WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) contributed to an investigation resulting in the arrest of two individuals this morning in Manhattan for an alleged conspiracy to launder cryptocurrency that was stolen during the 2016 hack of Bitfinex, a virtual currency exchange, presently valued at approximately $4.5 billion. Thus far, law enforcement has seized over $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency linked to that hack.
The investigation was led by HSI-New York, IRS-CI Washington, D.C. Field Office’s Cyber Crimes Unit and the FBI’s Chicago Field Office. The Ansbach Police Department in Germany provided assistance during this investigation.