Eun Young Choi said the DoJ is targeting crypto exchanges that allow “criminal actors to easily profit from their crimes and cash out,”
What’s the Reality of Crypto in Crime?
The DOJ’s Eun Young Choi said the agency is constantly finding crypto connections in its criminal investigations. But how deep does the problem go and how much should we blame the blockchain?
How the IRS seized $10B worth of crypto using blockchain analytics
A public-private partnership with blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has played a key role in helping the Internal Revenue Service solve cryptocurrency-related crimes.
UK Set to Ban Cold Calls Selling Financial Products, Including Crypto
The reported value of U.K. cryptocurrency fraud climbed 32% to £226 million in the year ending in September 2022.
Leader of Miami Trio Pleads Guilty to $4M Bank, Crypto Fraud Charges
The U.S. Department of Justice last year charged three members of a Miami crew for participating in a crypto-related scheme from 2020.
Prosecutors Seek Seven-Year Prison Sentence for Reggie Fowler in Crypto Shadow Bank Case
The former footballer pleaded guilty to bank and wire fraud charges over operating Crypto Capital Corp., the shadow bank that lost Bitfinex’s millions.
Employees of South Korean Crypto Exchange Coinone Arrested: Report
Seoul Southern District Court Chief Judge Kim Ji-Sook issued a warrant for the arrests on Monday, saying “There is concern about escaping.”
$119M in Stolen Crypto So Far in 2023, NFT Rug Pulls on the Rise: Crystal Blockchain
DeFi protocols have been hackers’ favorite targets since 2021. Now they’re preying on NFT projects too, a blockchain intelligence firm says.
Bulgarian Woman Charged in $4B Crypto Fraud Case, Extradited to U.S.
OneCoin’s victims were allegedly defrauded of over $4 billion in the scheme, which began operations in 2014.
Germany and U.S. Seize Over $46M Crypto Tied to ChipMixer Investigation: Europol
National authorities took down the platform’s infrastructure, seizing four servers and 7 terabytes of data.
SEC Accuses Utah-Based Green United of Running $18M Crypto Mining Scam
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed suit against Green United, alleging that the Utah-based company violated federal securities laws by selling $18 million worth of phony crypto mining equipment.
SEC Files Emergency Action Against BKCoin for Running $100M ‘Ponzi-Like’ Scheme
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was granted emergency relief by a Florida court on Monday to freeze and appoint a receiver for the assets of Miami-based crypto hedge fund BKCoin and one of its co-founders, Kevin Kang.
Crypto Scam in Egypt Defrauds Thousands of Investors of $620K: Report
Authorities have arrested 29 people, including 13 foreign citizens in connection with the fraudulent network known as “HoggPool.”
Crypto Con Artists Leave Trail of ‘Rip Deal’ Victims From Amsterdam to Rome
They invite you to a restaurant to ink an investment in your project, and then they vanish – with the contents of your crypto wallet. Scams have popped up over the last few years targeting crypto companies, and European authorities are investigating.
Crypto Theft Rose in 2022 as Scams, Ransomware Bounty Fell: Chainalysis
2022 became a year of crypto thefts, but illicit transactions still account only for a meager share of all crypto activity, Chainalysis says.
Crypto scammers feel the chill: Revenue drops 46% in 2022 — Chainalysis
Falling crypto prices caused crypto scam revenue to plummet in 2022, though two scam types managed to persist.
Norwegian Authorities Seize $5.9M From Crypto Game Axie Infinity Hack
The National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime – known in Norwegian as Økokrim – said it is the biggest crypto seizure ever made by the country’s police.
Former CFO Pleads Guilty: Funds Used To Trade Crypto & Meme Stocks
With the prolonged bear market in crypto ongoing, one will think most people should be losing money. While that is true, another thing also true is the increase in crimes in the bear market. On today’s news, the ex-chief financial officer has pleaded guilty in court for embezzling more than $5 million from multiple special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) to trade meme stocks and cryptocurrencies.
Going by the name Cooper Morgenthau, the former chief financial officer on Tuesday pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges in the U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan federal court
Former Finance Exec Allegedly Committed Crimes
According to Authorities, Morgenthau had embezzled over $1.2 million between June 2021 and August 2022 from African Gold Acquisition Corp, a blank check company, and underhanded the crime by forging its account statements, and spent or lost all of it in crypto and meme stock trading.
Subsequent to that, the SEC said Morgenthau raised a total of $4.7 million from investors in SPACs, aliased as Strategic Metals Acquisition Corp, to cover his losses but lost most of the funds in trading crypto. At his scheduled April 25 sentencing, Morgenthau is said to face a likely jail sentence of about 6 to 7-1/4 years under recommended federal guidelines.
Ex-CFO Settled For An Agreement
Morgenthau settled for an agreement to forfeit $5.11 million and pay an equal amount in restitution, as well as settle related civil charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. His Background in the African Gold company seems as though the illegal embezzlement of funds has been a recurring activity from Morgenthau.
African Gold, which was established to buy a gold mining business and based in New York, had raised $414 million in a Feb. 2021 initial public offering. The SEC said the company eventually laid off Morgenthau last year in August after discovering his run away with funds and vendors declining to work for the company.
According to African Gold, it terminated Morgenthau at the time after knowing about his “improper withdrawals” endeavor to conceal them. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan noted in a statement that given the pleading guilty, Morgenthau “acknowledged encroaching the trust that he owed to his public and private investors.”
Meanwhile, the crypto market still seems to be in a confused state with a small rally happening in Bitcoin and other altcoins. So far, Bitcoin has increased by 1.12% in the last 24 hours, gaining over $100 in price.
As shown in the chart above, chances are we could see a retrace soon to take out the liquidity in the vector candle. As for other Altcoins, they all also seem to be following the same path as Bitcoin. At the time of writing, Ethereum is up 3% with a trading price of $1251.
27,000 requests last year: Collaboration key for Binance’s Investigations team
Binance’s Investigations and Intelligence team plays a role in helping global law enforcement agencies identify and combat crypto-related crime.
Criminal use of crypto an ‘emerging threat’ — Australian police
Law enforcement will need to “continually evolve” in order to keep pace with criminals, Australia’s federal police said.