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Cryptocurrency: FBI, Citibank, Sony, Japan collaborate to seize stolen $180m in Bitcoin

*The US Department of Justice says the country has ‘filed a civil forfeiture complaint’ to return over $154million in funds now valued at $180 million, allegedly stolen from a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

For allegedly stealing from a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation, the United States (US) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in collaboration with Citibank, Sony, and Japanese law enforcement, has moved to “return more than $154 million in funds that were allegedly stolen from a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation.”

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) detailed: “As a result of this coordinated effort, investigators obtained the ‘private key’ … needed to access the bitcoin address,” agency report said.

The DOJ last week announced that the US has “filed a civil forfeiture complaint” to “return more than $154 million in funds that were allegedly stolen from a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation.”

The FBI and various Japanese law enforcement agencies investigated the case “with significant assistance from Sony and Citibank,” the announcement details, adding, “as a result of this coordinated effort, investigators obtained the ‘private key’ … needed to access the bitcoin address.”

Rei Ishii, an employee of Sony Life Insurance Company Limited in Tokyo, purportedly “embezzled” $154 million in May and transferred the funds to an account he controlled at a bank in La Jolla, California.

Ishii then, quickly converted the funds “to more than 3,879 bitcoins valued today at more than $180 million,” according to report.

At the current price of bitcoin, this stack of BTC is worth almost $188 million.

The country’s Justice Department further explained that “those funds were seized by law enforcement on December 1, 2021, based on the FBI’s investigation.”

The DOJ stated that law enforcement was able to trace Bitcoin transfers and identify that approximately 3,879.16 Bitcoins, representing the proceeds of the funds stolen from a subsidiary of Sony Life, had been transferred to a specific Bitcoin address and then to an offline cryptocurrency cold wallet.

The Department also noted: “All the bitcoins traceable to the theft have been recovered and fully preserved. Ishii has been criminally charged in Japan.

“The FBI’s technical expertise was able to trace the money to the subject’s crypto wallet and seize those funds.”

In his comment of the development, Acting US Attorney Randy Grossman reportedly said: “It is our intent to return the stolen money to the victim of this audacious theft.”

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