Justice Department officials did not go into great detail regarding the investment scam, but said that more than 400 suspected victims had lost millions of dollars.
Officials with the US Department of Justice announced the seizure by the Secret Service of more than $225 million “linked to cryptocurrency investment scams.”
In a Wednesday notice, the DOJ said it had filed a civil forfeiture complaint against more than $225.3 million in cryptocurrency. In the US legal system, such complaints are filed against the assets themselves rather than parties connected to them. According to US officials, the crypto at issue was involved in money laundering from victims of fraudulent investment schemes.
Interim US Attorney for the District of Columbia and former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro said officials planned to make victims of the schemes whole again using the funds. While unclear on details regarding the investment scam, the complaint alleged that more than 400 suspected victims had fallen for fake crypto schemes, resulting in losses of millions of dollars.
Stablecoin issuer Tether, which the DOJ acknowledged for its assistance in the investigation, said in a Wednesday blog post that the crypto seizure was related to “pig butchering” fraud. The practice refers to a scam in which criminals “fatten” up victims by convincing them to send increasingly larger amounts of money over time.
Related: Pig butchering scams stole $5.5B from crypto investors in 2024 — Cyvers
According to a report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, crypto investment fraud resulted in more than $5.8 billion in reported losses in 2024. The report suggested that Americans had lost more than $9.3 billion in scams and fraud involving digital assets in the same year.
Cracking down on fraud nationwide
The DOJ complaint was announced the same day that officials in New York said they had seized $140,000 and frozen another $300,000 tied to a cryptocurrency investment scam using fake ads on social media platforms. The scheme caused more than $1 million in losses, with more than 300 victims identified.
During a press conference discussing the civil forfeiture case, Pirro sidestepped questions on whether the Justice Department would adopt a similar approach to scrutinizing US President Donald Trump’s connections to the crypto industry. She cited the recent passage of the GENIUS Act, a bill to regulate stablecoins, in the US Senate, but said the DOJ would be focused on “people who are being scammed out of their life savings.”
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