Tagged: doj

November 6, 2026 @ 7:13 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The U.S. Department of Justice has created a specialized unit aimed at defending national interests against the unlawful application of advanced artificial intelligence systems, particularly those linked to foreign adversaries. Announced in early November 2026, the Super Intelligence Task Force (DOJ-SITF) seeks to prevent the… Read More

November 5, 2026 @ 7:18 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Block, Inc. (NYSE: XYZ),  the payments and financial services company led by Jack Dorsey, disclosed in its third-quarter regulatory filings that it reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. Department of Justice in October 2026 to address a long-running inquiry into its anti-money-laundering controls. Under… Read More

October 29, 2026 @ 6:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

U.S. authorities have taken down the primary domain of Virtualine, a specialized hosting provider marketed as “bulletproof” infrastructure for cybercriminals seeking to evade detection and enforcement actions. On October 27, 2026, the FBI’s Washington Field Office, working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern… Read More

October 28, 2026 @ 12:19 am By Omar Faridi  |  

A 44-year-old Chinese national, Zheng Zhao, appeared in federal court in the Central District of California on October 23, 2026, following his extradition from the Netherlands. Prosecutors allege he participated in a transnational cryptocurrency investment fraud operation run out of scam centers in Cambodia that… Read More

October 23, 2026 @ 5:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed all U.S. military personnel and Pentagon civilians to stop using nonpublic government information for wagers on prediction markets or other betting platforms. The one-page memorandum, dated October 20 and circulated to senior defense leaders, combatant commanders, and agency heads,… Read More

October 22, 2026 @ 3:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A Colombian cryptocurrency broker known by the alias “Rey” received a 160-month federal prison sentence this week for his central role in laundering roughly $14.5 million in drug-trafficking proceeds through Tether’s USDT stablecoin and for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. Leonardo de… Read More

October 14, 2026 @ 10:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York have charged a dual US and Israeli citizen who operated a Florida-based ransomware recovery firm with wire fraud, alleging he misled clients by promising specialized decryption capabilities while quietly paying off the same cybercriminals who had… Read More

September 29, 2026 @ 2:50 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Federal prosecutors in California have moved to keep tens of millions of dollars taken from accounts and digital wallets tied to Capstone Ltd., a Montana-registered payments company that authorities say handled large transfers connected to crypto clients. The action, laid out in a civil forfeiture… Read More

September 16, 2026 @ 4:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Two former Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) engineers have been charged in federal court with using confidential company information about upcoming cryptocurrency listings to place trades on a separate derivatives platform, prosecutors said this week. The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY)… Read More

September 15, 2026 @ 8:06 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Federal prosecutors in New York have moved to confiscate about $61 million in cryptocurrency they describe as revenue from unsanctioned Iranian crude and petroleum sales. The civil forfeiture complaint, filed September 14, 2026 by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York… Read More

September 12, 2026 @ 3:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tether, the issuer of the world’s most widely used dollar-linked stablecoin, has been publicly thanked by the US Department of Justice for helping investigators disrupt a sprawling marketplace accused of supporting crypto fraud and money laundering. The company said on September 11, 2026, that the… Read More

September 8, 2026 @ 7:07 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Federal prosecutors have secured a guilty plea from a Mexican citizen accused of helping move millions of dollars in narcotics profits out of the United States through digital assets. Carlos Erick Vazquez Gonzalez, 48, admitted on September 4, 2026, to taking part in a money-laundering… Read More

August 25, 2026 @ 3:46 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A San Francisco-based entrepreneur with roots in the gaming industry has been found guilty of orchestrating a scheme that defrauded investors in a cryptocurrency trading fund of nearly $1 million. On August 24, 2026, a federal jury in the Northern District of California convicted Japheth… Read More

August 25, 2026 @ 8:18 am By Omar Faridi  |  

A federal jury in Nevada has found Las Vegas businessman Brent C. Kovar guilty of running a multimillion-dollar cryptocurrency fraud that prosecutors described as a classic Ponzi scheme. The verdict, delivered after a nine-day trial, holds Kovar responsible for taking roughly $24 million from at… Read More

August 20, 2026 @ 2:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Federal prosecutors in Georgia have publicly detailed criminal charges against Edward Zimbardi following his recent return to the United States from Fiji. The 59-year-old resident of Flowery Branch stands accused of orchestrating a large-scale investment fraud that authorities say diverted more than $165 million from… Read More

August 5, 2026 @ 2:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Three men from St. Louis, Missouri, are facing federal charges in connection with an alleged scheme to seize Bitcoin through a planned residential break-in in Connecticut nearly two years earlier. US Attorney David X. Sullivan for the District of Connecticut announced that Sedric Louis, 32,… Read More

July 11, 2026 @ 3:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Federal prosecutors are reportedly preparing to abandon criminal proceedings against the alleged leader of one of the largest cryptocurrency-related investment schemes in recent years. The move comes after years of legal proceedings and on the eve of a scheduled trial, marking a notable shift in… Read More

June 20, 2026 @ 12:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Two brothers from Texas have admitted their roles in a brazen armed robbery that left a Minnesota family held captive at gunpoint for hours while more than $8 million in cryptocurrency was stolen from them. On June 18, 2026, Isiah Angelo Garcia, 25, and Raymond… Read More

June 4, 2026 @ 3:16 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) has recently announced the conclusion of a large-scale collaborative effort targeting scam operations. The initiative, involving major technology firms and U.S. law enforcement, resulted in the freezing of more than $3 million linked to fraudulent networks primarily active in Southeast Asia. This outcome… Read More

May 8, 2026 @ 10:19 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A 30-year-old Saipan resident known as Sze Man Yu Inos, who also goes by the name Yuki, was sentenced to more than five and a half years behind bars for orchestrating a deceptive wire fraud operation that exploited the trust of numerous older women. On… Read More