“Today’s arrests,and the Department’s largest financial seizure ever,show that cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.
“In a futile effort to maintain digital anonymity,the defendants laundered stolen funds through a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions.”
Bitfinex is the exchange affiliated with the world’s biggest stablecoin,Tether. At the time of the hack,the digital currency haul was estimated at about $US71 million,the Justice Department said. The department said the total value of stolen Bitcoin is now worth about $US4.5 billion.
“This case and the arrests today are extraordinary,” said Ari Redbord,a former federal prosecutor who is now the head of legal and government affairs at TRM Labs,a blockchain intelligence company.
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“This is further proof that the nature of the blockchain – the forever open ledger – allows investigators to follow the money in ways impossible in complex webs of shell companies and bulk cash smuggling.”
According to DOJ,the couple used sophisticated techniques,including “using fictitious identities to set up online accounts;utilising computer programs to automate transactions,a laundering technique that allows for many transactions to take place in a short period of time;depositing the stolen funds into accounts at a variety of virtual currency exchanges and darknet markets and then withdrawing the funds.”