Today, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced the appointment of Eun Young Choi, veteran cybersecurity prosecutor, to lead the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), a new unit it established last year tasked with investigating crypto-related crimes.
Choi, a former Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General, Lisa O. Monaco, will become the NCET’s first-ever Director. Monaco made the announcement while speaking virtually at the Munich Cyber Security Conference today.
In her new role, Choi will lead the NCET team to undertake ongoing DOJ investigations where crypto coins and digital assets are used to launder criminal profits.
Choi and the NCET will especially focus on cryptocurrency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, infrastructure providers, and other firms that are facilitating the misuse of crypto assets and related technologies to commit criminal activities.
In addition, Choi’s team will be in charge of training and supporting federal, state, local and international law enforcement agencies and help them understand, investigate, and develop cases against criminal groups that use crypto coins to hide the origin of their funds.
The Justice Department selected Choi due to her prior expertise in cybercrime cases. As mentioned above, Choi recently worked as senior counsel to the deputy attorney general. Moreover, she worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York for nine years, serving as an assistant U.S. attorney and cybercrime coordinator.
Also, Choi performed various crucial legal duties. She participated in the investigation into a rogue crypto exchange, Coin.mx as well as the Panama Papers investigation. She defended the US Justice Department in an appeal filed by Ross Ulbricht, the Chief Administrator and Founder of the Silk Road, the first darknet marketplace. Further, Choi served as the lead prosecutor when J.P. Morgan Chase was hacked.
Preventing Illicit Use of Crypto
In October last year, the US Justice Department created a team, the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), to investigate crypto-related crime. Early this month, the agency seized $3.6 billion in Bitcoin that it said was linked to the 2016 hack of the Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange, Bitfinex.
The agency has been investigating criminal cases associated with crypto trading and transactions and charging individuals culpable of crime. The Justice department especially has continued to partner with federal agencies such as HSI (Homeland Security Investigations), ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and IRS (Internal Revenue Service) to leverage their established programs and resources related to tracking illicit actors who use cryptocurrencies.
Furthermore, the DOJ continues to partner with private sector firms and financial institutions to gain insight into crypto transactions (through blockchain-based forensics analysis) to identify transactions associated with illicit activities.
