U.S. Justice Department Seizes $201,000 Earmarked for Hamas

The U.S. Division of Justice has seized $201,400 in cryptocurrencies earmarked for Palestinian militant group Hamas, the company introduced on Thursday. 

Authorities took management of a cryptocurrency pockets holding $89,900, along with three accounts holding digital belongings value $111,500, the Justice Division said Thursday in a press release. The pockets addresses have been used to launder greater than $1.5 million in digital currencies for Hamas since October 2024.

“These seizures present that this workplace will search excessive and low for each cent of cash going to fund Hamas, wherever it’s discovered, and in no matter type of foreign money,” U.S. Lawyer Edward R. Martin Jr. for the District of Columbia stated Thursday within the assertion. 

Because the early 2010s, cybercriminals and militant teams have used privacy-focused blockchain applied sciences and cryptocurrencies to launder their ill-gotten positive aspects and finance their operations. However over the previous few years, U.S. authorities have cracked down on the follow, irritating unhealthy actors’ makes an attempt to function undetected. 

Based on the DOJ, a gaggle chat with alleged ties to Hamas enabled Hamas supporters to donate cryptocurrencies to no less than 17 pockets addresses by way of an encrypted communications platform. Financiers and over-the-counter brokers laundered the funds by way of a number of crypto exchanges. 

It isn’t instantly clear which crypto exchanges have been used for the alleged cash laundering.  

The Justice Division didn’t instantly reply to Decrypt’s request for touch upon the matter. 

The FBI Albuquerque discipline workplace assisted within the newest investigation. 

 “Disrupting funding mechanisms and seizing cryptocurrency from Hamas is likely one of the FBI’s many instruments that we use within the struggle in opposition to terrorism,” Assistant Director David J. Scott of the FBI Counterterrorism Division stated. 

The DOJ shouldn’t be the one company that has cracked down on campaigns to fund Hamas and different militant teams. Between 2021 and 2023, Israeli counter-terrorist authorities seized dozens of digital asset accounts with suspected ties to Hamas and two with alleged connections to Daesh, often known as ISIS, Reuters reported, citing folks acquainted with the matter.  

Edited by James Rubin