On September 17, a group of officials led by U.S. attorney Tracy Wilkinson have filed a civil complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California claiming that they have identified four digital wallets holding more than 9.8 million Tether (USDT) that was involved in wire fraud, computer fraud and money laundering. According to court documents, the legitimate owner of the funds is a California resident who in April 2021 got swindled out of more than 200 Bitcoin (BTC) by someone impersonating a Coinbase employee. Customer support goes awry As described in the claim, the unidentified …

Online streaming platform and production company Netflix will be producing a film on deceased crypto exchange QuadrigaCX founder Gerald Cotten. In a Thursday tweet from Netflix, the platform announced that the documentary Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King will premiere in 2022. The story, which follows “a group of investors turned sleuths,” will focus on the events around the death of Cotten, who reportedly died while doing volunteer work at an orphanage in India, leaving QuadrigaCX users out of pocket for roughly $190 million in crypto. Details are sparse regarding the casting or direction the documentary takes, …

Last week, some former users of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Cryptsy received a notice informing them of a new turn in the ongoing class settlement process. Authorized by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the document states that those who were defrauded in the 2016 collapse of the digital finance platform may be entitled to receive money from additional recovery. Cryptsy was a crypto exchange that went bust in January 2016 following months of user-reported issues with withdrawing funds from the platform. The court later found that Cryptsy founder Paul Vernon had stolen millions of …

The United States Department of the Treasury has announced it will impose sanctions on the Czech Republic and Russia-based business Suex OTC for allegedly allowing hackers to access cryptocurrency sent as payment for ransomware attacks. In an advisory update issued on Tuesday, the Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, added Suex OTC to its list of Specially Designated Nationals for which “assets are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.” The government agency listed Suex OTC’s offices in Moscow and Prague, as well as its website and 25 crypto addresses for Ether (ETH), …

Riccardo Spagni, the former lead maintainer of the privacy coin Monero, has reported that United States officials have released him after more than a month in custody. In a Tuesday tweet, Spagni said he was working with his legal team to return to South Africa to address the allegations against him. Authorities in the U.S. arrested Spagni in August on fraud charges tied to alleged crimes that occurred in South Africa between 2009 and 2011 at a company called Cape Cookies. “I am actively working with my attorneys on a way to return to South Africa as soon as possible …

Stefan He Qin, the founder of two cryptocurrency hedge funds, has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison after United States authorities found that he had cheated investors out of $54 million. A Wednesday statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni handed Qin a 90-month sentence for defrauding his investors out of $54 million. The 24-year-old Australian owned and operated two cryptocurrency investment funds between 2017 and 2020 — Virgil Sigma and VQR, the latter of which was founded in February 2020. Despite Virgil Sigma claiming to invest clients’ assets …

A Salvadoran news outlet has reported that a computer and cryptocurrency expert critical of the country accepting Bitcoin as legal tender was arrested by local police and held for hours before being released. According to multiple interviews conducted by La Prensa Gráfica, police in San Salvador arrested computer specialist Mario Gómez Wednesday without a warrant, seizing his phone and attempting to take possession of a computer from his mother Elena de Gomez. The National Civil Police, or PNC, released a statement saying Gómez’s detainment was related to an investigation for financial fraud. Otto Flores, Gómez’s lawyer, said authorities released Gómez …

The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service, has conducted an internal audit of the way in which it carries out crypto-related investigations and found there’s significant room for improvement. Notably, the USPIS handled only a small number of crypto-related cases during the two fiscal years under review — 2019 and 2020 — with a total of four closed cases for which postal inspectors seized crypto as evidence during an investigation and nine other cases that were managed under the USPIS’ “Cryptocurrency Fund Program,” established back in 2017. This program was intended …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance is pushing back against allegations of market manipulation and working against the interest of its users. In a Monday Twitter thread, Binance seemingly laid the blame for any claims of manipulating the crypto market on publications spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt, as well as certain individuals impersonating employees at the exchange. The firm said it “reserves the right to take legal action to protect its interests,” but was not opposed to “responsible whistle-blowing that protects the trust of our community.” “Binance has never traded against our users nor manipulated the market, and we never will,” said …

While the value of cryptocurrencies has varied wildly in the last year, this has not diminished crypto’s attractiveness to criminals. Many of them are moving their illegal activities underground and outside the view of law enforcement. Because of the public nature of most blockchains, however, this rapid movement shouldn’t be a major concern to law enforcement agencies. With the right tools and training, following the proceeds of crypto-enabled crime is actually not as difficult as it may seem. However, intelligence agencies must have a cryptocurrency investigation plan that includes the right tools to lawfully collect digital evidence and the properly …

The Swedish government has found itself in the unforeseen situation of paying out around $1.5 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) to a convicted — and then jailed — drug dealer. Two years ago, the man was convicted in a Swedish court for having illegally earned 36 Bitcoin through online drug sales. Yet, Tove Kullberg, his prosecutor at the time, had used the Bitcoin’s equivalent value in fiat to make her case. The court, therefore, judged that the man should be stripped of his illicitly earned Bitcoin at its then-value of 1.3 million Swedish kronor ($100,000). In the period following the …

Crypto criminals are getting more adaptive and smarter than ever before. But how can industry service providers keep up with them? If I say that the crypto industry is highly targeted by cybercriminals and, in particular, organized criminals, I’m sure that no one who has spent a few months within the space would be surprised. And for a valid reason. Due to the new technology and the nascent nature of the sector, criminals and fraudsters have long identified the excellent opportunity that crypto offers to profit via illicit methods. Indeed, any “new” approach to the financial sector is welcomed by …