U.S. Department of Justice Charges Geoffrey K. Auyeung with $64 Million Cryptocurrency Laundering Scheme

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that Geoffrey K. Auyeung, a resident of New Castle, Washington, was indicted for his alleged cryptocurrency money laundering scheme and faces "conspiracy to launder money and nine counts of money laundering by concealing or spending." The DOJ said that Auyeung, who was arrested on August 12, posed as an escrow agent for oil and gas investments to defraud investors and then transferred customer funds to accounts under his control. "Once the funds entered the accounts controlled by Auyeung, the money was quickly transferred to other accounts, transferred overseas, or used to purchase cryptocurrencies including BTC, USDT, USDC and ETH through cryptocurrency exchanges such as Gemini, Bitstamp and Coinbase." Investigators from the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) have tracked $64 million flowing into 74 different bank accounts associated with Auyeung. The indictment calls for the forfeiture of approximately $2.3 million seized from Auyeung's bank accounts. “Millions in wire fraud proceeds converted into cryptocurrency are frozen and awaiting seizure. HSI has identified 22 victims with combined losses of $7.7 million. However, law enforcement believes additional victims may be emerging,” the Justice Department noted. (Bitcoin.com)