DOJ Gets Court Authority to Seize or Restrain Over $1.2 Billion From Binance Theft
U.S. officials say coordinated efforts froze more than $2.7 billion after the Binance theft. Court authority covers more than $1.2 billion of that total; recovery work is continuing.
The Justice Department said Thursday that it has obtained court authority to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance, part of a broader effort to block North Korean hackers from moving the funds.
U.S. government agencies and cryptocurrency businesses have together frozen more than $2.7 billion linked to the theft, the department said. The court-authorized amount is part of that total, not an additional recovery.
The FBI attributes the theft of more than $6 billion from Binance around October 29 to North Korean actors known as TraderTraitor. Authorities said work to trace, freeze, seize and forfeit the assets is continuing as the hackers move funds through cryptocurrency services.
The announcement also described a separate operation against cloud infrastructure used in a scheme the FBI calls FaceStealer. That campaign used deceptive video meetings and fake technical fixes to install malware and steal cryptocurrency. The department said it caused more than $400 million in losses over 18 months.
The Binance action does not mean all frozen assets have been returned to customers. Thursday's update concerns court authority and ongoing recovery efforts, rather than a completed repayment.