by Jonathan Levin and Henry Updegrave
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed a civil forfeiture complaint against the holders of 280 cryptocurrency addresses involved in the laundering of approximately $28.7 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen from an exchange by the North Korea-affiliated hackers known as Lazarus Group. The complaint also analyzes fund movements associated with a second exchange hack the group carried out.
This case highlights the increasingly sophisticated money laundering techniques Lazarus Group is employing in their efforts to launder funds stolen from cryptocurrency exchanges. However, despite these efforts, investigators with the FBI, HSI, IRS-CI, and other agencies were still able to trace the funds to their ultimate destinations. In addition, in some instances, exchanges were able to prevent the hackers from depositing or trading the stolen funds on their platforms.