The US government has filed two lawsuits aiming to confiscate over $2.67 million in cryptocurrency, stolen by the North Korean hacking group Lazarus. According to documents filed on October 4 in the District Court for the District of Columbia, authorities are seeking to recover approximately $1.7 million in Tether (USDT), stolen from the Panamanian cryptocurrency exchange Deribit in November 2022. During the hack, the exchange lost over $2.8 million from its hot wallets.
The second case involves an attempt to recover $972,000 in bitcoin (BTC.b), which was stolen from the Stake.com platform in September 2023. This hack resulted in the platform losing over $42 million.
Both thefts were linked to the use of Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer used by hackers to launder stolen funds. The investigation led to the freezing of five cryptocurrency wallets associated with the Deribit theft, which allowed the recovery of $1.7 million.
