More than $370 million in cryptocurrency has disappeared from the exchange, and the Justice Department has already frozen some funds as part of its investigation.
An analysis by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic last month said that the stolen cryptocurrencies were exchanged for ether on decentralized exchanges. Some funds have also gone through a so-called mixer that combines different types of cryptos to hide their origins.
FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, and new CEO John Ray said the next day that the company was aware of the “unauthorized access” to the exchange a day before the theft occurred.
The investigation is a separate investigation from the fraud allegations against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried and is spearheaded by the Department of Justice’s National Crypto Enforcement Team. Computer fraud-related charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Before his arrest earlier this month, Bankman-Fried suggested that the FTX theft may have been an inside job, though no supporting evidence has emerged.
