U. S. accuses resident of Vietnam of money laundering after closure of company
2023.03.15 19:43
U. S. accuses resident of Vietnam of money laundering after closure of company
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – On March 15, the Justice Department of the United States made the announcement that it would bring criminal charges against a Hanoi, Vietnam, resident for operating the ChipMixer. Shortly after it became public that a German-led Europol action had shut down the Vietnam-based crypto mixer, the announcement was made.
It stated that Minh Quc Nguyn faces charges of money laundering, operating an unlicensed money-transfer business, and identity theft from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The maximum penalty for these crimes is 40 years in prison.
Nguyễn was recognized as the maker and administrator of the web-based foundation utilized by ChipMixer. ChipMixer is said to have been promoted online by Nguyen, who also gave customers advice on how to avoid Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures. ChipMixer also served American customers without registering with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Treasury Department or collecting KYC/AML information.
Lisa Monaco, Deputy Attorney General, stated:
“Cybercrime seeks to exploit boundaries, but the Department of Justice’s network of alliances transcends borders and makes it possible to disrupt the criminal activity that threatens our global cybersecurity,”
Between August 2017 and March 2023, the Justice Department found links between ChipMixer and a variety of illegal activities, including the laundering of $17 million in Bitcoin (BTC) associated with ransomware attacks.
It likewise washed more than $700 million in Bitcoin associated with wallets hailed as containing taken reserves, including assets from the Axie Endlessness Ronin Extension and Concordance Skyline Scaffold takes advantage of, and more than $200 million in Bitcoin related with the darknet, as well as the Bitcoin utilized by the Russian General Staff Primary Knowledge Directorate to purchase malware.
3/ For those unfamiliar with CM here’s what it looks like when using the mixer. pic.twitter.com/hen8dRJI0F
“ChipMixer has been used to launder over $844 million in Bitcoin that can be linked directly to illicit activity — including at least $666 million from thefts,” Elliptic stated after analyzing the mixer’s blockchain transactions.
The international law enforcement community already knew about ChipMixer. It was discovered that it was processing stolen funds as early as 2019.
