The Department of Justice is launching a cryptocurrency enforcement team tasked with handling complex investigations and prosecutions of criminal misuses of the asset class.
The National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team will aim to deter, disrupt, investigate and prosecute criminal misuse of cryptocurrency, as well as to recover the illicit proceeds of those crimes whenever possible, the Justice Department said in a news release announcing the team's creation Wednesday.
The DOJ is establishing the team to draw on the department's "cyber and money laundering expertise to strengthen our capacity to dismantle the financial entities that enable criminal actors to flourish — and quite frankly to profit — from abusing cryptocurrency platforms" said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco in the news release. "As the technology advances, so too must the department evolve with it so that we're poised to root out abuse on these platforms and ensure user confidence in these systems."
The team, under the supervision of Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr., will combine the expertise of the Justice Department criminal division's money laundering and asset recovery section with the computer crime and intellectual property section. The team will also assist in tracing and recovery of assets lost to fraud and extortion, including cryptocurrency payments to ransomware groups, the DOJ said.
Because crimes involving cryptocurrency can take many forms, the team will not only pursue its own cases, but also support existing and future cases brought across the criminal division and in U.S. attorneys' offices across the country, the DOJ added.
"The criminal division is already an established leader in investigating and prosecuting the criminal misuse of cryptocurrency," Mr. Polite said in the news release. "The creation of this team will build on this leadership by combining and coordinating expertise across the division in this continuously evolving field to investigate and prosecute the fraudulent misuse, illegal laundering, and other criminal activities involving cryptocurrencies."
