BREAKING: TMZ’S Harvey Levin Tells CNN There is ‘Activity’ in the Bitcoin Account from First Nancy Guthrie Ransom Note

TMZ Founder Harvey Levin told CNN that the Bitcoin account attached to the first ransom note for Nancy Guthrie saw activity late Tuesday.

Levin’s outlet received a purported ransom letter last Tuesday, along with several other media outlets. He has claimed the note gave deadlines, both of which have now passed, to send funds to a Bitcoin account.

The reported $6 million was not sent in time for the reported deadline on Monday night, though videos released by Nancy’s daughter, Today show anchor Samantha Guthrie, and her siblings have claimed the possible kidnapper had not given them a mode of communication.

The account saw activity on Tuesday, according to Levin. He said the activity occurred at around 7:15 p.m. ET.

“About twelve minutes ago, we saw activity in that account,” Levin told CNN’s Erin Burnett. 

Levin appeared on OutFront to discuss the new development in the case to find Nancy Guthrie, who has been missing since January 31st. Levin said he could not give further details about the “activity” in the Bitcoin account, even as Burnett pressed him for more information.

“Well, it would only show, as I understand this, money going in. And the only thing you would see is money. And Erin, that’s all I can say,” he said.

Burnet called the alleged activity “crucial information,” stressing the importance of the development as she pushed for further detail.

“Okay. All right. So obviously that’s crucial information. So you’re saying about 12 minutes ago. So you see you actually saw money go into that Bitcoin account,” she said. “And just to be clear this is the Bitcoin account in the first letter where the individual had said you’re not going to hear from me again. And this is where to wire what the second letter made clear after last night would have been six million dollars.”

Levin clarified that the account number had come from the first ransom note, noting that this was the first activity he had seen in the account since that letter was sent. He did not link the activity directly to the security camera footage released by law enforcement earlier on Tuesday, showing a masked “potential subject” in the disappearance of Guthrie.

“I will say that it’s not like, I don’t know if you’ve talked about this yet, but the images and the video that we saw today, this is not something that law enforcement had and just decided to finally kind of dole out,” he said. “They just got it as well. So they were not withholding it. They released it as soon as they got it. Whether you connect the dots or not, do as you wish, but I’m just telling you that yes, the video came out earlier today and a few minutes ago there was activity for the first time in this account.”

KGUN 9, a local station that also received one of the notes, dually claimed to have seen activity in the account linked to the ransom letter. The Arizona outlet reported that the activity was less than $300.

Law enforcement has yet to confirm the credibility of any ransom notes, though they were pressed on the question at a press conference on Thursday.

Watch above via CNN’s OutFront.

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