Nah, it was in his best interest to turn over the private keys. You also don't get less time for turning over stolen property, you are ordered by the court do that no matter what.
If he said "I lost the private key," he would have been ordered to pay restitution in cash. That means his assets (including his house) would be seized, when he gets out of jail his wages would be garnished forever, any inheritance he ever tried to claim would be seized, if he won the lottery that would be seized, his tax returns would be seized, etc. He would never be allowed to build any wealth at all until that restitution was paid, and it never would be because who makes enough money in their lifetime to pay a $10M restitution?
The coins are now completely worthless to him because those addresses will be watched forever, if any coins ever moved from that wallet, he would automatically go to jail. $10 million you can never spend or give away is not useful.
If he said "I lost the private key," he would have been ordered to pay restitution in cash. That means his assets (including his house) would be seized, when he gets out of jail his wages would be garnished forever, any inheritance he ever tried to claim would be seized, if he won the lottery that would be seized, his tax returns would be seized, etc. He would never be allowed to build any wealth at all until that restitution was paid, and it never would be because who makes enough money in their lifetime to pay a $10M restitution?
The coins are now completely worthless to him because those addresses will be watched forever, if any coins ever moved from that wallet, he would automatically go to jail. $10 million you can never spend or give away is not useful.