According to an announcement issued by the U.S. Department of Justice on the 8th, more than $3.6 billion worth of stolen bitcoins were seized.
The stolen money was involved in a bitcoin theft in 2016. Law enforcement officers on the 8th arrested a couple on suspicion of conspiracy to launder cryptocurrencies in Manhattan, New York. The cryptocurrency was stolen in a hack of the virtual currency exchange Bitfinex. It is currently worth about $4.5 billion. In the past five years, they have used darknet platforms to trade, laundered about 25,000 bitcoins using multiple accounts and used various methods, and converted them into other virtual currencies. They then spent millions of dollars of illicit proceeds on various items.
The couple is currently charged with conspiracy to launder money, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said it was the largest amount of stolen money ever seized by the U.S. Department of Justice. It was also mentioned that Bitcoin is not a “haven” for illegal actions. Federal law enforcement also stated that we can trace funds through the blockchain, and we will not allow cryptocurrencies to be a place for money laundering, let alone a lawless area within the financial system. Bitfinex also issued an announcement saying that it will cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice and follow the appropriate legal process to establish the right to return the stolen bitcoin.
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