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Two Chinese nationals were charged with laundering cryptocurrency worth over $100 million.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) sanctioned Yinyin Tian and Juiadong Li of laundering cryptocurrency that was stolen in a crypto exchange hack in 2018. The Department of Justice also announced an indictment for money laundering against the two, Cointelegraph reported.
Tian and Li’s activities are linked to Lazarus Group, a hacking group that is allegedly connected to the North Korean government. OFAC accused the pair of assisting a “malicious cyber-enabled activity.”
“The North Korean regime has continued its widespread campaign of extensive cyber-attacks on financial institutions to steal funds. The United States will continue to protect the global financial system by holding accountable those who help North Korea engage in cyber-crime,” said Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
“These defendants allegedly laundered over a hundred million dollars worth of stolen cryptocurrency to obscure transactions for the benefit of actors based in North Korea. Today's actions underscore that the Department will pierce the veil of anonymity provided by cryptocurrencies to hold criminals accountable, no matter where they are located,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division on the separate charge.
The prosecutors alleged that hackers from North Korea gained access to a virtual currency exchange in 2018 and stole nearly $250 million worth of digital currency before laundering it through several transactions.
The hackers used fake identifications and edited photos to get away with what they did. They also used the money they stole to fund the other hacking campaigns in the country.
Tian and Li were charged by the authorities with laundering over $100 million in cryptocurrency between December 2017 and April 2019. They also alleged that the two operated a business in the U.S. but failed to register with the Treasury Department as required by the law.
“The hacking of virtual currency exchanges and related money laundering for the benefit of North Korean actors poses a grave threat to the security and integrity of the global financial system,” said Timothy Shea, the U.S. attorney in the nation’s capital.
Aside from the indictment, the prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture complaint to recover the funds that were stolen. It specifically named 113 virtual currency accounts and addresses that were used to launder the money. A portion of the stolen money has already been recovered
Meanwhile, last year, Japanese crypto exchange Bitcoin resumed its trading services after a massive $28 million hack in mid-July. The exchange assured its users that the resumption of services followed a safety assessment of its crypto wallet.
