How This DOJ Strike Force Hunts Down Cryptocurrency Criminals - Ep.195

Magistrate judge Zia Faruqui, and Jessi Brooks, assistant U.S. attorney in the national security section at the United States Attorney’s Office, have prosecuted several cryptocurrency-related cases, many of them amongst the most well-known. In this episode, they talk about:

how they came to be involved in the prosecution of so many cases involving cryptocurrency

the nature of civil forfeiture cases

the Al-Qassam Brigades case, which led to the largest ever seizure of a terrorist organization’s cryptocurrency accounts, and the terrorist organization’s use of dynamic addresses in an attempt to elude detection by authorities.

how Al Qaeda used Telegram to pursue cryptocurrency donations

the case involving ISIS and counterfeit PPE for COVID

the process of seizing funds from unhosted wallets

the North Korean affiliated Lazarus Group, and how they were able to amass $2580 million worth of cryptocurrency

the methods hackers will use to cash out stolen crypto funds to fiat

how different government agencies in the U.S., as well as in other countries, are coordinated when tackling these cases

the Welcome to Video case and how they went about prosecuting a person in a foreign country

how they’ve seen the use of cryptocurrencies by criminals evolve over time

and whether or not they think decentralized exchanges will make it easier for criminals and hackers to cash out

Thank you to our sponsor! 

Crypto.com: https://www.crypto.com

Episode links: 

Jessi Brooks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-brooks-8289ab32/

Zia’s Faruqui: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zia-faruqui-a73ba11a5/

Three terror-finance cybercrime cases: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/global-disruption-three-terror-finance-cyber-enabled-campaigns

The Al-Qassam Brigades case: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/global-disruption-three-terror-finance-cyber-enabled-campaigns

Scam PPE site: https://www.wired.com/story/isis-allegedly-ran-a-covid-19-ppe-scam-site/

Civil forfeiture complaint against North Korea-affiliated hackers, Lazarus Group: 

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/united-states-files-complaint-forfeit-280-cryptocurrency-accounts-tied-hacks-two

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/press-release/file/1310411/download

https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/lazarus-group-north-korea-doj-complaint-august-2020

Welcome to Video indictment: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/south-korean-national-and-hundreds-others-charged-worldwide-takedown-largest-darknet-child

Dark Scandals: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2020/03/13/dark-deja-vu-irs-announces-charges-in-takedown-of-multi-million-dollar-child-exploitation-website-funded-by-bitcoin/#4a09b2ac28ae

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/press-release/file/1257581/download

Jonathan Levin from Chainalysis on Unchained: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-bitcoin-led-to-the-demise-of-the-largest-child-porn-site/

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