US gov’t seeks to add $14B to crypto reserves as part of forfeiture case

The US government said it would pursue forfeiture of the Bitcoin holdings tied to a Cambodia-based company if the alleged ringleader were convicted.

A US federal court has unsealed a criminal indictment involving a massive cryptocurrency fraud scheme that could result in the government increasing its national Bitcoin reserves by $14 billion.

In a Tuesday notice from the US Justice Department, authorities said they had filed a forfeiture complaint against 127,271 Bitcoin (BTC), worth about $14.4 billion at the time of publication. The Bitcoin was tied to an indictment against Chen Zhi, founder and chair of a Cambodia-based company that was allegedly responsible for orchestrating crypto investment schemes.

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Zhi’s company, the Prince Holding Group, and its affiliates on the same day the indictment was unsealed.

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