Angela Lang/CNET
US authorities in south Florida seized roughly $34 million in cryptocurrency, which was allegedly used to launder proceeds from the illicit sale on the darkish internet of hacked account info from fashionable on-line choices reminiscent of streaming and ride-hailing providers, the US Department of Justice mentioned Monday. The “South Florida resident” concerned within the gross sales wasn’t recognized by the DOJ, and the press launch did not specify whether or not the company is pursuing an indictment.
The criticism alleges that the accused offered the hacked info on the darkish internet and used cash switch providers often called tumblers to cover cryptocurrency gained from the illicit gross sales, which is a violation of federal cash laundering statutes. Tumblers are providers that blend and mix cryptocurrency funds to obscure their transactional footprint.
The forfeiture motion stems from Operation TORnado, a joint investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, which incorporates federal, state and native legislation enforcement businesses. The identify of the operation is a play on phrases, referencing The Onion Router, or TOR, which is software program designed to let individuals use the web anonymously. The south Florida resident allegedly used TOR to entry darkish internet marketplaces.
Dark internet marketplaces, and the centrality of cryptocurrency to their industrial exercise, gained notoriety in 2013 when the FBI shut down one referred to as Silk Road, which through the top of its reputation generated greater than $1 billion in illicit transactions. In 2015, Silk Road’s founder was sentenced to life in jail in a extremely publicized case that was chronicled in a 2017 documentary.
The Justice Department did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
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