By Nathan Ferguson
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has successfully managed to recover cryptocurrency assets that were bought using around $150Million worth of stolen funds from a worker at Sony Life.
Caught in the Act
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation mentioned that they have secured the private keys from the suspected employee named Rei Ishii, that are host to about $190Million valued Bitcoin, apparently purchased using hard cash that was taken from the insurance section of Sony Life.
The FBI stated that Rei Ishii was involved in the fabrication of transaction statements in order to illegally push out nearly $149Million in funds from Sony Life. Rei Ishii then transferred the funds into a La Jolla Bank account back in May of this year, before he had the funds converted into Bitcoin. The Department of Justice registered a civil forfeiture in order to for the Bitcoin/Funds to be given back to Sony Life headquarters, which is based in Tokyo.
Nowhere to Hide
Attorney from the United States, Randy Grossman stated that their intentions are to give back the stolen funds to the ones who suffered, and the appropriate actions taken contribute towards the successful recovery. Grossman warned Criminals that they cannot hide their wrong doings from law enforcement authorities, even if they are to use Crypto as a scape goat, because the US is in good relations with its partners around the world, who are actively working in solving crime and returning stolen money.
In validation of the statement from Randy Grossman, the suspect was successfully caught on the 29th of November, by the help of both Japanese and United States investigators working together.
Recovered Funds
Special Agent Suzanne Turner stated that both Sony Life and Citibank contributed their efforts and worked with the authorities in order to trace the stolen funds. The investigation phase had started back in August with the FBI then successfully managing to secure around 3,879 Bitcoin on the 1st of December. Technical experts in the FBI managed to track and secure the funds from the suspects crypto-based wallet. The FBI still hasn’t disclosed on how they are able to get their hands on Bitcoin private keys, which has surely proven to be quite effective.