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Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#111

Post by kodah »

tsimionescu wrote: post #100
AlexanderTheGr8 wrote: post #64

> “After the execution of court-authorized search warrants of online accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan, special agents obtained access to files within an online account controlled by Lichtenstein,” the press release said. “Those files contained the private keys required to access the digital wallet that directly received the funds stolen from Bitfinex, and allowed special agents to lawfully seize and rec…

Well, the police had a search warrant, so the police could have found them if they had had them in their possession anyway. Sure, they could have destroyed them, losing the money but maybe not getting arrested?

Keys are conspicuously easy to hide. My PGP master key that I've been using for some time is hidden on two devices which would be difficult to identify much less locate and are encrypted as well.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#112

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

AlexanderTheGr8 wrote: post #64

> “After the execution of court-authorized search warrants of online accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan, special agents obtained access to files within an online account controlled by Lichtenstein,” the press release said. “Those files contained the private keys required to access the digital wallet that directly received the funds stolen from Bitfinex, and allowed special agents to lawfully seize and rec…

While I do partially agree that some of it may be grandstanding. The whole:

"Thanks to the meticulous work of law enforcement, the department once again showed how it can and will follow the money, no matter what form it takes.”

and suggesting AEC and chain hopping is futile is an effective propaganda tool. I mean its possible something major changed, but I think your thoughts are closer to reality.

If true, this is interesting, because apparently fake identity accounts on exchanges are cheap ( partially 'thanks' to all the breaches over the years ).

edit: added '' to thanks

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#114

Post by bpodgursky »

lupire wrote: post #27
realce wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act covers any unauthorized access regardless of how the credentials were obtained or... magically guessed.

Also, grand larceny applies if you guess the code to unlock a car.

It applies even if the car isn't locked... it applies any time you take something you know isn't yours.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#116

Post by genericone »

hedora wrote: post #91
duxup wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was wondering about this. I would think the most obvious path would be to find some other criminals (now you've got new risks) who don't care about the provenance of the coins, will pay cash for some coins at a discount, and you somehow launder that cash.... Could at least get a couple bucks from it, possibly.

On the one hand, the mob would probably be happy to buy them for 10-30% face value. On the other hand, how do you contact a reputable mob boss?

More importantly, how do you stop them from contacting you after this transaction.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#117

Post by AlexanderTheGr8 »

zozbot234 wrote: post #94
AlexanderTheGr8 wrote: post #64

> “After the execution of court-authorized search warrants of online accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan, special agents obtained access to files within an online account controlled by Lichtenstein,” the press release said. “Those files contained the private keys required to access the digital wallet that directly received the funds stolen from Bitfinex, and allowed special agents to lawfully seize and rec…

A good guess is that "laundering" billions of dollars is inherently a non-trivial problem, and perhaps not feasible at all without cooperation from shady real-world actors outside the whole cryptocurrency ecosystem. This is actually good news for small-scale users who just want to keep their microtransactions reasonably private - the usual mechanisms might actually work well enough for that case.

I agree. But if not for privacy, why use crypto at all? Even bank accounts are reasonably private, if you are not doing anything considered suspicious by society.

Also, with mixers such as tornado_cash, laundering money is ,sadly, pretty trivial.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#120

Post by AlexanderTheGr8 »

iskander wrote: post #95
AlexanderTheGr8 wrote: post #64

> “After the execution of court-authorized search warrants of online accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan, special agents obtained access to files within an online account controlled by Lichtenstein,” the press release said. “Those files contained the private keys required to access the digital wallet that directly received the funds stolen from Bitfinex, and allowed special agents to lawfully seize and rec…

They mention chain hopping and privacy chains. Maybe they slipped up using ZEC and made some of their transactions public?

Could be. But even if some of the transactions became public, it should be fine as long as the end transactions (crypto -> fiat) is private, right?
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