The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is filing a civil forfeiture complaint against over $225 million in crypto.
According to a new DOJ press release, the funds are connected to a crypto confidence scam, laundering and theft scheme.
A civil forfeiture is a legal complaint that targets property – in this case, crypto – that was either obtained illegally or used to commit a crime. The DOJ’s complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and if the court agrees with the filing, the DOJ will likely have the go-ahead to seize the funds.
The crypto confidence scam, often called a pig butchering scheme, allegedly took the funds of over 400 victims who thought they were investing in cryptocurrencies. The stolen funds were then transferred across wallets and blockchains to obfuscate their origin.
Says DOJ Criminal Division head Matthew R. Galeotti,
“Today’s civil forfeiture complaint is the latest action taken by the Department to protect the American public from fraudsters specializing in cryptocurrency-based scams, and it will not be the last.
These schemes harm American victims, costing them billions of dollars every year, and undermine faith in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Our investigators and prosecutors are relentlessly pursuing these scammers and their ill-gotten gains, and we will relentlessly pursue recovery of victim funds.”
According to Chainalysis, these types of crypto scams were also the most lucrative for fraudsters in 2024.
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