The US Department of Justice announced a record haul of bitcoin on Tuesday.
The department charged a man named Chen Zhi in the Eastern District of New York, stating that it seized 127,271 bitcoin worth about $15 billion. According to a statement, it’s the largest forfeiture action in the department’s history.
The charges include money laundering and wire fraud and are tied to a “pig butchering” scheme in Cambodia.
“Individuals held against their will in the compounds engaged in cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes, known as ‘pig butchering’ scams, that stole billions of dollars from victims in the United States and around the world,” the department said, adding that Zhi had not been apprehended.
The statement added that Zhi had held the bitcoin in unhosted crypto wallets that he personally held the keys to, and he and others used funds for “luxury travel and entertainment and to make extravagant purchases such as watches, yachts, private jets, vacation homes, high-end collectables, and rare artwork, including a Picasso painting purchased through an auction house in New York City.”
Pig butchering schemes are a particular type of fraud in which a criminal builds a rapport with the victim, getting them to send cash or crypto before disappearing with their money. A study last year said pig butchering scams had netted $75 billion for criminals.
“As alleged, the defendant was the mastermind behind a sprawling cyber-fraud empire operating under the Prince Group umbrella, a criminal enterprise built on human suffering. Trafficked workers were confined in prison-like compounds and forced to carry out online scams on an industrial scale,” the department said.
Crypto crime has been on the rise broadly as the market has exploded in value, and AI has been a boon for scammers. A study from Chainalysis said that AI tools boosted revenue from crypto scams to record levels last year, with many criminals utilizing AI to create fake identities and evade verification controls.