US DOJ seeks to forfeit $225 million in crypto from global scam network

Officials stated that one of the goals of the forfeiture is to eventually return the funds to the victims.

Key Takeaways

• The US DOJ filed a civil forfeiture case to seize $225.3 million from crypto related scams.
• This seizure is the largest in US Secret Service history, involving over 400 victims worldwide.

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The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking court approval to forfeit approximately $225 million in USDT held across numerous addresses allegedly connected to a global criminal operation targeting US and foreign victims.

According to a civil forfeiture complaint filed on June 18, criminals operating overseas, along with their associates and co-conspirators, allegedly stole funds from over 430 suspected victims.

The illicit proceeds were laundered through a complex web of crypto wallets, including accounts on OKX, and blockchain transactions designed to obscure the origin of the funds and avoid detection.

The US Secret Service (USSS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) initiated the investigation after OKX and Tether reported a series of suspicious transactions believed to be tied to large-scale crypto fraud.

These agencies employed blockchain analytics and other digital forensic tools to trace stolen assets across multiple addresses.

Investigators successfully identified and froze the digital assets, which are now in the custody of the US Marshals Service. The DOJ noted that one of the objectives of forfeiture is to ultimately return funds to defrauded victims.

“Under my leadership, with the support of President Trump and Attorney General Bondi, the US Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia is taking a leading role in the fight against crypto-confidence scams, partnering with law enforcement throughout the country to seize and forfeit stolen funds and rip them from the hands of foreign criminals, all with the eye toward making victims whole,” said US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro in a Wednesday statement.

The $225 million seizure is so far the largest crypto seizure in USSS’ history, according to Special Agent in Charge Shawn Bradstreet of the San Francisco Field Office.

“Today’s civil forfeiture complaint is the latest action taken by the Department to protect the American public from cryptocurrency investment scammers, and it will not be the last,” said Matthew Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “These schemes harm American victims, costing them billions of dollars every year.”

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