FBI says it seized more than $1.2 billion in crypto stolen from Binance
Officials blame North Korea for the theft and for a separate scheme, FaceStealer, that they say stole $400 million over 18 months.
The FBI said Thursday it seized more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency reported stolen from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. More than $6 billion was reported stolen in the theft, which the Washington Examiner dates to around Oct. 29. The U.S. government and the private sector have together frozen more than $2.7 billion of the funds.
According to the Justice Department, a court has granted it the power to take or hold back over $1.2 billion of that. The Washington Examiner reports investigators have pinned the theft on North Korean military members, who belong to a hacking operation the FBI calls TraderTraitor. It adds that preliminary findings suggest hackers may have entered through a compromised company computer.
The Justice Department says efforts to trace, freeze, seize and forfeit the funds are ongoing. Also Thursday, the FBI blamed North Korea for a separate scheme called FaceStealer, which officials say stole $400 million in cryptocurrency over 18 months. It uses fake video meetings, with prerecorded or AI-generated footage, to trick victims into downloading malicious software.
The FBI says it seized online infrastructure used in the scheme and launched a website with guidance for possible victims. CBS News notes that, typically, a judge decides who has a legitimate claim to recovered funds.
- more than $1.2 billioncrypto the FBI says it seized from the Binance theftCBS News
- more than $2.7 billionstolen funds frozen by the U.S. government and private sectorCBS News
- more than $6 billioncrypto reported stolen from BinanceJust the News
- $400 millionstolen through FaceStealer over 18 months, by officials' accountCBS News
- more than 900webcam videos of victims seized in the FaceStealer investigationWashington Examiner
Three sides of the story
4 news outlets reported this
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Liberal1 outlet
The seizure and what happens to the funds
CBS News leads with the FBI saying it seized more than $1.2 billion of cryptocurrency reported stolen from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. It reports that the U.S. public and private entities have jointly immobilized more than $2.7 billion, and that the Justice Department has a court's approval to take or hold back more than $1.2 billion of that total. CBS then explains the next step: typically the government files a forfeiture claim, and a judge decides who has a legitimate claim to the recovered funds.
It turns to the FBI's separate accusation against North Korea over FaceStealer, a scheme officials say took $400 million over 18 months through hijacked messaging apps and deepfake videos. It quotes U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, who says "we have consistently met them head on," and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who calls crypto "fertile ground for North Korea to defraud victims."
Center0 outlets
Outlets on this side gave the story little coverage.
Conservative3 outlets
Justice Department crackdown on North Korean crypto theft
The Washington Examiner headlines the story as a Justice Department crackdown on North Korean crypto theft and builds it on official voices: M. Scott Proctor of the National Security Division, who says it "will use every tool at its disposal," and the FBI's Patrick Grandy, who calls FaceStealer a "highly effective social engineering scheme" now also aimed at open-source software. It adds preliminary findings that hackers may have entered through a compromised company computer. Just the News leads with "FBI says $1.2 billion stolen from Binance by North Korea has been recovered" and opens with Proctor's line that North Korea's government "bankrolls its rogue regime" through crypto theft.
It notes that efforts to trace, freeze, seize and forfeit the funds are ongoing. The Washington Times headlines the FBI's statement that the U.S. has seized $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency taken from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange.
- Liberal outlets did not mentionTotal stolen from Binance reported as more than $6 billion Reported by Just the News, Washington Examiner
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The FBI has launched a website with information about FaceStealer and guidance for possible victims, according to the Washington Examiner. The FBI says the scheme uses fake video meetings, with prerecorded or AI-generated footage, to push victims into downloading malicious software, and that it increasingly targets people who develop and maintain open-source software.
All sources: 5 articles from 4 outlets
Liberal (1)
Conservative (4)
- Just the News: FBI says $1.2 billion stolen from Binance by North Korea has been recovered
- Just the News: FBI says $1.2 billion stolen from Binance by North Korea has been recovered
- The Washington Times: FBI says U.S. has seized $1.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency stolen from Binance
- Washington Examiner: DOJ cracks down on North Korean crypto theft after $6.3 billion Binance heist
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