US Seeks to Seize IDR 40.7 Billion in Crypto from North Korean Hackers
The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia has reportedly filed a lawsuit to confiscate crypto assets worth more than US$2.67 million or the equivalent of IDR 40.7 billion, which were stolen by the North Korean hacking group, Lazarus Group.
Two lawsuits filed on Friday (5/10/2024) aim to seize crypto assets worth US$1.7 million in the form of Tether (USDT) from the hack of crypto exchange Deribit and assets worth US$971,000 in Bitcoin stemming from the Lazarus attack on casinos crypto Stake.com.
Two Separate Lawsuits
The first lawsuit relates to Lazarus' hacking of the Deribit crypto exchange in November 2022, which caused losses of up to US$28 million. In practice, the hacker group used the Tornado Cash mixer to launder the stolen money.
Lazarus is known to attempt to exchange the stolen assets into $ETH , and send them via Tornado Cash to be finally converted into USDT stablecoins on the Tron blockchain.
Money laundering stage by Lazarus. Source: US Attorney
Furthermore, the second lawsuit targets the confiscation of 15.5 Bitcoins (BTC.b) worth around US$971,000 that Lazarus stole from Stake.com in 2023. Lazarus Group is said to have used several stages to launder the stolen funds, including converting Bitcoins via the Avalanche Bridge and then through crypto mixers like Sinbad and Yonmix.
Most of these funds have been frozen by US authorities, although there are still funds that the perpetrators managed to move through the $BTC network.
