- 6/18/2025
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announces the biggest-ever cryptocurrency scam crackdown.
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00:00Changing fast, faster than we can keep up with, and in the world of cybercrime, everything is happening at record pace.
00:09But criminals, of course, find a way.
00:13So here they're identifying their victims through social media, through deceitful job advertisements, as well as fraudulent investment opportunities.
00:22So the unwitting victim, the unwitting, unprotected victim, enters this brave new world in the hopes of making a profit, and the criminal seizes the opportunity and takes advantage.
00:37But the crime here involves an organized crime ring linked to an international human trafficking syndicate linked back to foreign actors in multiple compounds in Southeast Asia.
00:52And as you can see from the chart over there, which is not behind me, but these are sophisticated bad actors who send stolen money through a variety of complex transactions and intermediary addresses between the initial victim deposit and along the blockchain to launder and obfuscate the source of the funds.
01:18So the hopeful investor now enters the Wild West on an international scale, where the crime is global, where there are no borders, and where the crypto criminals avoid the rules because this is an unregulated Wild West.
01:36But it's not just an unregulated Wild West.
01:38It's the Wild North, East, and South.
01:42And thank God now we have an administration that is taking it seriously.
01:47And you may know that within the last 24 hours, the Senate passed the Bipartisan Genius Act, Senate 1582, that implements common sense regulations in an effort to make America the crypto capital of the world and to protect victims.
02:03So, under my leadership, with the support of President Trump and Attorney General Bondi, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia is going to be taking a leading role in the fight against crypto confidence scams.
02:17And we are partnering with all our great law enforcement partners here, and we're going to seize and forfeit the stolen funds and rip them from the hands of those foreign-based criminals, all with the eye of making the victim whole again.
02:33And finally, let me say, the President has made it clear that crypto is not a get-out-of-jail-free card.
02:42This could not have happened without the incredible efforts of the Secret Service, the FBI, the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Justice.
02:54We will continue to root out the bad actors, and we will find those criminals who are taking advantage of unwitting victims who don't know what they're getting involved in.
03:06And if you're using the cryptocurrency market to steal, we're going to come after you, we're going to strip you of your ill-gotten gains, and you will be held accountable.
03:15So now I'd like to call upon Matt Gagliotti, who's the head of the Criminal Division in the Maine Department of Justice.
03:24Yeah.
03:31Thank you, United States Attorney Pirro.
03:34My name is Matthew Gagliotti, and I'm the head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, which is over the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section.
03:41Today's civil forfeiture complaint against over $225 million worth of cryptocurrency is the department's latest action in our ongoing fight against cryptocurrency fraud schemes,
03:53which the FBI estimates caused more than $9.3 billion in losses in 2024 alone.
04:01$5.8 billion of that were from investment fraud schemes in the cryptocurrency space alone.
04:07The criminal scheme alleged in the complaint laundered millions of dollars in cryptocurrency taken by fraud and deceit from over 400 suspected victims
04:18who were misled to believe that they were making legitimate cryptocurrency investments.
04:24These scammers tried to conceal their actions, executing thousands of transactions across an extensive network of wallets and accounts to launder their ill-gotten gains.
04:34This is not the first action we've taken to hold cryptocurrency scammers to account, and it will not be the last.
04:42It harms American victims and undermines faith in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
04:48Just last week, the department announced the guilty pleas of five men who laundered over $36 million from a victim of cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes that operated out of Cambodia.
04:59These defendants face maximum penalties of between 5 and 20 years in prison.
05:06And last month, a federal district court here in D.C. ordered the forfeiture of approximately $2.5 million worth of cryptocurrency associated with one of these schemes.
05:15And we also announced the seizure of more than $800,000 worth of cryptocurrency from scammers in that case.
05:22Now, you've just heard from United States Attorney Pirro about why today's announcement matters and how you can protect yourself from falling victim to these schemes.
05:31But a couple of points bear emphasizing.
05:34The impact of the schemes on their victims can be devastating, both financially and personally.
05:41And this is complicated and compounded many times over by the sheer scale and complexity of these schemes.
05:47Of the $9.3 billion in losses, individuals over the age of 60 were the most affected, with roughly $2.8 billion in losses.
06:00To put it plainly, the scammers in this case are just con artists.
06:07Everybody must protect themselves by educating themselves.
06:10Before considering an investment involving cryptocurrency, read the FBI's webpage about cryptocurrency investment fraud and check to see if you see any of the red flags identified there.
06:21For example, if an unknown individual contacts you, do not release any financial or personally identifiable information and do not send any money.
06:32Verify the validity of any investment opportunity from strangers or long-lost contacts on social media websites.
06:39If an investment opportunity sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
06:47There are additional red flags on the FBI's page, and I encourage the public to review them carefully.
06:53Today, I'm here to underscore the Department's commitment to protecting the American public from these transnational criminal organizations and to securing justice for American victims and beyond.
07:04You are not alone.
07:05Our skilled investigators and prosecutors are working relentlessly to identify and to hold account those who seek to profit from harming our citizens.
07:15We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that these crimes do not pay and to bring these perpetrators to justice.
07:23Many thanks to our prosecutors from CSIPs, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and our law enforcement partners who will speak momentarily.
07:30And with that, I'd like to call up Mr. Bradstreet.
07:35Thank you, Mr. Galahdi.
07:37My name is Sean Bradstreet, and I'm the Special Agent in Charge with the Secret Service at the San Francisco Field Office.
07:44In November of 2023, the San Francisco Field Office initiated an investigation into the cryptocurrency accounts suspected of laundering funds from victims of cryptocurrency investment scams, also known as pig butchering.
07:58During this investigation, the United States Secret Service investigators identified more than $225 million in stolen funds linked to over 400 suspect victims.
08:09Once identified, these victims were voluntarily frozen by cryptocurrency provider Tether while the investigation continued.
08:17Today, as a result of the seizure executed by the FBI, these funds were transferred by Tether to the United States government.
08:26And eventually, as much of these victims – or much of these funds as possible will be returned to the victims.
08:32It's worth noting that today's actions is the largest cryptocurrency seizure in Secret Service history.
08:39This seizure is the result of incredible investigative work and exemplifies that victims coming forward matters.
08:46As an example, in February of 2024, a dozen Secret Service analysts and investigators across the country traveled to San Francisco for a four-day operation that we often refer to as the big trace.
09:00Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with our partners and with various cryptocurrency exchangers, our personnel analyze victim complaints and diligently backtrace tens of thousands of transactions to proactively identify as many victims as possible.
09:16If you believe you are a victim of pig butchering scams, please contact the Internet Crimes Complaint Center.
09:22Within the last few years, the United States Secret Service has seen a major uptick in these types of scams.
09:28To date, the Secret Service has frozen or seized more than one billion pig butchering scams.
09:35The agent has also linked to dismantled more than 5,000 domains linked to pig butchering since 2003.
09:43In closing, I want to thank U.S. Prioro and her team for the steadfast support.
09:49I want to thank the FBI San Francisco office as well as our private industry partners for their assistance during this operation.
09:57Finally, I want to recognize the efforts of the San Francisco field office, specifically financial analyst Andrew Frey and the team for their countless hours and hard work and dedication on this case.
10:09They were absolutely amazing through this whole time.
10:13Now I'll turn it over to FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Augustine Lopez.
10:18Good morning.
10:24The FBI's San Francisco office opened a parallel investigation into this ROD screen with the Secret Service in March of last year.
10:34As detailed in the complaint, the FBI and Secret Service investigators identified cryptocurrency addresses that were part of a complex blockchain money laundering network.
10:43These addresses held more than $225 million in illicit cryptocurrency proceeds.
10:49Through advanced blockchain analysis and other investigative techniques, the FBI and Secret Service agents traced those funds to schemes that defrauded hundreds of victims,
10:58many of whom believed they were making legitimate investments in cryptocurrency.
11:01Today's announcement represents a critical step in our ongoing effort to disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal networks exploiting cryptocurrency to defraud innocent people.
11:15Cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes are not just financial crimes.
11:18They cause devastating and long-lasting consequences for victims far beyond financial losses.
11:25Many of these scams are calculated, sustained, and emotionally manipulative, often involving scammers who pose as trusted, romantic partners, or business advisors.
11:36Thanks to the tireless and innovative work of the investigators from both the FBI, San Francisco, and the Secret Service, millions of dollars have been recovered and are now one step closer to being returned to victims.
11:49This case is a powerful example of what can be achieved through interagency collaboration and persistence in the face of highly sophisticated cross-border financial crimes.
12:00We, the FBI, also want to recognize the vital role played by our private sector partners, including blockchain analytics firms and cryptocurrency platforms,
12:10who provided key intelligence and assistance in this investigation.
12:14These partnerships are essential to keeping pace with criminals who exploit emerging technologies for profit.
12:22The private sector is on the front lines with us, and their cooperation is indispensable.
12:27The FBI will continue to aggressively pursue those who prey on others through deception and greed, no matter how complex or hidden their schemes may be.
12:36We remain fully committed to working alongside our federal partners, international counterparts, and the private sector to protect the public and hold cyber criminals accountable wherever they operate.
12:50Lastly, we urge anyone who may be a victim of this fraud scheme to report immediately to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
13:00And I'll turn it back over to the U.S. Attorney.
13:02All right.
13:06As I'm sure you could tell from the discussion by the stakeholders, this is a very complicated scenario.
13:13And what we have here are some diagrams that are, I think, they look like a Google map in terms of trying to track money along the blockchain.
13:26And it is a very difficult kind of investigation that we're dealing with here.
13:33So if you have any questions, we're happy to answer them.
13:40Do you know what pink butchering is?
13:43Apparently you do.
13:44Yes, sir.
13:44Yeah, one on-topic and one off-topic question.
13:48Why off-topic?
13:49This is fascinating.
13:51Because so much is going on in the world.
13:55On-topic, I mean, you're talking about this as part of a crackdown on crypto scams.
14:00Yeah.
14:00We've seen the sitting president really embrace cryptocurrency, in some cases promoting a coin in his own name, a meme coin, rewarding top purchasers of that with dinners and pours at the White House even.
14:15What, if any, scrutiny do you expect to apply to any kinds of those deals?
14:19And then for an off-topic question.
14:22I'm probably not going to take the off-topic, so don't worry about it.
14:25Well, yeah.
14:25Let me answer your first question.
14:28Look, the president wants to make America the crypto capital of the world.
14:34And what we're trying to do here, consistent with the bill that was passed yesterday, where the genius bill of Senator Haggerty's bill is to create a stable coin and to create some kind of stable currency within the United States for crypto.
14:50Our job right now is dealing with people who are being scammed out of their life savings.
14:55We've got well over 434 or more victims.
14:59This is the largest crypto scam ever.
15:02You can see the age groups of the people involved in this.
15:05You've got people between the ages of 40 and 49 who don't understand crypto or investing, and people who are over 50 who get caught up.
15:15And this ends up being an economic homicide for people that old, because they cannot go out into the workforce and make up the money that they've lost.
15:24And the problem is, and you've heard the stakeholders behind me talk about this, is people are embarrassed to talk about it.
15:30They're embarrassed to say that it happened to them and that they were gullible, and so they're not reporting it.
15:37Our job today and my message today and the message of the administration is that we are going to send a message to all those criminals, whether they're in the United States or whether they're in Southeast Asia, at the very least we're going to freeze the money.
15:52We're going to try to give it back to the victims, and we're going to follow and create a regulatory scheme of some sort so it's not the Wild West anymore and North and East and South, where, you know, you don't get away with crypto crime.
16:06It's not a get-out-of-jail-free card.
16:10We are now this sophisticated group with me here, and I have to tell you, my hat goes off to them.
16:16I mean, this is an incredibly intense and difficult investigation, and we're here for the victims.
16:25No.
16:28Anybody else?
16:29Do you really know what pig butchering is?
16:31No, what's pig butchering?
16:33Pig butchering is where it is a direct translation from Chinese, I understand, and it's where you fatten up the victim, the pig, before the slaughter.
16:45The analogy is very clear.
16:47They go as far as they can to get as much money as they think they can, and they're actually issuing, like, monthly statements saying, hey, your crypto's gone up.
16:57You know, you're making a lot of money here, and these people don't know.
17:00They don't understand.
17:01And it is a crazy blockchain, you know, on some of these wallets.
17:07You have no idea where they are.
17:10So that's about – I can actually tell you how you spell it in Chinese, but I can't say it.
17:16Did everyone who was the 434 victims today all get all their money back?
17:20No.
17:21We're in the process of trying to assess, you know, how much money we can actually get.
17:26All right, and this is the beginning of the investigation.
17:30And, you know, it may seem like it's been a long time since we started this, but this is going to be a very long process.
17:37We've got to be able to – you know, the blockchain is anonymous.
17:44So even though we see the transactions occurring and we see the money moving, we don't have always the ability to identify by name those who control the cryptocurrency wallets.
17:57And if that made sense to you, you're a smarter man than I am.
17:59No.
18:05Anyone else?
18:06You want to say anything?
18:08I want to introduce you to the members of my staff.
18:12Tell them.
18:14Keith – Kevin Rosenberg and Rick Blalock.
18:18These guys are phenomenal.
18:20Phenomenal.
18:21Did you want to say anything?
18:22No, Josh.
18:23Are you sure?
18:25Rick, do you want to say something?
18:26I think you said it.
18:27No, I didn't, but thank you.
18:30Thank you all for being here.
18:32And no.
18:36We're going to keep working hard.
18:38We're going to send a message.
18:39We're going to go after these people.
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