The US Dept of "Justice" has formed a Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit as part of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET). Why bother announcing this as the NCET already exists?
The Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit will be made up of a team of crypto experts providing services to the FBI.
and
With the creation of the new unit, the NCET will also begin to act outside U.S. borders. The Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit plans to strengthen earlier efforts from the DOJ and support law enforcement at domestic and international levels of government.
FBI has international powers now? No mention of the other organisations involved.
Possibly emboldened by this: DoJ Seizes $3.6B in Bitcoin From 2016 Bitfinex Hack
Discussing the seizure in a press release, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said that the incident was proof that “cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals.” She criticized Lichtenstein and Morgan for their “futile effort to maintain digital anonymity” and added that the Department of Justice “can and will follow the money, no matter what form it takes.”
Not good news for Bitcoin maximanalists.
This bit is fun:
After the execution of court-authorized search warrants of online accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan, special agents obtained access to files within an online account controlled by Lichtenstein. Those files contained the private keys required to access the digital wallet that directly received the funds stolen from Bitfinex, and allowed special agents to lawfully seize and recover more than 94,000 bitcoin that had been stolen from Bitfinex.
"The criminal complaint alleges that Lichtenstein and Morgan employed numerous sophisticated laundering techniques." Like... leaving their keys online!?
Don't ever do that!
I mentioned before that in my research some time back, at that time the U.S. government was the largest holder of Bitcoin, and not because they were buying any dips.
I guarantee that if one is unfortunate enough to be searched in public as part of some asset forfeiture scheme, or their house is raided the first thing many of those searching are looking for are flash drives, external hard drives, anything paper that has a long string of characters etc. And we can be assured that what is found isn't always placed in any evidence bag, but instead now becomes the property of the officers who found it. Good luck to any who have their keys and wallets discovered in these raids. Might as well kiss that crypto goodbye.
94000 bitcoin was recovered ? Does that mean that it was given back to from where it was stolen , Bitfinex.
Also i wonder why someone would leave their keys online , atleast i will never do that. The most difficult but secure way is to write it on a paper.
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