US gets court authority over $1.2B in Binance crypto

The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday, Nov. 12, that it had obtained court authorization to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance. The department’s announcement says that amount is part of more than $2.7 billion frozen through combined government and private-sector efforts.

The FBI said it had seized more than $1.2 billion, but the Justice Department described the step as court-authorized seizure and restraint. The Associated Press reported the FBI announcement and said the theft involved about $6.3 billion.

The Justice Department said members of North Korea’s military, referred to by the FBI as TraderTraitor, stole more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance on or about Oct. 29. It said federal agencies worked with virtual asset service providers to interdict the funds. The authorized amount is a portion of the frozen assets, not the full sum.

The department said efforts to trace, freeze, seize and forfeit the remaining stolen assets are ongoing. It said TraderTraitor actors continue to launder funds through cryptocurrency bridges, mixers and exchanges, and that the FBI, Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation are working to recover the assets.

The court authorization does not itself settle who will receive any assets ultimately forfeited. The AP reported that the government typically files a forfeiture claim with a judge, who then determines who has a legitimate claim to recovered funds. The Justice Department gave no timetable for that process; tracing and forfeiture efforts continue.

References

• department’s announcement — justice.gov
• reported the FBI announcement — apnews.com