US KleptoCapture force to tackle cryptocurrency use in Russian sanction avoidance:
The US government has launched a new initiative to tackle the use of cryptocurrency and assets to circumvent new sanctions imposed on Russia.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland, through the US Department of Justice's (DoJ) Office of Public Affairs, announced the creation of "Task Force KleptoCapture."
The team is described as "an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed, along with allies and partners."
[...] KleptoCapture will include "targeting" those who try to use cryptocurrency to avoid US sanctions and those who are trying to launder the "proceeds of foreign corruption" or to "evade US responses to Russian military aggression."
"The Task Force will be fully empowered to use the most cutting-edge investigative techniques -- including data analytics, cryptocurrency tracing, foreign intelligence sources, and information from financial regulators and private sector partners -- to identify sanctions evasion and related criminal misconduct," Garland says.
In addition, KleptoCapture will be tasked with preventing the "undermining" of sanctions by seizing assets "belonging to sanctioned individuals or assets identified as the proceeds of unlawful conduct" and by investigating alleged attempts to avoid Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and anti-laundering rules in the country.
Hat tip to Runaway1956 for his submission.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday March 04 2022, @08:04PM (8 children)
In doing this, they will be tipping their hand as to how deeply they can intervene in cryptocurrency transactions when they want to. I just wonder if they're pulling out all the stops and openly demonstrating everything they can do, or if this is more of an excuse to target and harass the usual suspects?
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Friday March 04 2022, @08:30PM
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Friday March 04 2022, @08:47PM (6 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04 2022, @08:59PM
+1 insightful and -1 on your ESG score.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday March 05 2022, @12:17AM (4 children)
FWIW, the banks are getting more big brotherly than ever. Once again, my bank was bought out by another bank. The terms of service are all different, everything is different. Now, three purchases in the same day triggers a phone call to verify that I made those purchases. Some dollar limit triggers the same phone call, it appears to be ~$350. Anything outside the United States triggers that phone call. If you don't answer the phone (maybe you're just not sitting at home with the landline) the purchase is blocked.
I've already informed them that this is unsatisfactory, and I'll be moving my money elsewhere after the next automatic deposit. I should have done it ~8 years ago when the original buyout went through.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @02:26AM (3 children)
Runaway? Credit Card? International? Sending funds to your beleaguered friend, Vlad, so he can build that Wall? Or was it someone trying to phish you, like Ukrainian Special Forces?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @02:35AM (1 child)
The Indian Student Relief Fund, you heartless bastard!
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @06:45AM
Given Runaway's past confessed donations, more likely something Bannon Based, like the White Supremacist Ukranian Bikers for Trump.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @06:50AM
Are you suggesting that our own dear, really stupid and quite criminal, Runaway, is involved in laundering of international funds to support fascism, but locally and on the international scale? Well, should we not all be reporting such illegal activity? (Some of us already have.) And should he not be charged, tried, and put in front of a firing squad of true Arkansasians, to meat his death? Bastard has it coming. Runaway Lives Matter, but not if they have committed treason.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Friday March 04 2022, @08:43PM (9 children)
Will Russia still even be able to use craptocurrency now that Putin has single handedly turned Russia's clock back to stone age times? :P
Since the primary use of cryptocurrency has been to hide illegal shit, why don't governments just outlaw it? Cryptocurrency is not money. You can buy and sell these magic numbers for money, and somewhere SOMEONE puts some value on it just like a commodity. But the last time I checked, there was a lot of stuff that is already illegal to buy and sell. So why even keep it around?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04 2022, @10:27PM (4 children)
FTFY, but, eewwwww! And, Someguy is a well-known Runaway sockpuppet. Runaway often uses that nick on IRC, If I Recall Correctly.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @12:07AM (3 children)
1. what have you done to support the site?
2. "someguy" is pretty generic, anyone can use it, SomeGuy (5632) used it first on this site so he has rights to it here
3. you would have to relocate back to reality to recall anything correctly
4. if i were even a tiny bit more sure that you are ari you would get a spam mod for hijacking yet another discussion
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @01:26AM (2 children)
Why not just rename the spam mod to the Aristarchus mod?
#WeAreAristarchus
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @02:28AM (1 child)
Can't, because most of them are not. They are only suspected Aristarchus mods, thrown by very paranoid persons.
#Freearistarchus!!!! #WeAreAristarchus
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @02:37AM
Freearistarchus? Ex-Lax.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by helel on Saturday March 05 2022, @01:13AM (3 children)
From a moral standpoint those numbers are harmless*, just like cannabis, rap music, and pornography. The government really has no business intervening in activities that harm no-one except possibly the user themselves. If somebody wants to collect bitcoins that should be viewed no differently than collecting butterflies. If somebody else wants to trade something for a tally in the blockchain, so what? If the trade is for something that causes real harm, like contracting a murder, arrest the parties for that but otherwise a bitcoin is no different than a share of stock - it's just a fancy number that somebody else might want in the future.
Not that morality has ever limited those in power. Wouldn't be there if it did...
* Well, there's an environmental harm but if we're going to ban things for destroying the planet there are better areas to start, like most consumer vehicles and all the fucking coal plants still running.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @11:56AM (2 children)
it's not the coal plants that are destroying the planet. coal is widely dispersed around the globe and gives local (sic) countries at least a shadow of energy independancy. also it's used to make iron and steel. what IS destroying the planet is handwaving and sitting on hands by NOT making policy and laws to liberate and encourage free energy harvesting that falls on EVERYONES(*) heads, daily, for free!
(*) same like control is exercised by pooh-poohing coal and making more countries dependant on energy IMPORT and ignoring local available sources, the elites (behind the curtain whispering during the "good government" show) inside every country play the same fiddle, denying a productive brainwashing of the MASSES towards a renewable energy solution.
it's elites all the way down.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @12:10PM (1 child)
not sure what to make if it. oil, gas, coal is ancient stored solar-energy. get's all the attention, benefits and even blood. instanttaniously harvested and available same sun-energy with no weight and with no moving parts gets ZER0 love.call me crazy?
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Saturday March 05 2022, @04:11PM
Good question. Bill Maher can’t get solar [soylentnews.org], and he’s a rich celebrity!
The slash code is mangling the href link with extra garbage so here’s the url (as entered in the href above):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UwIbpbljl6A [youtube.com]
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04 2022, @11:21PM (2 children)
So now we find out just how private Monero, ZCash and the new Pirate Chain really are. The cryptoweenies have talked a good game up until now but their claims have never really been tested. So now we watch and learn.
The Narrative has went all in on destroying Putin, if they can't block access to crypto in this case, they probably can't do it.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday March 05 2022, @12:28AM
If Russia can buy all their pizzas through Bitcoin, then it will vastly exceed my expectations. My fuzzy feeling is that trade volume is a bit low by maybe two or three orders of magnitude to support Russian purchasing.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @04:30AM
misogynerds rehabilitated
united by hated enemy
service guarantees citizenship
Burma Shave
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @04:22AM
Without a budget, it's not even theater.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 05 2022, @12:49PM
How come we complain when civil forfeiture is used to steal cars and jewellery from innocent Black drug dealers, but we're happy when assets are seized from oligarchs without due process of law?
(Score: 1) by mexsudo on Saturday March 05 2022, @12:54PM (1 child)
Crypto is working verry well thankyou
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 06 2022, @08:03AM
Except, it still is nothing, based on nothing, and all of the reasons it is promoted are completely false. But for ripping of the newbs? Crypto is working!