For the year 2023, the “most prominent and high-profile investigations” of the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) criminal investigation unit have included four cases about cryptocurrencies in its top ten.
The IRS unit announced on December 11 that four significant cases involving confiscating cryptocurrencies, fraudulent practices, money laundering, and other schemes occurred in 2023.
In September, OneCoin co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood received a 20-year prison sentence for his involvement in the marketing and selling of a fraudulent cryptocurrency asset. This investigation ranked third in terms of prominence over the previous year.
In addition, there were cases involving New Hampshire resident Ian Freeman, who was given an eight-year prison term for running a money laundering scheme using Bitcoin kiosks and neglecting to remit taxes between 2016 and 2019.
In connection with the minting and sale of Pearl tokens, the government agency was also investigating Amir Elmaani, the founder of Oyster Protocol, and another individual identified as “Bruno Block,” for tax evasion.
The 2012 theft of Bitcoin from the Silk Road marketplace was the subject of one of the earliest criminal cases to appear on the IRS list concerning James Zhong.
Authorities raided Zhong’s residence in November 2021, discovering most of the cryptocurrency, estimated to be worth over $3 billion at the time, concealed in a floor safe and a computer hidden in a popcorn container. Zhong had managed to evade suspicion regarding his involvement in the illicit activity for approximately ten years.
The IRS criminal investigation unit disclosed in its annual report of December 4 that it had instigated over 2,676 cases involving over $37 billion in tax and financial crimes during the 2023 fiscal year. Since 2015, the government agency has seized over $10 billion worth of cryptocurrencies.
