Doj deposits to seize $ 225 million in crypto from crooks

The Ministry of Justice reported yesterday having filed a civil complaint to seize around $ 225.3 million in cryptocurrency linked to cryptographic investment scams. In a press releaseThe DoJ said that he had traced and targeted accounts that were “part of a sophisticated money laundering network based on the blockchain” dispersing funds from more than 400 alleged victims of fraud.

The 75 -page complaint Placed at the American District Court of the Columbia District puts in more detail on the crisis. According to this, the American secret services (USSS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have linked crooks to seven groups of Stablecoin Tether tokens. The fraud was part of what is generally known as “pork butcher”: a form of longtime trust scam aimed at deceiving the victims – sometimes with a false romantic relationship – in what they believe to be an opportunity for investment in profitable cryptography, then disappearing with the funds. Pork butcher’s rings often workers’ traffic which communicate directly with the victims in the countries of Southeast Asia, which the MJ alleys that this ring did.

The DoJ indicates that Tether and Crypto Exchange OKX first alerted the police in 2023 to a series of accounts which, according to them, helped to whiten the currency obtained fraudulently via a network of large and complex transactions. The alleged victims include Shan Hanes (mentioned in this SH complaint), the former president of the bank of the Heartland Tri-State who was sentenced to 24 years in prison to divert tens of millions of dollars to invest in one of the best known and the most devastating Pork butchery scams. The complaint lists a number of other victims who have lost thousands or millions of dollars they thought of investing (and did not commit crimes). A FBI report Quoted by the press release concluded by the overall fraud of crypto investments, caused a value of $ 5.8 billion in losses declared in 2024.

The money recovered from this crisis will be devoted to funds to return to the victims known to the crooks, says the Doj. THE from Pro-Crypto The Trump administration previously said that lost money that is not sent to the victims could be used to finance An American cryptocurrency reserve.