The United States government is trying to seize $ 7.1 million in cryptocurrency linked to a major oil and gas investment scam.
According to the American lawyer’s office of Seattle, the money was seized by Homeland Security in December 2024 and was part of a much larger fraud that would have collected $ 97 million among investors between June 2022 and July 2024.
The victims were informed that their money would go into storage facilities for oil tanks – an investment that promised major returns. But once they sent funds, people behind the program simply stopped responding.
“The co-parmers of this fraud have moved their poorly acquired gain through various cryptocurrency accounts to try to whiten the money stolen from the victims”, “ said the acting American lawyer, Teal Luthy Miller.
The funds crossed Russia, Nigeria and Binance
Fraud quickly turned into a global money laundering operation.
Prosecutors say that victims’ money has been used to buy Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT), USDC and Ether (ETH)Then moved accounts related to people in Russia and Nigeria.
A large part of the stolen crypto was sent to Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world.
A person, Geoffrey Auyeung, has already been charged. He was charged in August 2024 for receiving most of the stolen funds and converting them into crypto.
At the time of his arrest, US officials also seized $ 2.3 million on his bank accounts.
$ 17.9 million already followed, no longer expected
So far, prosecutors have identified $ 17.9 million in losses, but expect more victims to manifest. If the court approves the crisis by $ 7.1 million, the total amount recovered would increase to $ 9.4 million, which will reimburse the verified victims.
Part of a greater repression
Not an isolated case, in fact. In recent weeks, the American and international authorities have intensified measures against fraud linked to the crypto:
- Omegapro promoters were billed in a $ 650 million scam.
- Former rugby player Shane Donovan Moore was sentenced to $ 900,000 Ponzi program.
- In Hong Kong, the police arrested four people related to fraud to investors of $ 382,000. The alleged leader fled abroad.
The American oil scam shows what facility the crypto can be used badly beyond the borders, but it also shows that the global application catches up quickly.
