Note that criminals quite often interact with cryptocurrencies, as due to the decentralised nature of the latter, they cannot be taken away simply. And while experts believe that associating with digital assets may be too dangerous for fraudsters, that doesn't stop them.

As an example, recall the events of the summer of 2020, when hackers blocked the data of COVID-19 researchers from the University of California. They knew about the financial state of the experts and therefore demanded a rather large ransom for unlocking the data. At the time, they were talking about 116 BTC, which at the time were many times cheaper than the current exchange rate. Read more about the situation and the progress of negotiations in a separate article.


How cryptocurrencies are recovered

According to the ministry, the suspect in the suit is one Rei Ishii, who worked for Sony Life Insurance Company Ltd, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational Sony Corporation. Ishii allegedly embezzled $154 million when the company transferred the funds between its financial accounts.

According to Decrypt, Ishii falsified the transactions, causing the funds to be diverted from a company-controlled account to a suspect bank account in California. Ishii then withdrew the money and bought bitcoins with it. The FBI's investigation into the case has received "significant assistance" from other law enforcement agencies, including the National Police Agency of Japan, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Authority and the Office of the Japan Prosecutor for New Crimes.

Sony

Here is a quote from an official statement from the US Department of Justice regarding the lawsuit

The United States today filed a lawsuit in federal court to protect and eventually recover more than $154 million in funds that were allegedly stolen from an affiliate of the Sony Group Corporation of Tokyo and then seized by law enforcement during an investigation. The seizure was made on 1 December 2021, based on an FBI investigation.

Meanwhile, in Russia, the status of cryptocurrencies is still in limbo. As a reminder, it was previously reported that the Central Bank of Russia could allegedly ban crypto investments in the country altogether.

However, this week, Central Bank Deputy Chairman Vladimir Chistyukhin made a rather ambiguous statement: according to him, investments in cryptocurrencies for Russian citizens will remain available, but only through foreign companies. Here is the banker’s rejoinder, in which he shared his vision of the current situation. The quote in this case is cited by Cointelegraph.

Russian citizens and businesses have the right to acquire and store cryptocurrency, but not through domestic infrastructure or intermediaries.

So, in essence, Russians will be able to interact with cryptocurrencies in the future, but they will need foreign companies to do so. And apparently, foreign cryptocurrency exchanges are quite suitable for this.

Vladimir Chistyukhin, deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia

The official noted that the Russian government is working to provide greater clarity on the regulation of the crypto industry, promising that local authorities will consider legal initiatives on the issue. Russia’s central bank is currently preparing an advisory report to detail its vision on the role of cryptocurrency in the Russian financial system. The official continues.

I’ll give you a hint – we don’t see a place for cryptocurrency in the Russian financial market.

Accordingly, we should hardly expect any initiatives to develop the digital asset niche at the state level here.

Bitcoin in Russia


We believe that this situation will once again remind critics of cryptocurrencies that digital assets are not as easy for criminals as bankers like to say. Thanks to a transparent blockchain, the actions of each participant in the network are easy to trace, so it is unlikely that crypto will increase in popularity among fraudsters over time. At the very least, it is hoped that the reputation of coins in the eyes of their detractors will gradually begin to change.


What do you think about it? Share your opinion in our millionaires’ cryptochat. There, we’ll talk about other topics that affect the world of decentralized assets in one way or another.