The US Marshals Service confirmed “the matter is beneath investigation” following claims that hundreds of thousands in government-seized crypto was stolen.
US authorities have confirmed that an investigation is underway into claims that the son of a federal contractor tasked with safeguarding seized digital assets stole more than $40 million in cryptocurrency.
A spokesperson for the US Marshals Service confirmed to Cointelegraph that “the matter is under investigation” but declined to comment on details of the case. The investigation centers on social media claims that John Daghita, son of Command Services & Support (CMDSS) president Dean Daghita, gained unauthorized access to wallets managed under the federal asset protection program.
Crypto sleuth ZachXBT disclosed on Friday that he had traced a wallet linked to Daghita holding about $23 million in crypto connected to as much as $90 million in assets believed to have been seized by the government in 2024 and 2025. ZachXBT later said that he had reported to authorities another wallet holding 12,540 Ether (ETH), worth about $36 million at the time, tied to Daghita.
“John […] despatched me 0.6767 ETH ($1.9K) of the stolen authorities funds from 0xd8bc to my public pockets tackle,” mentioned ZachXBT in a Monday X put up. “Any stolen funds acquired will probably be despatched to a USG seizure tackle.”
In keeping with ZachXBT’s investigation, wallets allegedly managed by Daghita acquired about $40 million in digital belongings from addresses related to confiscated US authorities funds. Daghita’s father heads CMDSS, which was awarded a contract by the US Marshals Service in 2024 associated to the custody of seized crypto.
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Patrick Witt, the director of the White Home Crypto Council, mentioned in a Monday X put up that he was “on it,” referencing ZachXBT’s claims.
How a lot crypto does the US authorities maintain?
In keeping with knowledge from BitcoinTreasuries.NET, US authorities could maintain as a lot as 328,372 Bitcoin (BTC) via numerous seizures akin to belongings from the hack of crypto change Bitfinex. If confirmed, the belongings could be value about $30 billion on the time of publication.
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