Justice Department appoints cryptocurrency crime head, announces new FBI crypto unit

The U.S. Department of Justice has appointed its first head of a National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is establishing a new Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit.

The first appointed head of the NCET is Eun Young Choi. Described as a seasoned prosecutor with nearly a decade of experience within the department, Choi, who most recently served as senior counsel to the deputy attorney general, starts in the role today.

The NCET was announced in October and was established to target the criminal misuse of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. The NCET is designed to identify, investigate, support and pursue the Justice Department’s cases involving the criminal use of digital assets. The unit has a particular focus on virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, infrastructure providers and other entities that are enabling the misuse of cryptocurrency and related technologies to commit or facilitate criminal activity.

The NCET has strategic priorities regarding digital asset technologies. Those include identifying areas for increased investigative and prosecutorial focus. The NCET will also enhance the department’s criminal division efforts to provide support and training to federal, state, local and international law enforcement to build capacity to aggressively investigate and prosecute serious crimes involving cryptocurrency and digital assets in the U.S. and around the world.

“With the rapid innovation of digital assets and distributed ledger technologies, we have seen a rise in their illicit use by criminals who exploit them to fuel cyberattacks and ransomware and extortion schemes; traffic in narcotics, hacking tools and illicit contraband online; commit thefts and scams; and launder the proceeds of their crimes,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement. “The NCET will serve as the focal point for the department’s efforts to tackle the growth of crime involving these technologies.”

At the same time, the Justice Department also announced that the FBI is establishing the Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit. The new team consists of cryptocurrency experts dedicated to providing analysis, support and training across the FBI, and innovating its cryptocurrency tools to stay ahead of future threats.

The two announcements follow the arrest of a New York couple who are alleged to have laundered bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex in 2016. Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan, are alleged to have conspired to launder the proceeds of 119,754 bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex. Although the pair had cashed out some of the stolen bitcoin, the Justice Department managed to seize 94,000 bitcoin, valued at $3.6 billion at the time of the seizure, that the couple had not spent.

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