The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced the recovery of about $2.5 million linked to several fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes. According to the DOJ, the recovery was from schemes and ventures that exploited the growing interest of users in the industry.
According to the DOJ, the move also underscores an aggressive push to restore trust and integrity across markets in the crypto industry. The order of forfeiture was made by United States District Court Judge Amir H. Ali, and announced by US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, Chief John Lynch of the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Justice, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy of the San Diego Field Office.
United States DOJ wins order of forfeiture
With the order, the United States government is expected to take charge of the assets, marking another effort by federal authorities to ensure the financial market remains with its integrity while protecting its participants from deception. The latest development also underscores the DOJ’s commitment to safeguarding legitimate investment activities in the digital asset industry.
These schemes, often appearing to have an air of legitimacy, use different techniques and methods to lure crypto investors. While some of them use the promise of high returns, others use the promise of something bigger. For example, some platforms promise investors very high profits, using their inexperience to impress upon them to make the investments. These traders often part with huge funds as they seek to make profits from what they feel is a market that everybody is involved in.
In some other cases, there are the issues of Ponzi schemes, where users are mandated to recruit other traders onto a platform for profits. What the platform does is that it uses funds from newer investors to pay older investors, carrying out the act until the team behind the platform is apprehended, or investors realize their activities. These activities and more have caused a dent in the trust that the general populace has in the crypto industry, and the DOJ and other agents involved in this forfeiture are trying to restore it.
According to a statement by United States Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, the United States will continue to hold fraudsters responsible, regardless of where they are located. “Whether they are in our district’s streets or hiding behind a computer screen abroad, the United States will continue to hold fraudsters and grifters responsible, seize money they scam from hard-working Americans, and use our authority to compensate victims,” Pirro said.
Stacey Moy of the San Diego Field Office also mentioned the harm that schemes like these have caused in the United States, noting that victims in every case have lost a devastating amount of money to these scammers under the pretext of changing their lives. “We hope today’s announcement brings a measure of justice to the victims and serves as a reminder, that the FBI will hold fraudsters accountable, no matter where they are located,” Moy added.
In this case and others related to it, the United States uses asset forfeiture to punish and halt criminal activities. By doing this, they deprived criminals from acquiring proceeds of crime or assets obtained using the proceeds. It is also used to promote and enhance cooperation among federal and foreign law enforcement agencies, with the end goal of their cooperation being the recovery of stolen assets and the compensation of victims. Meanwhile, the DOJ has called out to members of the public who believe they are victims of cybercrime to contact the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center to report such crimes.
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