justice

According to The Block, the U.S. Department of Justice has seized a cloud computing account used by Huione Group, which is accused of laundering billions of dollars in cryptocurrency scam proceeds. Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva stated that the account constituted technical support, enabling the transfer and concealment of scam funds through Southeast Asian scam centers. This action is part of "Operation Choke Point," under which the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network had previously identified Huione Group as a primary money laundering concern.The statement claims that Huione's subsidiaries are suspected of assisting criminals in transferring funds from investment scams, cyber theft, and other illegal blockchain activities, ultimately injecting them into the legitimate banking system, with a significant amount of theft reportedly linked to North Korea. Huione's "Huione Guarantee" had previously posted advertisements for stolen credit cards, identity information, malware profits, and human trafficking services on Telegram channels. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic pointed out that Huione launched the stablecoin USDH under financial pressure last year and developed a proprietary product line that includes a decentralized exchange, wallets, and "Huione Chain" (Xone).

According to CryptoSlate, the U.S. Congress is pushing to rebuild the Department of Justice's cryptocurrency crime task force. Previously, the Department of Justice disbanded the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team in April 2025 and stopped its "law enforcement as regulation" strategy targeting the cryptocurrency industry. The new bill was proposed by Representatives Lance Gooden and Josh Gottheimer, aiming to establish a federal cryptocurrency theft task force within the Department of Justice, responsible for coordinating investigations and prosecutions of cases involving cryptocurrency theft, hacking, fraud, and more.The task force's responsibilities include developing best practices for evidence collection, digital evidence analysis, asset tracking, and victim outreach, providing technical assistance and training to state and local law enforcement agencies, and coordinating international cross-border case cooperation. The bill explicitly excludes the cryptocurrency market, financial institutions, and financial products from the task force's regulatory scope, without changing the existing regulatory framework and criminal law. An FBI report indicates that in 2025, there were 181,565 complaints involving cryptocurrency, with reported losses exceeding $11 billion. The bill has not yet clarified details regarding funding, staffing, and victim response mechanisms.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced that Ruslan Igorevich Tkachuk and Alexander Vladimirovich Ledenev were arrested for allegedly operating a cryptocurrency money laundering service called Audi A6.Since its launch in 2021, the service has received approximately 10,333 bitcoins, valued at over $389 million at the time of the transactions, of which at least $19.234 million worth of bitcoins came directly from illegal sources such as dark web markets and ransomware organizations.A joint international law enforcement operation has seized and frozen the servers, domain names, and Telegram accounts associated with Audi A6.

According to The Block, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Saif Faiq, one of the organizers of a kidnapping case related to Bitcoin in 2024, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges on Monday in federal court in Connecticut, facing a maximum of 20 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for August 28.Faiq and his brother Adam Iza planned to kidnap the parents of a crypto millionaire for extortion. Faiq recruited six individuals from Florida, organized them to travel to Connecticut, and helped plan a home invasion after surveilling the victim. The six individuals hijacked a Lamborghini Urus in Danbury during the day, assaulted the owner, and briefly held him captive.The victim is the parent of Veer Chetal, who previously stole approximately 4,100 Bitcoins through a social engineering scam and encountered Faiq's accomplices while flaunting his ill-gotten gains at a nightclub in Miami. Chetal pleaded guilty to theft charges last November and is awaiting sentencing. Both Faiq and his brother Iza have pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges.

According to The Block, the U.S. Department of Justice stated that in a joint anti-fraud operation codenamed "Disruption Week," private sector participants froze over $3.8 million in cryptocurrency assets related to fraud. Participating organizations include Coinbase, Meta, Google, Microsoft, SpaceX, TRM Labs, and others.The operation also led to the arrest of 7 fraudsters by Thai police and the identification of multiple fraud platforms handed over for investigation by the U.S. authorities. Data from the FBI shows that losses reported from cryptocurrency investment fraud in 2025 increased by 24% year-on-year, exceeding $7.2 billion.

According to Bits.media, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced the initiation of a compensation program for victims of the cryptocurrency mining scam AirBit Club. Founded in 2015, AirBit Club operated a financial pyramid scheme under the guise of cryptocurrency mining and virtual currency trading platforms. U.S. authorities have seized over $400 million in assets for compensation. Victims who previously provided information to the FBI or prosecutors will be contacted by RCB Fund Services. Prosecutors stated that there are no fees for the compensation process.The founder of AirBit Club was charged with money laundering and fraud by the Southern District of New York in August 2020, and the trial concluded in September 2023, with the court ordering the forfeiture of all fraud proceeds, including over 16,000 bitcoins.

The U.S. Court of Appeals is hearing the appeal case of Roman Sterlingov, focusing on the key discussion of whether cryptocurrency services are subject to U.S. law. The case centers on: whether a small number of transactions conducted by law enforcement in Washington is sufficient to establish jurisdiction; and the reliability of evidence identifying the defendant through "IP overlap analysis" by the FBI. The U.S. Department of Justice argues that Bitcoin Fog, as a global money transfer service aimed at U.S. users, should be bound by U.S. law; while the defense questions the law enforcement's "artificial creation of jurisdiction."

According to Jin Shi reports, the U.S. Department of Justice has reached a $30 million settlement agreement with Paypal (PYPL.O).

According to ABC News, multiple sources have revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice is expected to terminate the criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Powell as early as Friday.

Polymarket stated on platform X, "Last month, we released enhanced market integrity rules to combat insider trading. When we discover users trading on government confidential information, we refer the matter to the Department of Justice and cooperate with their investigation. Polymarket does not tolerate insider trading, and today's arrests prove that this system is effective."The arrest mentioned by Polymarket refers to the U.S. federal authorities arresting a special forces soldier this Thursday who was involved in the arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro. This soldier is suspected of profiting over $400,000 by betting on Maduro's ouster. Sources say federal investigators believe this commando placed over $33,000 in bets on the prediction market Polymarket just hours before President Trump announced the capture of Maduro in January.

According to an official announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice, the "Fraud Center Strike Force" announced today a series of coordinated actions against Southeast Asian criminal organizations: two Chinese managers, Huang Xingshan and Jiang Wenjie, working at the "Shun Da Fraud Center" in Myanmar, have been indicted for allegedly forcing trafficked laborers to engage in cryptocurrency investment fraud and have been arrested in Thailand; a Telegram channel with over 6,000 followers, used to lure individuals to Cambodia's fraud centers for forced labor, has been shut down; and 503 fraudulent domain names disguised as legitimate investment platforms have been seized.On the financial side, the task force has frozen over $701 million in cryptocurrency suspected of being related to fraud and money laundering, and through "Operation Level Up," notified 8,935 victims, estimating the recovery of potential losses at approximately $563 million. Additionally, the U.S. State Department announced a reward of up to $10 million for information related to the "

According to Fortune, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, Connecticut) has sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) requesting clarification on the status of two compliance supervisors at the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.Previous reports indicated that internal investigators at Binance had warned executives that over $1 billion in funds were flowing to wallets associated with Iran, but were subsequently fired. Binance denies that the firings were related to the investigation results and claims that its compliance system is strict. Notably, the DOJ had previously terminated independent oversight requirements for Glencore and Boeing, raising concerns about whether the oversight mechanism has also been suspended for Binance. In 2023, Binance was fined $4.3 billion for deficiencies in anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance, and the two supervisors were part of the agreement at that time.

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that it has initiated a compensation program for victims of the OneCoin cryptocurrency fraud case, with over $40 million in forfeited assets available for payout.The program is aimed at investors who purchased OneCoin and incurred net losses between 2014 and 2019. U.S. prosecutors stated that this move is intended to return some of the illicit proceeds to the victims. OneCoin was initiated by Ruja Ignatova and Karl Greenwood, with the related fraud exceeding $4 billion. Ignatova has been missing since 2017, and Greenwood was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2023.

Binance founder Zhao Changpeng (CZ) recalled in his new book that during negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice, the other party initially proposed a fine of up to $6.8 billion, far exceeding the final settlement amount.He stated that the two sides started with about $500 million and went through multiple rounds of negotiations, during which the prosecution repeatedly pressured and issued "ultimatums," ultimately reaching a settlement of $4.3 billion.CZ also mentioned that some lawyers suggested "paying a higher fine might help reduce the sentence," but the Department of Justice later used the high fine as one of the bases for "seriousness of the issue" in court.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has expressed clear opposition to the latest request by Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm to dismiss criminal charges, stating that the recent Supreme Court ruling is unrelated to this case and should not serve as a basis for dismissal.Storm's attorney previously informed the court that he intends to cite a new Supreme Court ruling (involving a civil case of copyright infringement) to support the motion to dismiss. However, U.S. prosecutors pointed out in a letter to the federal judge that the ruling addresses a situation and industry completely different from the current criminal charges and therefore should not affect the handling of this case.This legal battle reflects the contradictory stance of the Trump administration towards the cryptocurrency sector: on one hand, the U.S. government has shown a relatively supportive policy inclination towards cryptocurrency, while on the other hand, it still insists on pursuing criminal liability against certain cryptocurrency project developers. Given the current situation, Storm may still face a retrial, and the case is expected to enter the courtroom again.

According to a report by Reuters, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have filed a lawsuit against the Governor of Illinois and the Attorney General, accusing them of attempting to regulate prediction markets beyond their legal authority.The two agencies stated that the relevant regulatory measures in Illinois are invalid because the state government does not have the authority to govern federally regulated prediction markets. The lawsuit emphasizes the protection of innovative financial instruments from overreach by local governments.

The U.S. Department of Justice's Northern California Prosecutor's Office announced that 10 executives and employees from four cryptocurrency market-making firms have been charged with allegedly manipulating token trading volumes and prices through wash trading, involving Gotbit, Vortex, Antier, and Contrarian.Three of the defendants have been extradited from Singapore to the U.S., and two others have pleaded guilty and been sentenced. The FBI and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division even created multiple cryptocurrency tokens during an undercover operation to investigate illegal volume manipulation and price inflation within the industry. Over $1 million in cryptocurrency assets have currently been seized.

According to Cointelegraph, three Democratic senators from the United States have stated that they will oversee the Justice Department's alleged investigation into Binance for violating sanctions related to Iran. Senators Chris Van Hollen, Elizabeth Warren, and Ruben Gallego said in a joint statement that they will conduct oversight to ensure the Justice Department investigates Binance and holds it accountable for any wrongdoing.The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the Justice Department is investigating whether Iran may have used Binance to evade sanctions. The senators stated that Binance has a documented history of prioritizing profits over the law, raising serious concerns about the company potentially violating U.S. sanctions laws again and funding activities related to terrorist organizations linked to Iran. Binance previously responded that it was unaware of any investigation but has been cooperating with regulatory and law enforcement agencies to investigate the facts. Binance has filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against a February article by The Wall Street Journal, claiming it constitutes defamation.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating how Iran is using the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, to evade U.S. sanctions.The report cites company documents and sources familiar with the matter, stating that an internal investigation at Binance into over $1 billion in suspicious fund flows was halted. These funds were funneled through the platform to a network that finances Iran-backed terrorist organizations, including the Houthi movement in Yemen. The investigation focuses on the flow of the relevant funds on Binance and its compliance risks.

According to a post by Amanda Tuminelli, Chief Legal Officer of the DeFi Education Fund, the U.S. Department of Justice has decided to conduct a retrial of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm this fall.In the previous trial, the jury was unable to reach a consensus on the charges of money laundering and sanctions violations, only convicting him of operating an unlicensed money transfer business. Despite significant errors by the prosecution in the first trial, including calling irrelevant witnesses, failing to understand their own forensic analysis of blockchain evidence, and legal and logical flaws in the third-party developer liability allegations, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has still decided to retry the first and third charges in the indictment.