&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'Largest forfeiture': Bitcoin valued at $15 billion seized in US; here's what happened")
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has seized Bitcoin valued at a whopping $15 billion. It is the largestforfeiture action in US history. The cryptocurrency was seized from what the department described as a massive "pig butchering" network.
In Brooklyn, New York, federal prosecutors chargedChen Zhi of the Prince Holding Group with a cryptoscam scheme in Cambodia. Zhi, 37, who is at large, is accused of running forced-labor scam compounds across the country. He allegedly used violence to control workers.
What the Department of Justice said on Bitcoin seizure
The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York said it had found images of beatings as evidence.
"An indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging UK and Cambodian national Chen Zhi, also known as Vincent, 37, the founder and chairman of Prince Holding Group (Prince Group), a multinational business conglomerate based in Cambodia, with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy for directing Prince Group’s operation of forced-labor scam compounds across Cambodia. Individuals held against their will in the compounds engaged in cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes, known as “pig butchering” scams, that stole billions of dollars from victims in the United States and around the world. The defendant is at large," the DoJ said in a statement.
It further said that the Bitcoins were proceeds of the defendant's fraud and money laundering schemes. It added that they were previously stored in unhosted cryptocurrency wallets whose private keys the defendant had in his possession.
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"Those funds (the Defendant Cryptocurrency) are presently in the custody of the U.S. government. The complaint is the largest forfeiture action in the history of the Department of Justice," it added.
FBI Director Kash Patel described the action as the largest financial fraud takedowns in history.
"This is an individual who allegedly operated a vast criminal network across multiple continents involving forced labor, money laundering, investment schemes, and stolen assets — targeting millions of innocent victims in the process. Justice will be done, and I’m proud of the men and women of the FBI who executed the mission faithfully," he said.
Elaborating on the crime, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said that trafficked workers were confined in prison-like compounds and forced to carry out online scams on an industrial scale, preying on thousands worldwide, including many in the United States.