BOSTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Massachusetts), published as received.
BOSTON – The United States Attorney’s Office filed a civil forfeiture action to recover 327,829.720952 USDT (Tether), a form of cryptocurrency, alleged to be involved in a money laundering scheme to conceal funds that originated from an online romance fraud scheme targeting a Massachusetts resident. The cryptocurrency currently has an estimated value of approximately $327,829.
In Fall 2024, an investigation began into an online romance fraud scheme. According to court documents, in November 2024, a Massachusetts resident was approached on an online dating application. After communicating for several weeks, an individual going by the name “Linda Brown” explained she had a cryptocurrency investment opportunity. Under the guise of legitimately investing the victim’s money, Brown instead tricked the victim into sending funds to wallets controlled by Brown and/or their co-conspirators. The victim found out that the investment was a scam when they unsuccessfully attempted to withdraw their money.
The complaint alleges that victim funds were transferred through multiple intermediary wallets and the cryptocurrency was converted from one type of cryptocurrency to USDT, tactics typically used by money launderers to conceal the true origin of victim funds and ill-gotten gains.
Some of the victim’s funds were traced to multiple unhosted cryptocurrency wallets, which were seized in August 2025. The complaint alleges that all cryptocurrency associated with those wallets was property involved in money laundering.
It is a violation of federal law to conduct a financial transaction knowing that the transaction is designed to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of criminal proceeds. A civil forfeiture action allows third parties to assert claims to property, which must be resolved before the property can be forfeited to the United States and returned to victims.
This is one of several civil forfeiture actions the U.S. Attorney’s Office has filed seeking to forfeit cryptocurrency traced to fraud schemes targeting Massachusetts victims.
Members of the public who believe they are victims of a cybercrime – including cryptocurrency scams, romance scams, investment scams and business email compromise fraud scams – should contact USAMA.CyberTip@usdoj.gov.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Annapurna Balakrishna of the Asset Recovery Unit is prosecuting the case.
The accusations in the complaint, and the description of the complaint, constitute allegations that certain property is subject to forfeiture. The United States must prove, by a standard of preponderance of the evidence, that the property is subject to forfeiture.
