The U.S. Department of Justice is planning to target cryptocurrency exchanges that aid in money laundering activities, according to the director of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. The agency will focus on exchanges that do not comply with anti-money laundering and know-your-customer rules.

The US Department of Justice's national cryptocurrency enforcement team (NCET) is planning to step up its efforts to combat criminal activity in the crypto market. The NCET will be targeting crypto exchanges, mixers, and DeFi platforms that facilitate or commit crimes such as money laundering. The director of the cryptocurrency enforcement team, Eun Young Choi, hopes to send a strong message to crypto entities that fail to comply with anti-money laundering or client identification regulations and neglect to implement adequate compliance, cybersecurity, and risk management measures.

The head of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team at the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced plans to crack down on cryptocurrency mixers and tumblers, as well as exchanges that violate money laundering rules. Eun Young Choi, who became director of the team last year, aims to prevent the use of cryptocurrency for illegal activities. The DOJ will also target crypto mixers and tumblers, which have been used by criminals to launder money and evade detection. The DOJ has previously taken action against entities in the crypto industry, including launching a probe against Binance for a possible violation of sanctions against Russia.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly taking enforcement action against Binance or Binance.US, the world's largest crypto exchange. Binance has faced enforcement action from the US CFTC and ongoing probes by the DOJ for violating sanctions against Russia. The SEC has sent a Wells notice to Coinbase, but Coinbase has stated that this will have no impact as it doesn't list securities. Binance has paused Bitcoin withdrawals due to congestion on the Bitcoin blockchain. Both Binance and Coinbase are under scrutiny from the US SEC.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has warned that cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly prevalent in criminal activity, from ransomware payments to circumventing sanctions. The DOJ's director of National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), Eun Young Choi, stated that digital assets are touching every aspect of criminal activity being investigated. At a recent conference, representatives from the DOJ, National Police in the UK, and the private sector discussed the challenges posed by cryptocurrency-related crime and the need for a different approach and mindset. The panelists emphasized the importance of public-private cooperation and urged victims to report criminal activity to authorities.

A former product manager at Coinbase, Ishan Wahi, has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to insider trading charges. Wahi was arrested in July 2022 and charged with wire fraud and insider trading for providing insider information about upcoming crypto listings to his brother and another man. The men made over $1 million trading on Wahi's information from June 2021 to April 2022. This is the second crypto-related insider trading case brought by the Department of Justice, with the first involving the former head of product at non-fungible token platform OpenSea. Nate Chastain was convicted of money laundering and wire fraud and faces a maximum sentence of 40 years.

The US Justice Department is investigating whether Binance Holdings Ltd. was illegally used to let Russians skirt US sanctions and move money through the cryptocurrency exchange.

Ohio man Gary James Harmon has been sentenced to 51 months in prison for stealing 712 BTC worth over $21 million from his brother, Larry Dean Harmon, who was arrested in February 2020 for operating a coin-mixing service called Helix. Gary James Harmon recreated Bitcoin wallets with his brother's credentials, "covertly" sending himself 712 BTC from a seized cryptocurrency storage device, and laundered the assets further.

The leader of a Miami crew charged by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) with defrauding banks in a 2020 cryptocurrency-related scheme has pleaded guilty, an official notice from Wednesday said.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted five individuals for allegedly manipulating the market of the ERC-20 Hydro token. The former CEO of Hydrogen Technology Corp., Michael Ross Kane, the chief of financial engineering of Hydrogen, Shane Hampton, and George Wolvaardt, were charged with a range of counts including conspiracy to commit securities price manipulation and wire fraud. The DOJ alleges that the three individuals, along with two others, conspired to manipulate the market for Hydro tokens, defrauding market participants and netting an approximate total of $2 million in ill-gotten profits. If found guilty, the accused could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on some of the charges.