U.S. Justice Department Seizes Huione Infrastructure Over Alleged Billions in Crypto Laundering
The DOJ crypto laundering crackdown has landed its biggest blow yet, with the Justice Department seizing a cloud computing account that powered the backend operations of Huione Group, a Cambodia-based conglomerate accused of laundering billions of dollars tied to crypto investment fraud and cyber scams.
Announced Tuesday, the seizure targets infrastructure that kept Huione Guarantee running, a Telegram-based marketplace prosecutors describe as one of the most prolific criminal hubs ever to exist online. The platform allowed vendors to trade stolen card and identity data, malware proceeds, and laundering services tied to romance and investment scams, while also offering crypto escrow services for criminals moving illicit funds.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva called the move a direct hit on the network’s operational core, noting that the seized account functioned as a technological backbone enabling billions in fraud proceeds to be transferred and concealed, much of it traced back to Southeast Asian scam centers.
This latest action in the DOJ crypto laundering crackdown builds on a year of mounting pressure against Huione. Telegram banned the group’s channels back in May 2025, forcing a shutdown, though successor markets quickly surfaced to fill the void. The U.S. Treasury’s FinCEN had already labeled Huione a primary money laundering concern last October, cutting it off from the American financial system over its alleged role in laundering crypto-fraud money and proceeds linked to North Korean cyber heists.
On the same day as the seizure, FinCEN moved to extend that severance to H-Pay Service PLC, a successor entity, in an effort to stop the group from sidestepping U.S. restrictions through rebranded offshoots. Huione has shown a pattern of regrouping under pressure, even launching its own stablecoin, USDH, while shifting operations to affiliated platforms whenever enforcement tightens.
The case lands against a backdrop of surging crypto fraud. Americans reported losing more than $7.2 billion to crypto investment fraud alone in 2025, contributing to over $20 billion in total cybercrime losses, a 26% year-over-year jump. The investigation, part of the FBI’s Operation Riptide targeting fraud infrastructure, was led by the FBI’s San Francisco field office and IRS Criminal Investigation, with assistance from blockchain analytics firms Chainalysis and Elliptic, plus Google’s cybercrime team.
