crime

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Iris Rabaya Au, a 37-year-old woman from Irvine, Orange County, California, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for failing to report over $2.6 million in illegal income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She was also ordered to pay $1.484 million in restitution and had multiple luxury cars, high-performance vehicles, designer handbags, and three "Godfather" sculptures confiscated. Au is the ex-girlfriend of cryptocurrency scammer Adam Iza.Prosecutors stated that between 2020 and 2024, Iza fraudulently obtained Meta advertising accounts and credit lines, selling account access and earning millions of dollars in unreported income. At Iza's direction, Au set up shell companies and opened bank accounts, using the related funds to pay approximately $1 million to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) officers and to purchase or lease luxury homes, cars, jewelry, and clothing. They also spent nearly $10 million on entertainment and purchased about $16 million in cryptocurrency for Iza. Between 2020 and 2023, Au transferred over $2.6 million into her personal bank accounts but did not accurately report it on her federal tax returns. She pleaded guilty to one count of false tax return in March 2025. Iza pleaded guilty in January 2025 to charges including conspiracy to infringe rights, wire fraud, and tax evasion, with a sentencing hearing scheduled for October 5. He was also sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for his involvement in an attempted Bitcoin robbery and kidnapping case in Connecticut in August 2024.

The UK Home Office announced on Tuesday that it will invest £500 million over three years to recruit 500 officials to track and seize criminal funds as part of a new anti-money laundering and asset recovery strategy. The funding comes from an economic crime tax levied on regulated businesses, and the new officials will be distributed across various police forces, the National Crime Agency (NCA), and the Crown Prosecution Service.The NCA estimates that over £100 billion is laundered through the UK or UK corporate structures each year, and the Home Office stated that this threat has "intensified in recent years due to the rise of fintech, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence." The new officials will work based on "Operation Destabilise," which targets Russian-speaking cybercriminal groups that convert street cash into cryptocurrency. The NCA plans to launch a new round of arrests and cash seizures against networks supporting ransomware gangs, hostile nations, and Class A drug trafficking, having already arrested 119 suspected money launderers and seized over £25 million in cash and cryptocurrency in less than a year.The NCA's Economic Crime Centre stated in its annual report last week that criminals are "innovatively using crypto asset products to evade detection and transfer illicit value at scale," hoping to expand this model to other networks and build "more proactive and intelligence-led crypto capabilities." Crypto assets rank third among the nine economic crime priorities agreed upon with the Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority. The government stated that nearly £350 million has been recovered from criminals over the past year, over £1 billion has been refused, £26 million has been returned to victims, and nearly 4,000 money laundering convictions have been facilitated.

According to Fortune, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency crime tracking company TRM Labs completed a $70 million Series C funding round in September 2025, achieving a valuation of $1 billion. Just six months later, it received additional investment from existing investors, doubling its valuation to $2 billion.CEO Esteban Castano stated that the company's mission has expanded from blockchain forensics to a broader mapping of cybercrime, with AI becoming a second growth engine rather than a transformation, while the core cryptocurrency business remains strong. The company is set to launch a new investigation platform specifically targeting AI-driven deepfake scams, extortion related to pornography, and child sexual abuse crimes.Castano noted that the widespread adoption of cryptocurrency has made it possible to comprehensively map crime networks, and the company is expected to reach a $100 million annual recurring revenue milestone in the coming weeks. Currently, it has about 500 employees and has offices in London, Singapore, and Washington.

According to Decrypt, the UK's National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) warned in its annual report released this week that criminals are "innovatively using cryptocurrency products to evade detection and transfer illegal value on a large scale."The agency is part of the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and is responsible for coordinating the UK's response to economic crime. The threat assessment in the report indicates that cross-border money laundering networks are spreading, combining new and traditional methods while transferring funds through both legitimate and illegitimate channels; many organized crime groups no longer launder money themselves but outsource it to specialized networks for a fee. The report also mentions artificial intelligence alongside cryptocurrency, noting that criminals are using synthetic identities and process automation to attack banks.The report shows that cryptocurrency ranks third among the nine economic crime priorities identified by the UK's National Economic Crime Centre, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Home Office, and the Treasury in July 2025, above cash crime and money mules. The agency states that it is developing "more proactive, intelligence-led cryptocurrency capabilities." Additionally, its joint operation "Atlantic Action" with the U.S. Secret Service, Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, and Tether has identified 20,000 approved phishing victims and frozen $12 million in funds; the "Stable Action" targeting Russian networks converting street cash into cryptocurrency has arrested 129 individuals and seized over £25 million in the UK.The report also mentions a report on privacy-enhancing technologies in the cryptocurrency industry released by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

According to Cointelegraph, the Attorney General's Office of the State of Mexico (FGJEM) reported that two suspects, Diego Sebastián and Gerardo, were arrested for allegedly murdering Jonathan Meléndez, the keyboardist of the rock band Camilo Séptimo, along with his pregnant wife, daughter, and an employee. The family's golden retriever was also killed.The suspects are accused of committing the crime to obtain a cold wallet that allegedly contained millions of dollars in Bitcoin, with one of the suspects being a business partner of the victim, using that relationship to gain access to the victim's home. The two will appear in court on Wednesday, where the judge will decide if there is enough evidence to continue the criminal proceedings. If convicted, each suspect could face a prison sentence of 25 to 70 years corresponding to each victim.Such violent robberies targeting cryptocurrency holders (known as "ransom attacks") are on the rise. According to CertiK data, there were 52 reported ransom attack incidents globally in the first half of 2026, a year-on-year increase of 33.3%; among them, there were 20 home invasions targeting cryptocurrency holders, compared to only 1 during the same period last year.Chainalysis estimates that in the first half of 2026, criminals stole over 30 million dollars in cryptocurrency through ransom attacks. In 2025, global ransom attack incidents increased by 75% to 72 cases, with France leading with 19 cases, accounting for about 40% of the total attacks in Europe.

According to Decrypt, Michael Gubbins, the head of the Criminal Assets Bureau in Ireland, revealed to the Sunday Independent that organized crime gangs are renting private vaults to store cryptocurrency wallet private keys and mnemonic phrases along with cash, luxury watches, passports, and other valuables. This situation has been reported to the government's Anti-Money Laundering Steering Committee, which is preparing to implement new EU anti-money laundering rules in Ireland.The new EU regulations will take effect next summer, prohibiting cash transactions over 10,000 euros and requiring businesses to identify individuals for cash expenditures of 3,000 euros and above. Gubbins stated that crime gangs believe cryptocurrency offers anonymity, but the use of cryptocurrency in Ireland is still quite primitive, with cash remaining the primary form of payment for criminal activities such as drug trafficking.The bureau is handling its largest cryptocurrency seizure in history, involving 6,000 bitcoins confiscated from a cannabis grower in 2019, with the private keys written on paper and hidden in a tackle box, which was later lost. With the assistance of Europol, the bureau has cracked the first of 12 wallets in March, with over 130 million euros already liquidated from assets totaling 360 million euros.

According to The Block, TRM Labs' latest report shows that the application of artificial intelligence in crypto crime has increased by 40% year-on-year over the past year, primarily driven by fraud activities. The report states that crypto hackers are increasingly using artificial intelligence for vulnerability analysis, social engineering attacks, and penetration.In the first half of 2026, there were 201 digital asset hacking incidents, a record high, with approximately 75% of the losses stemming from 4% of the incidents. North Korea-related activities caused about $600 million in losses, accounting for 61% of the losses in the first half of the year. TRM Labs stated that artificial intelligence has not created new types of crime but has significantly lowered the barriers to crime and expanded the scale of attacks.

According to Jinshi reports, the Ukrainian General Staff stated that it has struck the Russian maritime drone warehouse in Crimea.

According to The New York Times, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance quietly adjusted its law enforcement cooperation policy last April, requiring law enforcement agencies in various countries to forward relevant requests to foreign government agencies for processing, which must go through international treaty procedures, significantly extending the response time.Police representatives from five European countries reported at a law enforcement meeting in the Netherlands that, except for urgent cases involving child sexual abuse, terrorism, or threats to life, the vast majority of requests were forwarded to the UAE government, where Binance is registered, severely hindering investigations.Meanwhile, several senior employees from Binance's compliance team have left one after another, further intensifying external concerns. Binance denied slowing down cooperation, stating that this move aims to ensure compliance with data privacy regulations.

The FATF released a report stating that criminals are increasingly using stablecoins for illegal financial activities, calling on countries to accelerate the implementation of cryptocurrency anti-money laundering standards.

According to Decrypt, the Kenya Capital Markets Authority is tendering for blockchain monitoring tools to track fraud, money laundering, and sanctions evasion across more than 20 public blockchains. This move aims to support law enforcement needs under Kenya's new cryptocurrency legal framework.The platform will automatically issue alerts for high-risk wallets, large transfers, mixers, darknet-associated addresses, and sanctioned entities, and will screen transactions against the sanctions lists of the United Nations and the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The National Association of Attorneys General, the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the National Sheriffs' Association jointly sent a letter to the Department of Justice and the White House on Tuesday, warning that Section 604 of the Digital Asset Market Structure Clarity Act contains serious enforcement loopholes that could make it difficult for law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute crypto-related criminal activities. The letter pointed out that Section 604 includes broad exemption clauses that may allow individuals or entities assisting in the circulation of crypto assets to evade regulatory accountability, disrupting the investigative and enforcement powers that have long been relied upon.The four organizations emphasized that their concerns are not aimed at developers who simply write or publish software code, but rather at the broad exemptions that may provide a shield for illegal activities. The core of the controversy lies in Section 604—the "Blockchain Regulatory Clarity Act" (BRCA) provision, which was originally a standalone bill but was later incorporated into the Clarity Act, aimed at providing a safe harbor for non-custodial developers, clarifying that they do not fall under money transmission entities. Law enforcement organizations believe this move will create obstacles for investigations into crypto crimes.Additionally, the letter pointed out that several other provisions of the bill would "reduce transparency, weaken accountability mechanisms, and create loopholes in the anti-money laundering framework." On the same day, nearly a hundred Catholic leaders representing parishes across the country also issued a warning, stating that the bill could weaken protections against human trafficking. In response, White House cryptocurrency advisor Patrick Harker insisted that the Clarity Act is a bill that "supports regulation and supports law enforcement," emphasizing that the U.S. must proactively set standards or risk passively accepting the rules of other countries.

The leaders of the G7 countries issued a statement at the G7 summit held in Évian-les-Bains, France, once again calling for a joint effort to combat North Korea's cryptocurrency theft and cybercrime. United Nations security researchers have linked North Korea's cryptocurrency theft to the funding of the country's weapons program.Previously, attacks suspected to be related to North Korean hackers included a $285 million attack on Drift Protocol in April and a $36 million breach of Humanity Protocol in June. According to Chainalysis data, North Korean hackers have stolen at least $2 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025, bringing their total historical theft to at least $6.75 billion.

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis posted on the X platform stating that the CLARITY Act will allocate $150 million to support law enforcement in tracking down fraudsters and other criminals in the digital asset space, enhancing the crackdown on cryptocurrency-related criminal activities.

According to CryptoSlate, the U.S. Congress is pushing to rebuild the Department of Justice's cryptocurrency crime task force. Previously, the Department of Justice disbanded the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team in April 2025 and stopped its "law enforcement as regulation" strategy targeting the cryptocurrency industry. The new bill was proposed by Representatives Lance Gooden and Josh Gottheimer, aiming to establish a federal cryptocurrency theft task force within the Department of Justice, responsible for coordinating investigations and prosecutions of cases involving cryptocurrency theft, hacking, fraud, and more.The task force's responsibilities include developing best practices for evidence collection, digital evidence analysis, asset tracking, and victim outreach, providing technical assistance and training to state and local law enforcement agencies, and coordinating international cross-border case cooperation. The bill explicitly excludes the cryptocurrency market, financial institutions, and financial products from the task force's regulatory scope, without changing the existing regulatory framework and criminal law. An FBI report indicates that in 2025, there were 181,565 complaints involving cryptocurrency, with reported losses exceeding $11 billion. The bill has not yet clarified details regarding funding, staffing, and victim response mechanisms.

According to The Block, the T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), jointly established by Tether, TRON, and TRM Labs, announced that since its establishment in 2024, it has frozen over $450 million in illegal crypto assets globally.The unit intercepted illegal proceeds in 2025, with a year-on-year increase of 43.9%, covering 23 jurisdictions including the United States, Spain, and Germany, and was recognized by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as "an important resource for global law enforcement agencies."T3 FCU has participated in various criminal investigations, including exchange hacks, North Korea-related activities, terrorist financing, and violent crime cases, and assisted the Brazilian Federal Police in freezing over $5.989 billion in assets, including 4.3 million USDT.

The French National Anti-Organized Crime Prosecutor's Office (Pnaco) has stated that cases of kidnapping and illegal detention involving cryptocurrency are continuing to surge. Among the 12 related cases currently under investigation, 88 people have been prosecuted, including more than 10 minors, and another 75 are in custody awaiting trial.Prosecutor's data shows that since 2023, French law enforcement has recorded 135 such cases, with 18 in 2024, rising to 67 in 2025, and reaching 47 so far in 2026. Many of these cases involve violent kidnappings, ransom extortion, and forcing victims to transfer cryptocurrency assets. The prosecution pointed out that some suspects have appeared multiple times in different cases, indicating the formation of a structured criminal network behind it. The previous kidnapping incident involving Ledger co-founder David Balland is also seen as an important sign of the escalating security risks in the French cryptocurrency industry.

The National Police of Ukraine and the Internal Security Department conducted a joint operation, arresting a suspect in the Transcarpathian region who is alleged to be involved in an international cybercrime gang. This gang is implicated in fraud and money laundering cases exceeding $100 million targeting the United States and Europe, and had previously been listed as an international wanted person by the FBI.The suspect was found in possession of forged identity documents and had even fabricated a death certificate to conceal their whereabouts. The gang deployed malware to steal personal and corporate data, subsequently extorting victims for ransom. Money laundering methods included purchasing real estate and using relatives' names to obscure the flow of funds. Authorities seized approximately $11 million in assets, including cash, real estate, vehicles, and about $3 million worth of cryptocurrency, and also apprehended two co-defendants. The suspect faces charges of document forgery and money laundering.

According to DL News, several "revenge intermediary" organizations in South Korea that use cryptocurrency as a payment method have been active recently. These organizations take orders via Telegram, providing services such as intimidation, assaults, and even murders disguised as accidents, requiring clients to pay a 50% deposit in USDT, and promising to send action videos recorded by body cameras via Telegram.Although the main suspect was arrested on April 3, related online advertisements continued to be published on April 13. The South Korean police have launched investigations into over 50 related cases this year, arresting about 30 people, and determining that all cases involve cryptocurrency payments.