DOJ Mobilizes League of Prosecutors to Fight Crypto Crime

To help combat the rising number of crimes associated with cryptocurrency, over 150 prosecutors are being assembled from across the country.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) established the Digital Asset Coordinator (DAC) Network to further the agency’s efforts to tackle the growing threat to American consumers caused by the unlawful use of crypto, according to a press release on Friday (Sept. 16).

Composed of designated federal prosecutors from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the U.S. and the department’s litigating components, the DAC Network is expected to be more effective at detecting and disrupting crypto-related crimes. The DAC will investigate and prosecute as well as seize and forfeit those assets that constitute ill-gotten gains.

See also: SEC to Form Office for Filings Involving Crypto Assets

“As digital assets play a growing role in our global financial system, we must work in tandem with departments and agencies across government to prevent and disrupt the exploitation of these technologies to facilitate crime and undermine our national security,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. 

Each DAC will serve as its own office’s subject-matter expert on digital assets and will also serve as the go-to source for legal and technical guidance. The White House has just released its first-ever framework proposing what crypto regulation in the U.S. should look like. The fact sheet issued on Friday (Sept. 16) follows an executive order issued in March calling on federal agencies to analyze the risks and benefits of cryptocurrencies and report on their findings.

Read more: SEC Homes in on Small Cryptos to Bolster Oversight Case

“Developments in digital assets have created a new landscape for criminals to exploit innovation to further significant criminal and national security threats domestically and abroad,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  

Aside from establishing DAC, the DOJ also released its report, The Role of Law Enforcement in Detecting, Investigating, and Prosecuting Criminal Activity Related to Digital Assets. The report outlines how fraudsters are exploiting digital asset technologies and the challenges faced by criminal investigators.

The report also goes over the already established initiatives by the department and law enforcement agencies as part of “whole-of-government efforts to more effectively detect, investigate, prosecute, and otherwise disrupt these crimes and the recommended regulatory and legislative actions to further enhance law enforcement’s ability to address digital asset crimes.”