likely stole who likely.

Stole.

Likely is an adverb, A probability, and it  is when something is more certain than not  

certain. But it's still not 100% certain,  so there is some doubt in it. To me,  

likely sounds about 80% certain. It's  more certain than uncertain. So a man who.

Likely stole Ex’s.

Notice that pronunciation X.

'S Ex’s.

Ex’s.

Cryptocurrency.

It's possessive because the.

Cryptocurrency belongs.

To his ex stole Ex’s.

Cryptocurrency found not guilty.

But Judge urges.

Him to help recover funds.

To.

Urge someone. When you urge  someone to do something,  

you simply strongly suggest so. A judge.

Has the authority to.

Order you to do.

Something but to.

Say, the judge urged.

Him. It isn't an order. It's  not something he must do.

He is required by law to do it. Is a.

Suggestion, but it's a strong  suggestion. For example, my teacher  

urged me to find a speaking partner so I  can practice my public speaking skills.  

This is something I always urge my students to do.

Notice that sentence structure.

You.

Urge.

This is the verb to urge.

Someone and then infinitive.

To do.

Something that's the sentence structure.

The judge urged.

Him.

To do to help.

Something to help recover funds.

To recover.

Funds means to.

Get.

The funds back. When you  recover something, it means you.

You get it back. I wrote that.

As a note for you, and don't worry about writing  this down because I summarize everything in a free  

lesson PDF and you can look in the description  of the video for the link to download the.

Free PDF let's.

Continue a man accused of stealing thousands of  

dollars in cryptocurrency from  an ex-girlfriend. So this is.

Basically what they said at the.

Title but notice.

Here they use.

Used ex.

Girlfriend instead of just X and also notice.

How they have.

The article In front of man A Man but.

Here they just started.

With man in.

The titles of articles they.

Want to keep it as.

Short as possible, so they will.

Omit words that are grammatically  required, in this case they.

Omitted the article.

The article.

Ah is required.

In front of man grammatically.

But because it is the title of.

An article. The headline.

It's acceptable to do but you.

Should include.

The article, because it is.

Required all man accused of stealing thousands  

of dollars in cryptocurrency  from an ex-girlfriend. An ex.

Likely did it. We already know what.

This means.

There's an 80% chance.

But that also.

Means on the flip side, on  the opposite side the flip.

Side.

There's also a 20% chance he didn't.

Do it.

Likely didn't, according to.

A BC judge.

BC stands for British Columbia.

Which is a.

Province in Canada.

So this judge is located.

In British Columbia.

Which?

Is shortened to BC, but the  challenges of tracking those  

virtual coins mean he has avoided a conviction.

Conviction is when a judge.

Or a court officially says you're guilty.

That means you've been convicted of a crime.  So to be convicted, that's the verb form. And  

then conviction is the noun. Here's an  example. He was convicted of stealing.

His ex's car so he received.

The conviction somebody.

Said the judge said. You're guilty of.

Stealing.

Your eex’s car.

So to be convicted, and then this is a completed  past action, so I conjugate my verb to be.

He.

Was convicted and you're convicted.

Of.

Something now because.

Of is a.

Preposition. The verb is in the jaron form.

Speaking of gerund verbs, we also have.

The verb avoid which.

Is a gerund verb. A noun  follows it. In this example he.

Has avoided a.

Conviction.

If we used.

The verb form.

It would be he has avoided.

Do you know what?

We could say he has avoided.

Being convicted.

Because the verb is to be.

Convicted Ed on convicted.  Our verb is be and because.

Avoid.

Is a gerund verb.

The verb that follows it.

Is going to be in the ING form.

So you could also say he has.

Avoided being convicted. Or you  can use the noun conviction.  

Let's continue though. Orion Alexander Holt.

Be.

Was found not guilty.

So this is.

The name of the man who.

Was accused of.

Stealing.

His exes.

Cryptocurrency Orion Alexander.

Holtby.

Though Orion Alexander  Holtby was found not guilty.

The judge said.

You didn't do it of fraud  and theft, BC Supreme Court.

Justice.

Ward Branch urged him.

To find, remember.

You urge.

Someone to do something, urged him in the  past. Simple, listen to my pronunciation  

urged, So it ends on a very soft D sound.  Let me write that for you so you remember.

Urged. Urged. Urged.

Him urged him.

Ward Branch urged him to find A.

Way to help the alleged.

Victim The.

Alleged.

Victim. Who is that? That's.

Holtby's ex Holtby's.

Ex-girlfriend.

The word.

Alleged means that some.

People say this.

Some people say.

That she's a.

Victim, but it has not been officially proven.

So that's why she's just an alleged  victim. There isn't enough proof.

To say that.

She is in fact a victim, and same  thing with the pronunciation notices.

Alleged. Alleged.

Victim. Alleged victim.

To help the alleged.

Victim reclaim her digital investment.  Reclaim is the same as recover.

That we saw.

In the headlines. So again, it  simply means to get the funds back,  

to reclaim her investment,  to get her investment back.

Reclaim her digital investment,  valued at about $92,000 In March 2021,  

the judge explained the Crown hadn't  convinced him. The Crown represents the.

People who say who allege.

Remember.

Allege that Holtby.

Stole the money.

That group of.

People would be known as the Crown,  

the judge explained. The Crown hadn't convinced  him, Him being the judge, the judge explained.  

The Crown hadn't convinced him beyond a  reasonable doubt that Joelle, oh man, this.

Is the ex.

Girlfriend that Joelle oh Man's  cryptocurrency had been stolen at all.

So this is interesting because.

The judge.

Isn't convinced. When you're convinced, it means.

That you?

Accept something as.

Factual or.

Accept something as the truth.

But the judge?

Hasn't been convinced that the  money is missing, That the money,  

the cryptocurrency just represents  money. That the money had been stolen.

And notice.

They use the past perfect.

Had been stolen, so.

Here the.

Sentence structure is to be stolen,  be stolen. So then we take our verb  

BE and we put that in. The past  perfect had been stolen because.

A past perfect is a.

Past action before another past action.

So first.

The money is stolen then.

The girlfriend. The ex-girlfriend.  Correction, the ex-girlfriend.

Goes to the.

Police and says my ex-boyfriend stole my  cryptocurrency and then the crown takes.

This to the court.

To try to convict the  ex-boyfriend of this crime, so.

The fact that it had been stolen is a past before  

another past action. Here's  an example that clearly.

Shows the.

Sequence of events. We had gotten married.

Before.

We moved in together so we have two  past actions. This action happened.

1st it's.

The older action. So it's in the past  perfect now. We had gotten married.

The.

Verb is to get married. So if you see married.

As an Ed. And you're wondering why that's the  

expression to get married.  So I keep married as an Ed.

Verb I take.

My main verb get and I conjugate  that as the past perfect and then.

We before.

We moved in together.

This is.

Also in the past, but it's more recent.

And it's the past simple.

So this is.

The past simple here. Past simple. Let's continue.

Were this?

A civil matter, I would most likely  have found you liable to the plaintiff.  

Notice this conditional structure were.

This a civil.

Matter you may be more.

Comfortable hearing it as an if statement,  which is fine, you can absolutely.

Say if this were a civil.

Matter and to be honest, it is  more common to use if statements.

If this were.

A civil matter. Notice the slight difference here.

Were this a?

Civil matter and this is a  conditional because this is.

Hypothetical this.

Isn't the?

Reality.

Of the situation.

But notice the judge is still saying I  would most likely most likely. Well, now.

Because, he said.

Most likely I might increase.

The probability to 85.

Percent or 90% because before.

It was. I would.

Likely. Now it's most likely so maybe  85%, maybe 90% as well, more than likely.

And here found you.

Liable to the.

Plaintiff liable is.

A.

Legal term that simply means.

Responsible, but legally.

Responsible. Legally responsible.

So companies for example.

Are liable for the products  they sell. They're legally.

Responsible for them. Parents are liable.

For their.

Children. They're.

Legally.

Responsible for the children as well, so found  you liable to the plaintiff simply means that.

You would be legally.

Responsible to the plaintiff, the plaintiff.

Is the ex.

Girlfriend.

However this is.

A criminal matter with a  far more demanding burden,  

so suggesting that because it's a criminal  matter, the amount of evidence you need to.

Provide is a lot.

Higher compared to a civil matter,  the decision highlights how the  

criminal justice system is struggling  to address crime in the cryptocurrency.

World.

Now notice here.

Struggle to do.

Something just make a note  of this sentence structure.

Struggle to do.

Something where high profile frauds like those  committed by the founder of the Canadian Exchange.

Quadriga.

CX have cost investors millions.

Of dollars.

Here a high profile fraud.

The adjective high.

Profile simply means one that.

Attracts a lot.

Of attention.

So we could say that this legal case was a high.

Profile case It attracted a lot of attention.  Sean Tweed, a cryptocurrency investigator,  

said these crimes are both harder and easier to  investigate than traditional theft and fraud.

The issue is that the blockchain doesn't provide  personal identifying information, so you can't.

Decipher who specifically?

Owns coins.

Decipher is a.

Verb and it's.

Used to say.

That you can discover the meaning  of something. So here you can't.

Decipher who specifically?

Owns the coins, so you can't.

Understand who owns the coins,  because maybe the platform they.

Use to to.

Store the coins to keep the coins.

Is really difficult because it.

Doesn't have the personal identifying  information. It's in this blockchain which can be.

Really difficult to decipher.

To understand the meaning of.

This.

Blockchain, The cryptocurrency where the coins?

Actually are.

Another example is. Can you help me?

Decipher this.

Contract. Let's say you were  starting with a company and they.

Gave you this.

Contract to sign, but contracts are generally  written in a confusing way, even for native.

Speakers it. They use a lot of.

Legal terminology that the.

Average.

Person does not understand,  so maybe you ask a friend.

Who's a lawyer?

To help you decipher the.

Contract to understand. OK, I understand.

These words but.

What does it mean?

Will I be liable for?

Something liable, remember, means legally  responsible if you sign a contract.

You might be liable for  something because a contract.

Is legally.

Binding, so it's important  that you decipher the contract.

Fully.

So you know, if you're liable, let's  continue. The judgment makes it clear.

The truth.

Of the matter has been difficult.

To sort out, let's take a look at sort out.

When you sort something out.

It means that you successfully solve.

A problem or a difficult situation? So they're  saying that cryptocurrency has been difficult.

To sort out.

It's been difficult.

To.

Solve the problems.

Related to it.

Holtby this was.

The man accused of stealing the  cryptocurrency from his ex, Holtby,  

did not testify. When you testify, it's when  you appear in court and are asked questions by.

The lawyer.

And the judge. And usually it's  in front of an audience, in front.

Of a jury.

That's to testify.

So Holby.

Did not testify and the judge.

Said.

Oh man, the exgirlfriend who?

Lost the.

Cryptocurrency oh man, was.

Careless.

With evidence, so you don't want.

To be careless.

With evidence when you're.

Careless. That's the opposite of.

Careful so you're not taking a lot  of measures to protect that evidence.

So the opposite of.

Careful, careful. Careless.

Oh man.

Was careless with.

Evidence raising concerns.

About her credibility.

One's credibility. It's similar.

To their.

Reputation if someone.

Is credible.

It means there's someone that you trust. They have  

shown you that they are deserving  of respect and trust. But here?

There were concerns.

About her credibility.

Suggesting that she.

Was less credible, so less likely that  you will trust what she says or respect.

Her and notice this sentence structure.

Here.

You raise concerns, which is another.

Way of.

Saying you you make concerns,  known you raise concerns.

The judge.

Raised concerns.

About her credibility.

In general, Tweed says some police departments  still don't have the training or software.

To.

Properly investigate crypto crimes. Crypto is  the short form of cryptocurrency crypto crimes.  

Crimes related to cryptocurrency investigate  crypto crimes. But he's seen. He has seen.

He has seen now the contracted  form with an S it can be.

The verb to be for.

Example. He's happy so.

He is.

Happy he's seen. Now in this  case, I know it cannot be the.

Verb to be because.

He is seen.

It doesn't really make  sense. It's not grammatical,  

so it has to be the verb has he has  seen and this is the present perfect.

He has apologies.

This should be has not had he has seen  big improvements in the last few years.

And that's the end of the  article. So what I'll do now?

Is I'll go?

And.

Read the article.

From start to finish, and  this time you can focus on  

my pronunciation. Man who Lankley stole  Ex’s cryptocurrency found not guilty.

But Judge urges.

Him to help recover funds.

A man accused of stealing thousands  of dollars in cryptocurrency from  

an exgirlfriend likely did it, according to.

A BC judge.

But the challenges of tracking those virtual  coins mean he has avoided A conviction,  

though Orion Alexander Holtby was found not.

Guilty of fraud.

And theft.

BC Supreme Court Justice Ward  Branch urged him to find a way.

To help the alleged.

Victim reclaim her digital investment  valued at about $92,000 In March 2021,  

the judge explained the Crown  hadn't convinced him beyond  

a reasonable doubt that Joelle Oman's  cryptocurrency had been stolen at all.

Were this?

A civil matter, I would most likely  have found you liable to the plaintiff.

However, this is a.

Criminal matter.

With a.

Far more demanding burden, Branch  said the decision highlights how  

the criminal justice system is struggling to  address crime in the cryptocurrency world.

Where high profile?

Frauds like those committed by the  founder of the Canadian Exchange.

Quadriga.

Siangs have cost investors millions.

Of dollars.

Sean Tweed, a cryptocurrency investigator,  

said these crimes are both harder and easier to  investigate than traditional theft and fraud.

The issue is that the.

Blockchain doesn't provide  personal identifying information,  

so you can't decipher who specifically owns coins.

The judgment makes it clear.

The truth.

Of the matter has been difficult to.

Sort out Holtby.

Did not testify and the.

Judge said.

Oh man was careless with  evidence raising concerns about.

Her credibility?

In general, Tweed says some police departments  

still don't have the training or software  to properly investigate crypto crimes.

What he's seen big improvements in the.

Last few years.

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