8 entries in this category.
A prominent crypto 'market maker' that the U.S. DOJ says ran wash-trading/market-manipulation services (2018–2024) to fake trading volume for token clients (including Saitama and Robo Inu) and win exchange listings. Charged in the FBI's 'Operation Token Mirrors'; founder Aleksei Andriunin pleaded guilty in 2025 and Gotbit forfeited $23M.
A privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet and mixing service (Whirlpool, Ricochet) whose founders the U.S. DOJ charged in 2024 with running an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Prosecutors said it processed $2B+ in Bitcoin and laundered $100M+ in criminal proceeds; both founders pleaded guilty in 2025.
A crypto hedge fund (with affiliate VQR Multistrategy Fund) that claimed ~$90M in assets and a market-neutral arbitrage strategy. Founder Stefan Qin pleaded guilty to securities fraud after draining investor capital; he was sentenced in 2021 to 7.5 years.
More than $100M was drained from users of the non-custodial Atomic Wallet beginning June 3, 2023, affecting 5,000+ wallets. Elliptic attributed the theft to North Korea's Lazarus Group based on laundering patterns; the root cause was never fully disclosed.
The crypto market maker Wintermute lost about $160M in September 2022 after an attacker brute-forced the private key of a 'vanity' admin address generated with the buggy Profanity tool, then used it to drain the firm's DeFi vault.
About 119,754 BTC were stolen from the Bitfinex exchange in August 2016. In 2022 the U.S. DOJ arrested Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan ('Razzlekhan') for laundering the proceeds; both pleaded guilty, and Lichtenstein was sentenced to five years in 2024.
A Singapore-based crypto hedge fund, once reportedly managing ~$10B, that collapsed in June 2022 amid heavy leverage and the Terra/LUNA crash. A BVI court ordered it liquidated; Singapore's MAS banned founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies for nine years.
On Aug 19, 2024, roughly 4,100 BTC (about $243M at the time) was stolen from a single creditor of the bankrupt lender Genesis through a social-engineering attack. ZachXBT traced the funds and identified three individuals; the case led to arrests and a U.S. DOJ indictment.