US Authorities Seize $34M in One of the Country's Largest Crypto Confiscations

The funds were allegedly gained by selling illicit goods, including stolen credentials.

By Eliza Gkritsi

Apr 5, 2022 at 11:25 a.m. UTC

Updated Apr 5, 2022 at 2:40 p.m. UTC

Eliza Gkritsi

Eliza Gkritsi is CoinDesk's crypto mining reporter based in Asia.

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Federal prosecutors in south Florida seized $34 million in crypto from a man they allege was selling stolen credentials on the dark web, saying it was one of the country's largest confiscations of crypto.

A resident of south Florida had brought in millions of dollars through over 100,000 sales of illicit items and stolen online account information, such as credentials for Netflix and Uber, on different dark web marketplaces, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a Monday statement.
Authorities seized the assets under a civil forfeiture complaint, a court proceeding against the property rather than a person. This type of action doesn't require the suspect to be convicted for the assets to be confiscated.
The person was using a privacy mixer, also known as a tumbler, to obfuscate the transactions, which violated money laundering statutes, the DoJ said. Police found several different wallets related to the activity.
A privacy mixer was also used by Hydra Market, a now-defunct Russian dark web marketplace that traded mainly drugs, German police said on Tuesday.

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