ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently sentenced Long Island resident Eugene William Austin Jr. (also known as Hugh Austin) to 18 years in prison for charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and interstate transportation of stolen property.The court found that Austin conspired with his son Brandon Austin to falsely promise victims large cryptocurrency transactions, short-term high-return investments, and services to introduce high-net-worth investors to startups, while actually defrauding them to fund personal luxury expenses.Brandon Austin pleaded guilty in 2023 and was sentenced to 4 years in prison. The two caused over 20 victims to suffer cumulative losses exceeding $10 million. Eugene Austin's sentencing date is set for February 20, 2025, and he faces a maximum of 45 years in prison.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently sentenced Long Island resident Eugene William Austin Jr. (also known as Hugh Austin) to 18 years in prison for charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and interstate transportation of stolen property.The court found that Austin conspired with his son Brandon Austin to falsely promise victims large cryptocurrency transactions, short-term high-return investments, and services to introduce high-net-worth investors to startups, while actually defrauding them to fund personal luxury expenses.Brandon Austin pleaded guilty in 2023 and was sentenced to 4 years in prison. The two caused over 20 victims to suffer cumulative losses exceeding $10 million. Eugene Austin's sentencing date is set for February 20, 2025, where he faces a maximum of 45 years in prison.

ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, the U.S. Office of Public Affairs has accused Iranian national Behrouz Parsarad of being the founder and operator of the dark web market Nemesis Market. The indictment also alleges that Parsarad provided money laundering services, mixing cryptocurrencies used to pay for goods and services to conceal their origins.If convicted, Parsarad faces a mandatory sentence of at least 10 years in federal prison and up to life imprisonment.

According to ChainCatcher news reported by Decrypt, a report titled "Turning Point: The Global Impact of Southeast Asia's Scam Centers, Underground Banking, and Illegal Online Markets" released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) points out that transnational criminal groups in Southeast Asia are rapidly expanding global money laundering and scam activities involving billions of dollars by utilizing illegal cryptocurrency mining, stablecoins, and Telegram black markets, posing a threat to global security.

ChainCatcher news, Yichun Gao'an police successfully dismantled a fraud gang that used "friendship investment" as a pretext to launder money through virtual currency. It was found that the suspect Yao used "bank transfers are easily restricted" as a reason to lure victims into investing by withdrawing cash and then exchanging it for virtual currency offline. The gang collected the fraudulent proceeds through offline exchanges of virtual currency and then transferred the scam funds to their superiors to illegally obtain rewards, with the amount involved exceeding 4 million yuan.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinGape, Binance has begun requiring all Indian users to re-verify their identities (KYC) to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the cryptocurrency exchange eXch announced that it will cease operations on May 1. Earlier reports indicated that the exchange was used for money laundering, involving some of the stolen funds from the $1.4 billion hack incident related to Bybit.In an announcement on April 17, eXch stated that the majority of the management team voted to adopt a "stop and retreat" strategy in response to allegations that the North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group laundered approximately $35 million through the platform—funds that originated from the $1.4 billion hack suffered by Bybit.The exchange claimed it had become a target of a "transatlantic joint law enforcement operation" aimed at shutting down its business and potentially filing criminal charges. eXch stated in its announcement: "Although we have withstood multiple attempts to shut down our infrastructure and maintained operations, we believe it is pointless to continue operating in an environment where we have become a target of signals intelligence surveillance, solely due to the hostile environment created by the misinterpretation of our mission by certain individuals." The exchange initially denied blockchain detective claims that it assisted the Lazarus Group in laundering money but acknowledged handling a "very small portion of funds" from the February hack incident.

ChainCatcher news, Binance founder Zhao Changpeng denied allegations of money laundering and fraud in response to media reports on social platforms.He clarified that the so-called "anti-money laundering" issue is different from "money laundering"; the former refers to the failure to effectively prevent, while the latter refers to actual implementation. Zhao Changpeng emphasized that all customer assets are safe and sound, and stated that he may be one of the most strictly regulated individuals in the world. This statement also addresses reports regarding his legal disputes with Sun Yuchen.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, Jack Dorsey's payment company Block, Inc. has reached a $40 million settlement with New York state financial regulators due to anti-money laundering violations.The consent order released by the New York State Department of Financial Services on Thursday stated that the investigation found that the fintech company, formerly known as Square, "failed to adequately consider the significant risks posed by the scale and complexity of its business" in its anti-money laundering program when providing Bitcoin services through Cash App.Regulators specifically pointed out three major vulnerabilities at Block: a lack of risk-based anti-money laundering controls, insufficient customer due diligence, and lax handling of high-risk Bitcoin transactions that led to a large number of anonymous transactions going unchecked. This is the second time this year that Block has paid a settlement due to anti-money laundering issues. In January, the company paid $80 million to financial regulators in 48 states.A Block spokesperson stated that this settlement marks the resolution of all state-level remittance license matters and emphasized that while the company did not admit to the findings of the investigation, it has invested significant resources to improve the compliance framework of Cash App. Under the agreement, Block must hire an independent monitor to implement corrective actions.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloter, Kim Sung-jin, head of the Virtual Assets Division of the Financial Services Commission of South Korea, stated in Congress on April 2 that if domestic cryptocurrency exchanges have sufficient anti-money laundering capabilities, it may be possible to allow foreign investment in domestic cryptocurrency assets in the future. Current laws still prohibit foreign corporations and individuals from participating in such investments.

ChainCatcher news, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) has issued a warning to cryptocurrency ATM operators, indicating that some machines may be used for money laundering or fraud. The statement shows that there are signs of suspicious activities related to scams and fraud involving cryptocurrency ATMs.AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas stated that it will ensure operators take measures to reduce the risks of money laundering and fraud.Currently, Australia has 1,648 cryptocurrency ATMs, the most in the Asia-Pacific region, with 348 located in Sydney. Recently, the United States has also strengthened regulations on cryptocurrency ATMs, with an Illinois senator proposing a bill to limit daily transaction amounts and require refund protections.

ChainCatcher news, according to the United Daily News, a father-son duo with the surname Zhou from Taichung, Taiwan, collaborated with an overseas fraud group to establish ten virtual currency chain stores in the country, using legal currency stores as a cover to secretly engage in illegal money laundering activities, with the amount involved reaching up to 3.1 billion New Taiwan Dollars. On March 21, the Yunlin District Prosecutor's Office prosecuted 17 individuals for aggravated fraud and money laundering, seeking a 20-year heavy sentence for the masterminds Zhou Hongwei, Liu Jinggu, and You Junfu.The prosecutors pointed out that the fraud gang attracted victims who lacked knowledge of virtual currency to invest by disguising the appearance of legitimate currency stores. Victims exchanged cash for Tether (USDT) in the stores, and were then guided to transfer funds to overseas fraud operations. The entire process was meticulously designed, including the "fake currency store, real water room" and "fake logistics, real drivers" model, comparable to a crime movie plot.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Hong Kong Commercial Daily, the Hong Kong police launched an operation codenamed "Shijue" in the Yau Tsim District from March 10 to 19, successfully cracking down on a series of fraud and money laundering activities. This operation solved 45 cases and arrested 54 suspects, with a total amount involved reaching HKD 194 million.The case with the highest amount involved is a virtual currency investment fraud targeting foreign nationals, with an amount as high as HKD 72 million. Victims were deceived into investing in virtual currency and transferring funds to designated bank accounts. The police have arrested two women from the mainland (aged 30 and 34), who claimed to be a housewife and a businesswoman, and they were charged with money laundering on March 11 at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Court.

ChainCatcher news, according to News.bitcoin, a San Francisco federal jury found AML Bitcoin founder and CEO Rowland Marcus Andrade guilty of wire fraud and money laundering. Andrade is scheduled to be sentenced on July 22, 2025. He faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and up to 10 years for money laundering, along with the forfeiture of assets related to his crimes.According to evidence presented at trial, 47-year-old Andrade from Texas misappropriated over $2 million from AML Bitcoin sales for personal expenses, including the purchase of two properties in Texas and two luxury cars. He laundered investors' funds through various bank accounts and then used that money to finance his purchases. The jury found that Andrade falsely claimed that AML Bitcoin was about to receive approval from the Panama Canal Authority, but no such agreement existed. Through these false statements, he raised millions of dollars from investors.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, a man in California has been sentenced to 87 months in federal prison for using Bitcoin to launder proceeds from the sale of MDMA on the dark web.29-year-old San Francisco resident John Khuu pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and operating an illegal money transmission business. According to Texas law enforcement, Khuu imported MDMA from Germany and sold it on various dark web markets, accepting Bitcoin payments. He then converted the Bitcoin stored in seller accounts into dollars and laundered the money through "hundreds of transactions and dozens of financial accounts."This arrest is part of "Operation Crypto Runner," a joint multi-year investigation announced by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Postal Inspection Service in November 2022. Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis believes that 2024 could be the largest year for money laundering through cryptocurrency, exceeding $40 billion, setting a new record. The U.S. Treasury's 2024 risk assessment found that while traditional money laundering methods still dominate, the use of cryptocurrency for laundering drug transactions is increasingly rising, with methods becoming more complex.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Paper, the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, Ying Yong, delivered the work report of the Supreme Procuratorate at the third session of the 14th National People's Congress. In 2024, the procuratorial organs prosecuted 825 individuals for securities-related crimes such as financial fraud and insider trading, and 3,032 individuals for money laundering crimes involving the use of "virtual currency" to transfer criminal proceeds.

ChainCatcher news reports that according to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice, the United States, along with Germany and Finland, has successfully dismantled and seized the online infrastructure of the cryptocurrency exchange Garantex. Since April 2019, the exchange has processed at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions and has been accused of providing money laundering services to transnational criminal organizations, including terrorist groups, and violating sanctions.At the same time, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has filed a lawsuit against two administrators of Garantex: 46-year-old Lithuanian national Aleksej Besciokov and 40-year-old Russian national residing in the UAE, Aleksandr Mira Serda. Both are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, and Besciokov is additionally charged with conspiracy to violate sanctions and operating an unlicensed money transmission business.Court documents show that from 2019 to 2025, the two defendants controlled and operated Garantex, knowingly allowing the platform to be used for money laundering while taking steps to conceal the illegal activities. Despite the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioning Garantex on April 5, 2022, the defendants continued to transact with U.S. entities and redesigned their operations to evade sanctions, including changing cryptocurrency wallet addresses daily to avoid detection and blocking by U.S. cryptocurrency exchanges.U.S. law enforcement has seized three domain names: Garantex.org, Garantex.io, and Garantex.academy, frozen over $26 million in funds used for money laundering, and obtained server copies that include customer and accounting databases. If convicted, the two defendants face a maximum of 20 years in prison.

According to ChainCatcher news, reported by Decrypt, U.S. authorities have offered a reward of $10 million for the capture of former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding. Wedding is accused of being heavily involved in operating a multinational cocaine empire. The FBI announced on Thursday that it has placed this Canadian on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in order to apprehend him as soon as possible.In October 2024, the Department of Justice filed criminal charges against Wedding and 15 other defendants, accusing them of leading the group and committing multiple atrocities during drug trafficking. U.S. authorities claim that Wedding is suspected of using his criminal organization to smuggle hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and fentanyl into North America and orchestrating multiple murders to protect his business. It is alleged that Wedding used USDT for money laundering and to circumvent traditional banking systems.