DOJ seizes $225 million stolen through crypto ‘pig butchering’ schemes linked to Philippines scam compound
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice asked the court to allow the agency to seize 225 million dollars from the alleged “slaughter of pigs”-a term that describes fraud, as men build on the victim’s confidence over time, and then deceive them in handing large amounts of money. The money, which was held by the fraudsters at Stablecoins USDT, was washed by the OKX encryption, according to the Ministry of Justice. The agency said this is the largest confiscation in the United States ever for funds related to encryption plans.
While the prosecutors did not mention one perpetrator in the complaint, they said that the money was linked to a “fraud operation” in the Philippines. These languages usually include dozens of workers working in episodes to attract victims into separation methods with encryption, such as bitcoin, or criticism. Many of these workers are employed by national criminal rings and are forced to work against their will, according to the United Nations.
The Ministry of Justice was able to determine more than 430 victims linked to the OKX 144 accounts through which the victims’ money was washed. One of these victims, Shan Hans, former CEO of Hartland Trestate in Kansas. In August 2024, Hans was sentenced to 24 years in prison for stealing $ 47 million from his bank’s money to invest in what I think was an opportunity to invest in the cryptocurrency that turned into a fraud.
“These plans are harmful to the American victims, which cost them billions of dollars every year,” Matthew Gallowe, head of the Criminal Inumentary Department, said in a statement.
The losses caused by coded currency fraud in the United States have accelerated over the past five years, according to another annual report on the Internet crime from the FBI. From 2023 to 2024, the money lost by the Americans decreased by 66 % to $ 9.3 billion and the number of complaints received by the agency more than twice to nearly 150,000.
The most common crime associated with encrypted currencies was blackmail, or when bad actors treat photos or videos to create frank content and lure victims to send encryption. The second type was the most common is the fraud in investment, or when criminals with victims promised huge returns if they sent them money.
This last category includes Hans, former CEO of the bank. “The pig was slaughtered,” his lawyer wrote at the time of the verdict. “I have made him expose Mr. Hans to the swine butcher’s plan to make some very bad decisions, and it is really sorry for causing damage to the bank and the loss of shareholders.”
2025-06-18 21:02:00
