FBI seized $180m in bitcoin from Sony Life employee

The criminal was able to embezzle the funds by forging transactions and sending them to his account at Silvergate Bank in California

22.12.2021 - 13:55

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What’s new? The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized $180 million in bitcoin related to the Sony Life embezzlement case. A lawsuit has been filed in federal court to recover the stolen funds.

The case documents

How did events develop? Rei Ishii, a former Sony Life employee, stole $155 million (at the time of the incident) from one of the subsidiaries of the Japanese insurer in May 2021. Ishii was able to embezzle the funds by forging transactions and sending them to his account at Silvergate Bank in California. The stolen money was used to buy 3 879 bitcoins on Coinbase. Ishii then transferred them to a hardware wallet in an attempt to conceal the nature and ownership of the funds.

What is the outcome? The FBI managed to trace the funds and confiscate them on December 1. The bitcoin fortune was transferred to the FBI-San Diego wallet. The seizure was made possible by close cooperation with Citibank and the Japanese police and the Prosecutor's Office. The magistrate of the Southern District of California issued an arrest warrant for Ishii.

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