The U.S. Attorney’s Office recently filed a civil action targeting cryptocurrency investment fraud, seeking to recover funds lost by dozens of victims across the country. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro joined other officials in announcing the dramatic action. This action comes in response to more than $225.3 million connected to cryptocurrency “confidence scams.”

The complaint as filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It further claims that the other cryptocurrency addresses were controlling over $225.3 million and were involved in a widespread, blockchain-based money laundering scheme. This network has been accused of engaging in hundreds of thousands of such transactions. Their objective was to conceal the source and control of the proceeds from cryptocurrency investment fraud.

And according to the complaint, there are at least 400 suspected victims across the globe. These schemes hurt innocent American victims, bilking them out of billions of dollars annually. Matthew Galeotti is chief of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. He noted how the Department is quite serious about defending the American people against cryptocurrency investment fraudsters.

Today’s civil forfeiture complaint is the latest action taken by the Department to protect the American public from cryptocurrency investment scammers, and it will not be the last. These schemes harm American victims, costing them billions of dollars every year. Our investigators and prosecutors are relentlessly pursuing these scammers and their ill-gotten gains, and we will not stop until we have dismantled these criminal organizations. - Matthew Galeotti

Shawn Bradstreet, U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge of the San Francisco Field Office. Sanjay Virmani is the FBI Special Agent in Charge of the San Francisco Field Office. Their offices are assisting in the investigation.

Under my leadership, with the support of President Trump and Attorney General Bondi, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia is taking a leading role in the fight against crypto-confidence scams, partnering with law enforcement throughout the country to seize and forfeit stolen funds and rip them from the hands of foreign criminals, all with the eye toward making victims whole. - U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro