US seeks forfeiture of $200K USDT in Ohio Bitcoin theft

The U.S. government has initiated legal action to seize 200,000 Tether (CRYPTO:USDT), worth $200,000, linked to a cryptocurrency fraud case in Ohio.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio announced the civil forfeiture complaint on Friday, following an investigation into a February 2024 incident where Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) valued at $340,000 was fraudulently transferred from an Ohio resident’s virtual wallet.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the victim did not authorise the transaction, and the stolen Bitcoin was later converted to USDT by the perpetrators.

"As part of this analysis, it was determined that the fraudulently transferred Bitcoin had been converted by the fraudsters to USDT cryptocurrency," authorities explained.

The investigation, which relied on blockchain technology, tracked approximately $200,000 of the stolen funds to two Ethereum-based addresses.

Tether Limited Inc. froze the USDT tokens in March 2024, and a federal seizure warrant issued in July allowed the transfer of the frozen tokens to a law enforcement-controlled virtual wallet.

On October 3, 2024, the U.S. government filed a Complaint in Forfeiture to seize the 200,000 USDT.

If the forfeiture is successful, the funds will be returned to the Ohio victim.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office stated, "By the Complaint in Forfeiture filed on October 3, 2024, the United States seeks to forfeit the subject 200,000 USDT cryptocurrency. If successful, the United States would then seek to return the forfeited funds to the Ashtabula, Ohio, victim."

At press time, the Tether price was $0.9999, while the Bitcoin price was $61,829.83.