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U.S. authorities have charged a Venezuelan national with orchestrating a large-scale money laundering operation that allegedly moved around $1 billion through cryptocurrencies and traditional financial channels. The announcement was made by U.S. officials late in the week.
According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, 59-year-old Jorge Figueira is accused of conspiracy to launder illicit proceeds. The case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

A complex web of accounts, wallets, and shell companies
Investigators allege that Figueira built a sophisticated infrastructure involving bank accounts, cryptocurrency exchange accounts, private digital wallets, and shell companies. This network was allegedly used to move illegal funds into and out of the United States.
Court filings state that cryptocurrencies played a central role in obscuring the origin of the money. Funds were reportedly converted into digital assets, routed through multiple wallets, and then sent to liquidity providers who exchanged the crypto back into U.S. dollars. Those dollars were subsequently deposited into bank accounts controlled by Figueira or transferred to additional recipients.
Authorities say this multi-layered process was deliberately designed to complicate transaction tracing and conceal the true source of the funds from law enforcement.

FBI uncovers massive crypto flows
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said it identified approximately $1 billion in cryptocurrency that passed through wallets allegedly linked to the laundering network.
Investigators claim the funds were moved through dozens of transactions involving individuals and companies across multiple countries, suggesting the operation may have supported criminal activity beyond U.S. borders.

Funds sent to high-risk jurisdictions
Prosecutors also stated that a significant portion of the funds entering Figueira’s accounts originated from cryptocurrency trading platforms. Most outgoing transfers were sent to companies and individuals in the United States and abroad.
Authorities highlighted several high-risk jurisdictions where the money was allegedly sent, including Colombia, China, Panama, and Mexico.
If convicted, Figueira faces a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Any final sentence will be determined by a federal judge after considering U.S. sentencing guidelines and other legal factors.

#MoneyLaundering , #CryptoCrime , #CryptoSecurity , #FBI , #CryptoNews

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Americans lost $9.3 billion to crypto fraud in 2024, according to FBI data. The majority of the scams involved fake exchanges, rug pulls, and fraudulent investment apps.

Authorities are urging users to verify platforms and be skeptical of “too good to be true” returns.
#FBI #TRUMP

The UAE-based company CLS Global agreed to accept U.S. charges that they manipulated the value of a special FBI-created cryptocurrency token used to fight crypto fraud. 
The FBI’s first-ever operation to fight cryptocurrency fraud charged CLS Global as one of 15 individuals and three companies. Prosecutors say CLS Global provided illegal trading services to cryptocurrency companies and agreed to help manipulate the market for the FBI-backed NexFundAI token, which runs on the Ethereum blockchain.
The company told investigators it made fake trades to make the token’s price and trading activity look higher than they really were. CLS Global must pay $428,059 and cannot trade cryptocurrencies on U.S. platforms or serve U.S. clients. 
To show it follows the rules, CLS Global must give proof of compliance once a year. The company also says it will pay back the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for breaking its rules.
The case shows regulators are paying closer attention to crypto companies, and shows how essential it is for these firms to follow U.S. rules when dealing with digital currencies.
#FBI #crypto #CryptoSurge2025

Federal prosecutors in Boston have filed “the first-ever criminal charges against financial firms for crypto market manipulation and wash trading.”
Eighteen individuals and entities are accused of large-scale fraud and manipulation of the cryptocurrency market, including the heads of market making companies Gotbit, ZM Quant, CLS Global, MyTrad and several crypto projects.

In an effort to combat the sharply increasing cryptocurrency fraud, the FBI has just launched Operation Level Up, which has saved over 4,300 victims from losses of up to $285 million. This campaign aims to mitigate damages from cryptocurrency investment scams, estimated at up to $3.9 billion just in 2023.
The Trick "Pig Butchering" and the Fraud Target
According to reports from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) of #FBI , around 3,200 complaints related to cryptocurrency investment fraud are filed each month. These scams are often negatively referred to as "pig butchering" – implying fattening the prey with promises of huge profits before suddenly seizing all assets.

💰 On February 21, 2025, hackers stole 401,000 Ethereum (~$1.5 billion) from Bybit's cold wallet. This is the largest hack in the crypto industry!

🔍 How did this happen?
Hackers compromised Bybit's offline wallet during the transfer of funds to a hot wallet. The cryptocurrency was quickly withdrawn to unknown addresses and began to move.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson publicly urged the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on a live YouTube stream on November 23, 2025, to immediately investigate an anonymous fork of the Cardano network that appeared a few days ago.

According to Hoskinson, the new chain uses the identical genesis block of Cardano but has hidden changes in the consensus that could allow double spending and staking manipulation. He called the project a 'malicious clone' created for the purpose of fraud and money laundering.