The rise in cryptocurrency has directly
correlated with the rise in money
laundering cases as well as the
sophistication of the agents within the
department of justice whether it be FBI
or another three-letter acronym IRS.
There are specific task force that are
dedicated to cryptocurrency because
cryptocurrency has become the way not
only for individuals across state lines
but especially across international
lines to transact often in completely
legitimate ways. But we’re seeing more
and more cases now involving foreign
actors in China, North Korea, in South
American countries that are moving
either cash into our country in exchange
for cryptocurrency, but more commonly
the other way around. We’re seeing a lot
of focus from the Department of Justice
on foreign actors who have
cryptocurrency and are using regulated
and unregulated exchanges of
cryptocurrency in order to get money
into the United States for various
means. When we’re talking about money
laundering and using cryptocurrency in
order to achieve that, we’re talking
about money laundering and moving
illicit funds that most often under our
current administration when brought by
the Department of Justice is tied to
some sort of larger unlawful activity.
It’s not so much like you see in
Scarface where they’re just cleaning
money uh or throwing it in a launder
machine. We’re talking about people who
are trying to get unlawful money into
the United States via lawful means. And
with the rise in cryptocurrency, the
ability to trace the money is a whole
different level. We’re not just looking
at bank records anymore. We’re looking
at different exchanges. We’re looking at
mixers. We’re looking at the use of
centralized or legitimate exchanges like
crap Kraken or Coinbase that are being
used allegedly by illicit entities in
order to clean money and to move it into
the United States for whatever their
alleged criminal activity might be. So
it has created a much more complex
landscape for the moneyaundering
investigations that we’re dealing with.