FTX Hacker Receives Tips On How To Launder $400 Million Loot

Abstract:

• Coinbase Director Conor Grogan noticed Ether transfers to the “FTX Accounts Drainer” with personal notes on find out how to transfer the belongings undetected.
• The hacker was suggested to leverage much less standard and extra privacy-based crypto mixer protocols.
• The U.S. Justice Division launched an investigation into the matter after almost $400 million was stolen from Sam Bankman-Fried’s bankrupt crypto trade. 

In a weird flip of occasions, the FTX hacker who drained roughly $400 million in digital belongings from Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto trade acquired recommendations on find out how to launder the stolen funds utilizing mixing protocols. 

Coinbase Director Conor Grogan seen Ether (ETH) transfers to the pockets labeled “FTX Account Drainer” on the block explorer Etherscan. The transaction carried a message directing the hacker on find out how to launder their huge lot. 

Within the textual content, the sender urged utilizing extra privacy-focused crypto mixing providers moderately than standard protocols like ChipMixer. Crypto mixers enable customers to obfuscate their transactions when shifting belongings round and are a standard device utilized by crypto criminals trying to launder their illicit wealth. 

The sender additionally provided to share extra data with the hacker on appropriate crypto mixers, offering their telegram username ought to the hacker want to contact them. Director Grogan likened the try to a gross sales chilly name. 

Notably, the sender additionally registered a peculiar Ethereum Identify Service (ENS) tackle with extra directions for the hacker to think about – *swap-gray-crypto-for-white-stablecoins-check-input-data-utf8.eth”

FTX Hack Investigated By Justice Division

The U.S. Division of Justice launched investigations right into a $400 million hack on FTX, as beforehand reported in later December 2022. Led by the DoJ’s Nationwide Cryptocurrency Enforcement Crew, authorities stated the legal investigation would probe the id of the hacker or hackers who drained Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and different digital belongings from SBF’s crypto trade shortly after the corporate declared chapter on November 12.

Disgraced Founder Sam Bankman-Fried denied ties to the hack on a number of events, claiming he didn’t “stash away hundreds of thousands and billions in crypto” in his newest “Pre-mortem” evaluation on Substack. 

Aside from eight legal costs slammed towards Bankman-Fried by U.S. authorities, federal prosecutors are additionally investigating SBF’s ‘interior circle’ together with ex-CTO Gary Wang and former Alameda Analysis CEO Caroline Ellison. Each Ellison and Wang already flipped on Bankman-Fried, pleading responsible to fraud in trade for plea offers. 

Prosecutors additionally met with FTX’s former chief engineer Nishad Singh to weigh his data concerning the crypto trade’s multi-billion crash in 2022.