FBI Declares A Vietnam Man Wanted For Money Laundry Worth $3 Billion In Virtual Currency

On March 16, Sputnik radio quoted the US Department of Justice as saying that ChipMixer was dismantled due to its involvement in fraudulent activities, money laundering, hackers, private network market (darknet) ...

US authorities have coordinated with the German federal criminal police to carry out an operation to take down ChipMixer, confiscate servers and more than $ 46 million in cryptocurrency.

"This morning (Main coordination with domestic and foreign partners, the US Department of Justice disabled a cryptocurrency mixing tool that helps promote malware attacks. , state-sponsored purchases of cryptocurrencies and purchases in private network markets globally," the US Department of Justice said in a statement.

The US Department of Justice emphasizes that it will do everything to protect victims and fight criminals in the field of cryptocurrency, and asserts that the ChipMixer crackdown in particular has disrupted dangerous criminal activity. for global cybersecurity.

According to the allegation, from August 2017 to March 2023, ChipMixer was responsible for handling bitcoins used by a foreign intelligence agency. This allegation was first revealed in a joint cybersecurity advisory that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US National Security Agency (NSA) released in August 2020.

Washington also accused ChipMixer of processing nearly $1 billion in bitcoin linked to stolen funds or private network markets during the same period. Some of the funds are believed to be linked to North Korean hackers.

Regarding the ChipMixer case, US authorities have charged Minh Quoc Nguyen, a Vietnamese citizen, with money laundering, operating an unauthorized money transfer network and stealing other people's personal information. The maximum sentence for these crimes is 40 years in prison.

Minh Quoc Nguyen, born in 1973, is from Quang Binh. Minh Quoc Nguyen was charged on March 14 and is wanted by the FBI.

According to the court indictment, ChipMixer allowed customers to send bitcoins, then mix them with the bitcoins of other ChipMixer users, making it difficult for law enforcement and regulators to track their transactions.

ChipMixer serves a wide range of customers in the US but is not registered with the US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) nor does it collect identifying information about its customers.