Virtual currency exchange hack (2018) · 2018
According to the pleadings, in 2018, North Korean co-conspirators hacked into a virtual currency exchange and stole nearly $250 million worth of virtual currency. ... Two Chinese nationals were charged with laundering over $100 million worth of cryptocurrency from a hack of a cryptocurrency exchange.
Digital Currency Exchange Hack · April 2018
Digital Currency Exchange Hack. As detailed in allegations set forth in a Department of Justice complaint for forfeiture in rem, in April 2018, DPRK state-sponsored cyber actors hacked into a digital currency exchange and stole nearly $250 million worth of digital currency. The complaint further described how the stolen assets were laundered through hundreds of automated digital currency transactions, to obfuscate the origins of the funds, in an attempt to prevent law enforcement from tracing the assets. Two Chinese nationals are alleged in the complaint to have subsequently laundered the assets on behalf of the North Korean group, receiving approximately $91 million from DPRK-controlled accounts, as well as an additional $9.5 million from a hack of another exchange. In March 2020, the Department of the Treasury designated the two individuals under cyber and DPRK sanctions authorities, concurrent with a Department of Justice announcement that the individuals had been previously indicted on money laundering and unlicensed money transmitting charges and that 113 digital currency accounts were subject to forfeiture. Treasury’s Sanctions against Individuals Laundering Cryptocurrency for Lazarus Group (March 2, 2020) https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm924 DOJ’s Indictment of Two Chinese Nationals Charged with Laundering Cryptocurrency from Exchange Hack and Civil Forfeiture Complaint (March 2, 2020) https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-chinese-nationals-charged-laundering-over-100-million-cryptocurrency-exchange-hack
Hack of The Exchange 1 via malware downloaded by an employee communicating with a "potential client" (Celas Trade Pro / Fallchill) · mid-2018 (learned of hack in late 2018)
In late 2018, IRS-CI's Cyber Crimes Unit learned that The Exchange 1 had been hacked. The perpetrators of the hack stole nearly $250 million worth of virtual currencies (as detailed below). In mid-2018, an employee of The Exchange 1 communicated with a "potential client" via email. While communicating with the "potential client," the employee unwittingly downloaded malware which attacked The Exchange 1. [Case No. 1:20-cv-00606, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; filing: COMPLAINT against 113 VIRTUAL CURRENCY ACCOUNTS]