The FBI Is Hunting For A Vietnamese Man Who Is Suspected Of Laundering $3 Billion In Bitcoin

Key Points:

• On March 14, the FBI filed an arrest warrant for Nguyen Minh Quoc on money laundering and identity theft offenses.
• The entire value of the seized assets was over $3 billion, which included 1,909.4 Bitcoins.

Nguyen Minh Quoc, 49, of Vietnamese nationality, is wanted by the FBI for alleged participation in money laundering and identity theft.

The European Union Law Enforcement Cooperation Agency (Europol) and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that the ChipMixer website had been taken down. There were 1,909.4 Bitcoins among the seized assets. ChipMixer is accused of mixing cryptocurrencies and assisting hackers in laundering more than $3 billion in digital money.

According to allegations from these two authorities, ChipMixer was formed in 2017 by Nguyen Minh Quoc and this individual holds a Doctorate in cryptography from Taiwan. “Nguyen Minh Quoc is wanted for his direct involvement in money laundering and identity theft while using the services of ChipMixer. The vast majority of the funds are directly tied to hackers utilizing ransomware to extort victims, crypto theft, and other illegal activity “According to the FBI’s website. As stated by the US Department of Justice, Quoc has not been apprehended since his present whereabouts is unclear. Authorities attempted to contact this person through email and through the ChipMixer website but received no response.

ChipMixer, the illicit cryptocurrency mixing engine, is alleged to have been invented and controlled directly by Nguyen Minh Quoc. In addition, the individual promotes the business online and advises consumers on how to avoid legal action. ChipMixer is described as “one of the major cryptocurrency mixers on the dark web” by Europol. ChipMixer was used to launder approximately $844 million in Bitcoins tied to illicit activity, according to digital currency tracking service Elliptic. At least $666 million of that came from cryptocurrency thefts.

This service has also been utilized by ransomware attack organizations such as Zeppelin, SunCrypt, Mamba, Dharma, and Lockbit to launder ransoms from victims. US officials are also looking into some of the money stolen in big cryptocurrency exchange failures in 2022.

From August 2017 to March 2023, ChipMixer was involved in a number of illegal activities, including: facilitating the laundering of $17 million in Bitcoin in ransomware attacks; laundering over $700 million in Bitcoin for wallets containing funds stolen from the Ronin (Axie Infinity) and Harmony Horizon bridge hacks; and laundering over $200 million in Bitcoin associated with the darknet and other organizations. ChipMixer was previously identified by police in 2019 when it assisted hackers in laundering at least 4,836 Bitcoins stolen from the Binance exchange.

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