Crimes
South Korean authorities ask Interpol to issue ‘Red Notice’ for Do Kwon: Report
South Korean prosecutors have reportedly requested Interpol intervene in their case against Terra co-founder Do Kwon by issuing a “Red Notice” — suggesting global law enforcement agencies may attempt to find and detain him. According to a Monday report from the Financial Times, the Seoul Southern District prosecutors’ office said it had “begun the procedure” to place Kwon on Interpol’s Red Notice list following steps to revoke the Terra co-founder’s passport while he was in Singapore. Interpol’s website states that a Red Notice is requested by authorities “locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action,” but the agency cannot compel local law enforcement to arrest the subject of such notice. “We are doing our best to locate and ...
Brother of former Coinbase employee pleads guilty to charges related to insider trading: Report
Nikhil Wahi, who was arrested for allegedly working with his brother and an associate on a scheme to commit insider trading using crypto, has reportedly entered a guilty plea for wire fraud conspiracy charges. According to a Monday report from Reuters, Wahi admitted to authorities during a virtual hearing that he used confidential information obtained from Coinbase to make profits from trading crypto. Wahi’s brother Ishan worked as a product manager at Coinbase, during which time he allegedly shared information regarding the launch dates of tokens with his brother and an associate, Sameer Ramani. The trio allegedly used the insider information to make roughly $1.5 million in gains from trading 25 different cryptocurrencies between 2021 and 2022. “I knew that it was wrong to receive C...
AML and KYC: A catalyst for mainstream crypto adoption
For Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin (BTC), the motivation to create a new payment ecosystem from scratch in 2009 stemmed from the economic chaos caused by the banking sector’s over-exuberant and risky lending practices mixed accompanied by the bursting of the housing bubbles in many countries at the time. “And who do you think picked up the pieces after the fallout? The taxpayer, of course,” said Durgham Mushtaha, business development manager of blockchain analytics firm Coinfirm, in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. Satoshi recognized the need for a new monetary system based on equity and fairness — a system that gives back power into the hands of the people. A trustless system with anonymous participants, transacting peer-to-peer and without the need of a central ...
Dutch authorities arrest suspected Tornado Cash developer
Authorities in the Netherlands have arrested a developer that is suspected to be involved in money laundering through the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash. The Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), an agency in the Netherlands responsible for investigating financial crimes, officially announced on Friday an arrest of a 29-year-old man in Amsterdam. The man has allegedly been involved in facilitating criminal financial flows and money laundering through the decentralized Ethereum mixer Tornado Cash, the authority said. The FIOD pointed out that it doesn’t rule out multiple arrests in the case, noting that its Financial Advanced Cyber Team (FACT) launched a criminal investigation against Tornado Cash in June 2022. According to the FACT, Tornado Cash has allegedly been used t...
US Justice Department seized $500K in fiat and crypto from hackers connected to DPRK government
The United States Department of Justice has seized and returned roughly $500,000 in fiat and crypto from a hacking group tied to the North Korean government, which included two crypto payments made by U.S. health care providers. In a Tuesday announcement, the Justice Department said in conjunction with the FBI it had investigated a $100,000 ransomware payment in Bitcoin (BTC) from a Kansas hospital to a North Korean hacking group in order to regain access to its systems, as well as a $120,000 BTC payment from a medical provider in Colorado to one of the wallets connected to the aforementioned attack. In May, the FBI filed a seizure warrant for funds from the two ransom attacks and others laundered through China, which the Justice Department reported as worth roughly $500,000 total. “These ...
Former Monero maintainer Riccardo ‘Fluffypony’ Spagni to surrender for South Africa extradition
Riccardo Spagni, the former maintainer of the privacy coin Monero also known as Fluffypony, faces extradition to South Africa months after his arrest by U.S. authorities. In a Thursday court filing for the Middle District of Tennessee, Magistrate Judge Alistair Newbern ordered Spagni to surrender to U.S. Marshals on July 5 for extradition to South Africa. He will reportedly face 378 charges related to allegations of fraud and forgery between 2009 and 2011 at a company called Cape Cookies. U.S. authorities arrested Spagni in Nashville in July 2021 at the request of the South African government, holding him in custody until September. The court filings hint at allowing Spagni to be in the United States for the Independence Day holiday weekend before being taken to Africa early on Tuesday. No...
Information, AML/CFT steps are key to fighting international digital crime, DOJ report says
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) released a report on international law enforcement related to digital assets Tuesday. It is the first of the approximately one dozen reports mandated in President Joe Biden’s March 9 executive order “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets.” The report, titled “How To Strengthen International Law Enforcement Cooperation For Detecting, Investigating, And Prosecuting Criminal Activity Related To Digital Assets,” was written with the collaboration of Departments of State, Treasury and Homeland Security, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Countries have varying degrees of capacity to deal with criminal activity due to the unique law enforcement challenges associated wi...
US federal judge approves of Justice Dept criminal complaint on using crypto to evade sanctions
The United States Department of Justice may move forward on a criminal prosecution case against a U.S. citizen who allegedly violated sanctions through cryptocurrency. According to a Friday opinion filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the unnamed individual who is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department allegedly sent more than $10 million in Bitcoin (BTC) from a U.S.-based crypto exchange to an exchange in a country for which the U.S. currently imposes sanctions — suggesting Russia, Cuba, North Korea, Syria, or Iran. The filing alleged the individual “conspired to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act” and conspired to defraud the United States. The individual allegedly “proudly stated the Payments Platform could circumven...
Chinese court rules marketplace guilty of minting NFTs from stolen artwork
A court in the Chinese city of Hangzhou ruled a one-of-a-kind judgment against a nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace for allowing a user to create (or mint) NFTs of stolen artwork. As reported by South China Morning Post, the court verdict toward the NFT marketplace was made after Shenzhen-based company Qice filed a lawsuit against NFTCN’s parent company, BigVerse. The lawsuit claimed that an NFTCN user stole a copyrighted artwork of Ma Qianli, a Chinese artist specializing in drawing and printing. The user of the NFT platform allegedly poached one of Ma’s creations of a cartoon picture. Based on the evidence collected, the court found the NFTCN platform guilty of not checking for forgery or intellectual property (IP) theft prior to allowing users to mint NFTs. As a result, NFTCN was charg...
In defense of crypto: Why digital currencies deserve a better reputation
Ever since its inception and throughout its turbulent journey toward mainstream acceptance, crypto has elicited both enthusiasm and trepidation in equal measure. After the unfair battering it has received over the years, the time has come to defend digital currencies. Unfortunately for crypto, first impressions count. Bitcoin (BTC) initially gained a tawdry reputation in its early years as the currency of choice for illicit activities — favored by dark web users, ransomware hackers, drug traffickers and money launderers worldwide. But, the world has changed since the first Bitcoin was mined in January 2009. There are now more than 18 million of them in circulation, and more than 90,000 people have $1 million or more stashed away in Bitcoin, according to cryptocurrency data-tracking firm Bi...
Blockchain forensics is the trusted informant in crypto crime scene investigation
The seizure by the U.S. Department of Justice of $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) lost during the 2016 hack of Bitfinex’s cryptocurrency exchange has all the ingredients of a Hollywood film — eye-popping sums, colorful protagonists and crypto cloak-and-dagger — so much so that Netflix has already commissioned a docuseries. But, who are the unsung heroes in this action-packed thriller? Federal investigators from multiple agencies including the new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team have painstakingly followed the money trail to assemble the case. The Feds also seized the Colonial Pipeline ransoms paid in crypto, making headlines last year. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized $3.5 billion worth of crypto in 2021 in non-tax investigations, according to the recently releas...
Are crypto and blockchain safe for kids, or should greater measures be put in place?
Crypto is going mainstream, and the world’s younger generation, in particular, is taking note. Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com recently predicted that crypto users worldwide could reach 1 billion by the end of 2022. Further findings show that Millennials — those between the ages of 26 and 41 — are turning to digital asset investment to build wealth. For example, a study conducted in 2021 by personal loan company Stilt found that, according to its user data, more than 94% of people who own crypto were between 18 and 40. Keeping children safe While the increased interest in cryptocurrency is notable, some are raising concerns regarding the ways those under the age of 18 are interacting with digital assets. These challenges were highlighted in UNICEF’s recent “Prospects for children in 202...
