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The US Justice Department (DoJ) has indicted and arrested an heir to the Cartier jewelry empire with conspiring to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking using tether (USDT). In Miami, law enforcement arrested Maximilien de Hoop Cartier, a direct descendant of Louis Cartier, the founder of the luxury watch, necklace, and bracelet maker, where he was allegedly coordinating with a Colombian drug cartel. Alongside five Colombian nationals, Cartier tried to import 100 kilos of cocaine and launder hundreds of millions of dollars, mostly through over-the-counter (OTC) USDT trades. They actually succeeded at laundering 14.5 million USDT before their arrests. Cartier is currently in a Miami detention center while his co-conspirators are in Colombian jails. To carry out his scheme, Cartier controlled shell companies and misrepresented to financial institutions that they were in the business of software and technology. He then used the companies’ accounts, according to the indictment, as...

Tether announced this week that it had collaborated with the Department of Justice (DoJ) and OKX to freeze approximately $225 million in USDT connected to a ‘pig-butchering’ scam. However, according to blockchain analytics firm ChainArgos, the addresses in question had until recently contained approximately $75 million more, suggesting that the operatives were able to prevent some portion of the funds from being seized.  Several days ago, one of the blocklisted addresses, 0xc7C8f8284c5360D0086a2f0A05BdD07AFdE23246, transferred around $126 million in USDT to 0x36922E39B2Be38f0271A7918Ca46be7884DED849. Interestingly, this wallet isn’t blocklisted. This address then sent the USDT to 0xCaB9a8391F765f6BEda0b5BAd434b10985BdaAd0, which is also blocklisted. It’s not clear why the intermediary address wasn’t blocklisted and Protos has reached out to Tether for clarification. 1/ Wallet balances of the 37 addresses pig-butchering related (according to Tether ...

Flying under the radar of Poland’s top judges, the Supreme Administrative Court in Warsaw has been secretly housing crypto mining rigs in the ventilation ducts. The startling news was confirmed by a judge to local outlet tvn24 on November 9. Apparently, the crypto mining rigs were discovered by a technician back in August, immediately prompting an investigation by the prosecutor’s office and the Internal Security Agency. Prosecutors hope to charge those responsible with electricity theft. But prosecutor Szymon Banna told tvn24 that so far, no one has been charged with a Crime . While the culprit remains unknown for now, the firm responsible for maintaining Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court building has been fired, along with two employees who were directly responsible for maintenance in the area that the rigs were found. Local media has been unable to confirm reports that the crypto mining rigs included modems. If true, they weren’t connected to the ...

Crypto exchange Kraken teamed up with SEROCU in “Operation Hyphen” to successfully retrieve and return over $2 million in crypto currency stolen in a major scam. The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU), with the help of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, effectively managed the restitution of about £1.9 million ($2.3 million) in stolen cryptocurrency to its legitimate owners. According to a statement, approximately £2.4 million ($2.9 million) in cryptocurrency was confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act as a result of a 2018 scam involving the IOTA cryptocurrency. This marked the first instance in the country where this legislation was applied to confiscate cryptocurrency from an exchange. The process of reimbursing the victims involved significant challenges, particularly in converting the crypto assets into British pounds (GBP). SEROCU worked closely with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, the National Police Chief’s Council, and Krak...

A Georgia doctor pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a bungled murder plot that saw him give a dark web hitman $19,200 in bitcoin to kill his girlfriend — but not before he sent $8,000 in crypto to the wrong wallet address.     On April 18, 2022, 54-year-old internal medicine specialist James Wan used the dark web to order a hitman. As published by the US Attorney’s Office, Wan’s request said the hitman “Can take wallet phone and car. Shoot and go. Or take car.” It also provided the victim’s name, address, socials, and details of her car.  All he had to do was send a 50% downpayment of $8,000 in bitcoin to an escrow account shared with the hitman. However, Wan entered the wrong address and lost the money.  “ Damn. I guess I lost $8k. I’m sending $8k to escrow now ,” Wan said when he was informed of his error. He sent another $8,000 sum before his order was approved. Four suspects face death penalty in South Korea cry...