The defense attorney for a South Carolina man facing drug charges is now denying that his client is the Casey Jones who had bitcoins seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) three months ago.

In April 2013, the DEA seized 11.02 bitcoins, worth $825 at present exchange rates. The agency then posted the details of the seizure in its Official Notification (PDF, updated), including the name of the suspect, “Eric Daniel Hughes AKA Casey Jones.” On June 6, 2013, a South Carolina man named Eric Daniel Hughes was arrested and charged by the state with illegal distribution of marijuana, clonazepam, and other controlled substances. He has yet to be served with federal charges.

A DEA spokesperson, Barbara Carreno, confirmed to Ars on Tuesday that this is the first time the drug agency has seized bitcoins. But Hughes' attorney, David Aylor, says the bitcoins aren't his client's.

“[My client] doesn’t use and has never used the name Casey Jones,” Aylor told Ars on Tuesday.

Despite the April 2013 seizure, it wasn’t until June 2013 that the Bitcoin community and reddit seemed to take notice of the case and traced how the 11.02 bitcoins moved through the online economy.

As Let's Talk Bitcoin reported previously:

The Bitcoin address referenced in the complaint recieved a transaction for 11.02btc at 17:10:36 Blockchain time on the date noted as “seized.” This could mean that either the DEA took control of a computer with an unencrypted wallet and transferred the amount to a DEA controlled wallet, or more likely that this was not an in-person confiscation at all. This could be an illicit “Silk Road” transaction, where US authorities set up a “honeypot” selling account and accepted the 11.02btc as payment.

Aylor says that while his client knows what Bitcoin is, he is denying all connection to The Silk Road, the notorious illegal drug website, or even possessing bitcoins to begin with.

“[Hughes] did not have any activity, purchases, and was not a consumer in The Silk Road,” Aylor told Ars. “The bitcoins that were seized by the DEA were not his. [He has] never used Bitcoin, no—but he is familiar with what it is. Those were not his bitcoins that were seized by the government. We have a good idea whose bitcoins those belong to, but that is not something we’re disclosing at this time.”