Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, said its investigations team has helped U.S. law enforcement seize millions of dollars from and freeze the accounts of individuals associated with organized crime in North Korea.
"We are proud to have assisted US law enforcement in seizing $4.4M and freezing accounts linked to North Korean organized crime," Binance said in a tweet. "Kudos to our law enforcement partners and the Binance Investigations team for their unwavering commitment to combating crime worldwide. We proactively took action against accounts connected to these individuals over a year ago, in compliance with lawfully served warrants and in collaboration with law enforcement. The blockchain provides a tremendous amount of transparency, which enables law enforcement to uncover these types of crimes. We work closely with authorities around the world every day to help prevent crimes and take action against bad actors."
The U.S. Department of the Treasury said its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned several entities and one individual that were engaging in criminal cyber activity in support of the goals of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) government, according to a release. The Treasury said the DPRK government conducts malicious activities online and sends out information technology workers to gain fraudulent employment in order to generate funds for government priorities such as ballistic missile development.
“Today’s action continues to highlight the DPRK’s extensive illicit cyber and IT worker operations, which finance the regime’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement. “The United States and our partners remain committed to combatting the DPRK’s illicit revenue generation activities and continued efforts to steal money from financial institutions, virtual currency exchanges, companies, and private individuals around the world.”
Tigran Gambaryan, the head of Financial Crimes Compliance of Binance, said in a video posted by Binance that he was initially drawn to the cryptocurrency industry because he saw how the transparency of the technology made it easier for investigators to catch criminals. "I spent the bulk of my career of 15 years in law enforcement, then a bit with IRS criminal investigations, where in addition to working the legacy crimes like money laundering and organized crime, drug trafficking, and public corruption, I was drawn into the cryptocurrency world. I got into the world because I saw the opportunity, and I saw just how transparent it was and what it allowed investigators to do." Gambaryan added that throughout his career in the crypto industry, he has been able to assist in catching criminals associated with "child abuse, drug trafficking, public corruption, all because of the transparency that cryptocurrency provided." Gambaryan noted that he assisted in building out the Treasury Department's cyber program.
Matt Price, Binance's global head of intelligence and investigations said in a video shared by Binance that while many people believe crypto is anonymous, which would make it easy for illicit actors to use it to commit crimes, the opposite is actually true, because of blockchain’s role in crypto transactions.
“The myth that crypto is anonymous that allows for illicit activity is actually quite the opposite. The fact that the transactions are publicly recorded leaves a permanent record of what actually occurred,” Price said. “Investigators that are using investigative tools, their investigative power, lawful power to request information, actually have an easier time, in many cases, identifying who is conducting these activities than they would in a traditional financial investigation.”
