The United States seeks to reach $ 7.1 million in crypto seized by Homeland Security in December linked to an allegedly fraudulent oil and gas investment regime.
The Bureau of the United States lawyer of Seattle said on Tuesday that it had filed a civil measure to request the confiscation of some of the $ 97 million taken by the alleged program which took place between June 2022 and July 2024.
“The co-seizures of this fraud have moved their poorly acquired gain through various cryptocurrency accounts to try to whiten the money stolen from the victims,” said Uattle Teal’s American lawyer Luthy Miller.
Miller’s office said that the cryptographic accounts he was looking for confiscation belonging to people residing in Russia and Nigeria who used victim funds to buy crypto and sent part of these funds to the exchanges of their country of origin.
An accused for a role in an alleged scheme
At least one person would have facilitated money laundering for transnational criminal organizations.
Geoffrey Auyeung was charged in August 2024 after being accused of having received the share of the lion of the fraudulent investment regime.
Auyeung was accused of having bought Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT), USDC (USDC) and Ether (ETH) with the allegedly stolen funds and would send the majority of the crypto to the crypto exchange.
The American authorities seized nearly $ 2.3 million in its bank accounts at the time of its arrest.
The Ministry of Justice said that investors had been attracted to the profit cover via an investment program that would buy storage facilities for oil tanks, with the intention of renting them to others to make substantial gains.
However, once the victims have sent their money, the prosecutors alleged that the people involved in the program simply stop responding.
Prosecutors claimed to have identified victims who were frauded by $ 17.9 million and expect more to claim their complaints after being identified and verified that they were victims of the alleged scam.
If the court approves the confiscation of $ 7.1 million, the funds recovered would amount to $ 9.4 million, which would be distributed to all alleged victims.
Recent regulatory repression
In recent weeks, regulators have suppressed malicious actors in cryptographic space.
Earlier this month, American prosecutors charged two men who were the promoters of Omegapro, who would have frauded investors of $ 650 million. If they are guilty, they could incur up to 40 years in prison.
Friday, former rugby player Shane Donovan Moore was sentenced to two and a half years in an American federal prison for having operated a $ 900,000 Ponzi program which dubed more than 40 investors.
Police from Hong Kong arrested four people who have fraudd $ 3 million in Hong Kong ($ 382,000) on Thursday. However, the presumed brain behind the operation managed to flee abroad.
