US wins authority over $1.2B in Binance hack funds

The US Justice Department on Thursday, Nov. 12, said it had obtained court authorization to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance. The Justice Department announcement said that amount is part of funds frozen through joint government and private-sector efforts.

Those efforts have frozen more than $2.7 billion of the stolen assets, according to the department. The Associated Press report said the FBI had attributed the theft to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group.

The Justice Department said the theft occurred on or about Oct. 29 and involved more than $6 billion in virtual assets taken from Binance. It identified the group as members of the North Korean military referred to by the FBI as TraderTraitor.

The court authorization covers more than $1.2 billion of the funds already frozen; it does not mean the full amount has been returned to Binance or its customers. The department said efforts to trace, freeze, seize and forfeit the assets are ongoing.

According to the department, TraderTraitor actors continue to move stolen assets through cryptocurrency bridges, mixers and exchanges. Last week, the FBI, Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation issued an alert attributing the theft and urging virtual asset service providers to block transactions involving addresses used to launder the Binance funds.

The FBI’s recovery work is being coordinated by its Los Angeles Field Office, Cyber Division and Virtual Asset Unit, with the Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation, the Justice Department said. The department said it is working with virtual asset service providers to interdict the stolen assets.

Sources

• Justice Department announcement — justice.gov
• Associated Press report — apnews.com