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DOJ Ties Kansas Bank Collapse to $225 Million ‘Pig Butchering’ Seizure

Published

3 месяца ago

19 июня, 2025

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A Kansas banker who looted millions from his small-town bank in 2023, which triggered its collapse, lost much of the money to overseas crypto scammers targeted in a record-breaking DOJ bust, according to a complaint filed Wednesday.

Prosecutors have filed a civil forfeiture action targeting over $225 million in laundered USDT, part of a butchering scam with ties to a Philippines call center that ensnared Shan Hanes, the disgraced former CEO who embezzled $47 million from Heartland Tri-State Bank, a theft which was directly attributed to the agricultural lender’s demise in 2023.

According to the Department of Justice complaint, OKX, a crypto exchange, provided key information that helped identify an intricate network of accounts on the exchange used to launder the crypto proceeds.

Scammers laundered funds by first directing victims to send USDT to 93 scam-controlled deposit addresses. From there, the funds were routed through as many as 100 intermediary wallets in a process designed to obscure the source of funds and mix deposits from multiple victims, according to the complaint.

These laundered funds were then funneled into 22 primary OKX accounts and further shuffled across 122 additional OKX accounts, all linked by shared IP addresses, reused KYC documents, and coordinated behavior allegedly traced to a Manila-based scam compound, which the complaint names as ITECHNO Specialist Inc.

In total, the DOJ says that approximately $3 billion in transaction volume was generated by this laundering network.

Largest victims

In total, the DOJ says there were 434 victims and has identified 60 of them who lost a combined $19.4 million.

The largest of these victims was Hanes, with the DOJ identifying $3.3 million of the $47 million he embezzled in this seizure.

Hanes embezzled the money between May 30, 2023, and July 7, 2023, according to both the DOJ complaint and the Federal Reserve’s report into the collapse of Heartland Tri-State Bank, one of the banks to collapse in the aftermath of the 2023 U.S. banking crisis.

During this six-week period, Hanes initiated 10 wire transfers totaling approximately $47.1 million from Heartland Tri-State Bank, a small community lender focused on agricultural loans, to a crypto wallet he controlled.

These wire transfers occurred between the bank’s quarterly regulatory reporting periods, allowing the activity to go initially undetected.

At the time, Heartland was well-capitalized with $13.7 million in capital and $139 million in assets, but Hanes’ actions depleted its liquidity, triggered $21 million in emergency borrowing, and left the bank with a $35 million capital hole, forcing regulators to shut it down in July 2023.

According to prior reporting from CNBC, Hanes also stole $40,000 from the Elkhart Church of Christ, $10,000 from the Santa Fe Investment Club, $60,000 from his daughter’s college fund, and liquidated nearly $1 million in stock from a firm called Elkhart Financial to send to pig butchering scammers.

He was sentenced to 24 years in prison in August 2024.

The DOJ complaint referred to him as both a perpetrator and a victim.

Seized crypto likely going to Fed stockpile

Crypto seized by the U.S. government, such as in this case, is likely to be earmarked for a not-yet-established stockpile ordered by President Donald Trump.

The bitcoin BTC reserve and the stockpile of other cryptocurrencies haven’t yet been formally established, but the Treasury Department has been leading an audit of governmental digital asset holdings to determine what needs to be gathered.

Once established, the long-term crypto holdings will likely put seized bitcoin in one fund and other types of tokens in another.

The holdings in this case appear to be in significant amounts of USDT, according to the filing. It’s unclear what funds may eventually be returned to victims, as only a relatively small percentage of those directly harmed have been identified.

Business

Crypto Trading Firm Keyrock Buys Luxembourg’s Turing Capital in Asset Management Push

Published

13 часов ago

16 сентября, 2025

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Crypto trading firm Keyrock said it’s expanding into asset and wealth management by acquiring Turing Capital, a Luxembourg-registered alternative investment fund manager.

The deal, announced on Tuesday, marks the launch of Keyrock’s Asset and Wealth Management division, a new business unit dedicated to institutional clients and private investors.

Keyrock, founded in Brussels, Belgium and best known for its work in market making, options and OTC trading, said it will fold Turing Capital’s investment strategies and Luxembourg fund management structure into its wider platform. The division will be led by Turing Capital co-founder Jorge Schnura, who joins Keyrock’s executive committee as president of the unit.

The company said the expansion will allow it to provide services across the full lifecycle of digital assets, from liquidity provision to long-term investment strategies. «In the near future, all assets will live onchain,» Schnura said, noting that the merger positions the group to capture opportunities as traditional financial products migrate to blockchain rails.

Keyrock has also applied for regulatory approval under the EU’s crypto framework MiCA through a filing with Liechtenstein’s financial regulator. If approved, the firm plans to offer portfolio management and advisory services, aiming to compete directly with traditional asset managers as well as crypto-native players.

«Today’s launch sets the stage for our longer-term ambition: bringing asset management on-chain in a way that truly meets institutional standards,» Keyrock CSO Juan David Mendieta said in a statement.

Business

Crypto Trading Firm Keyrock Buys Luxembourg’s Turing Capital in Asset Management Push

Published

13 часов ago

16 сентября, 2025

admin

Crypto trading firm Keyrock said it’s expanding into asset and wealth management by acquiring Turing Capital, a Luxembourg-registered alternative investment fund manager.

The deal, announced on Tuesday, marks the launch of Keyrock’s Asset and Wealth Management division, a new business unit dedicated to institutional clients and private investors.

Business

Gemini Shares Slide 6%, Extending Post-IPO Slump to 24%

Published

13 часов ago

16 сентября, 2025

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Gemini Space Station (GEMI), the crypto exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has seen its shares tumble by more than 20% since listing on the Nasdaq last Friday.

The stock is down around 6% on Tuesday, trading at $30.42, and has dropped nearly 24% over the past week. The sharp decline follows an initial surge after the company raised $425 million in its IPO, pricing shares at $28 and valuing the firm at $3.3 billion before trading began.

On its first day, GEMI spiked to $45.89 before closing at $32 — a 14% premium to its offer price. But since hitting that high, shares have plunged more than 34%, erasing most of the early enthusiasm from public market investors.

The broader crypto equity market has remained more stable. Coinbase (COIN), the largest U.S. crypto exchange, is flat over the past week. Robinhood (HOOD), which derives part of its revenue from crypto, is down 3%. Token issuer Circle (CRCL), on the other hand, is up 13% over the same period.

Part of the pressure on Gemini’s stock may stem from its financials. The company posted a $283 million net loss in the first half of 2025, following a $159 million loss in all of 2024. Despite raising fresh capital, the numbers suggest the business is still far from turning a profit.

Compass Point analyst Ed Engel noted that GEMI is currently trading at 26 times its annualized first-half revenue. That multiple — often used to gauge whether a stock is expensive — means investors are paying 26 dollars for every dollar the company is expected to generate in sales this year. For a loss-making company in a volatile sector, that’s a steep price, and could be fueling investor skepticism.