Wedding’s arrest marks the culmination of a long-running investigation. He had been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since 2025, with a substantial reward offered for information leading to his capture. The operation he allegedly oversaw was not only vast but also violent, spanning multiple countries.

Crypto’s Role in the Cocaine Empire

While the primary charges focus on drug trafficking and murder, U.S. authorities have underscored the role of cryptocurrency in facilitating these illegal activities. According to U.S. Treasury officials, Wedding’s organization utilized digital currencies as a key tool to finance operations and obscure the origins of their illicit wealth.

In November, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control took action against Wedding and his network. They sanctioned him and associated entities, pointing to their use of crypto for laundering drug proceeds. The network’s activities were reportedly linked across several blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, Solana, and BNB Chain.

Details of the Operation

This crypto-enabled cocaine empire reportedly moved hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and Southern California, eventually reaching the United States and Canada. Authorities have detailed a transaction involving 17,300 USDT tied to a cocaine deal, highlighting the integration of stablecoins in their operations.

The Treasury sanctions further identified a dozen crypto addresses connected to Wedding and his associates. These moves signal what officials describe as a large-scale, multi-chain laundering operation consistent with the alleged trafficking efforts.

Legal Proceedings and Allegations

Alongside the drug trafficking charges, Wedding is accused of orchestrating the murder of a federal witness in Colombia in early 2025 and ordering retaliatory attacks linked to stolen drug shipments in Canada. The unsealed indictment from June 2024 charged him with operating a continuing criminal enterprise, alongside other serious offenses.

The case against Wedding not only highlights the evolving intersection of cryptocurrencies and criminal activities but also the challenges faced by law enforcement in tracking and prosecuting such complex networks.

The FBI arrests serve as a stark reminder of the potential misuse of digital currencies in facilitating illegal enterprises on a global scale.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal or financial advice.

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The accusation alleges that fraudsters, presenting themselves as the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, deceived a benefactor into donating a total of $250,300 in cryptocurrency. The scammers then laundered the proceeds through various wallets. With the help of onchain analysis and the issuers of the stablecoin, Tether, the FBI was able to track and confiscate $40,353 of the funds. The complaint now seeks to return these funds to the victim through civil forfeiture.

The complaint details that on December 24, 2024, a fraudster in Nigeria, posing as Trump-Vance Inaugural Co-Chair Steve Witkoff, sent emails to victims from a deceptive email address (@t47lnaugural.com), swapping the “i” in the legitimate email address for a lowercase “l,” directing them to send funds to a crypto wallet ending in 58c52. A victim, believing the email to be authentic, sent $250,300 worth of USDT on Ethereum two days later.

“All donors should double and triple check that they are sending cryptocurrency to their intended recipient. It can be extremely difficult for law enforcement to recoup lost funds due to the extremely complex nature of the blockchain,” Pirro said. “Nevertheless, my office and our law enforcement partners stand ready to go toe-to-toe with criminals and make victims whole.”

“Impersonation scams take many forms and cost Americans billions in losses each year,” said Assistant Director in Charge Steven J. Jensen of the FBI Washington Field Office, which is investigating the case. “To avoid becoming a victim, carefully review email addresses, website URLs, and spelling in any messages you receive. Scammers often use subtle differences to deceive you and gain your trust. Never send money, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or other assets to people you do not know personally or have only interacted with online or over the phone.”

The DOJ encourages anyone who believes they’ve been a victim of cybercrime — such as business email compromise, cryptocurrency, romance, investment, or “pig butchering” scams — to report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Last month, the DOJ acknowledged Tether and crypto exchange Coinbase for assisting the U.S. Secret Service in seizing about $225 million in cryptocurrency tied to separate alleged schemes dating back to 2023 — the largest crypto seizure in the agency’s history.

Disclaimer: The information in this article is intended solely for informational purposes and should not be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

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The court filings were part of the prosecution’s request for a two-year sentence for Council Jr. for his role in the SEC hack. The hack led to a false announcement about Bitcoin’s exchange-traded fund approval, causing a significant market shakeup. Investigations revealed that Council Jr. had also searched ‘How long does it take to delete a Telegram account’ on his devices, which were seized last June following a search warrant.

Despite setting his Telegram chats to auto-delete after two weeks, the prosecutors were able to retrieve messages where Council Jr. discussed SIM swapping with other individuals, believed to be located overseas. Council Jr. had confessed that he earned around $50,000 from offering SIM swap services between January and June 2024.

He had executed the SEC hack by creating false identity documents to impersonate an individual who had access to the SEC’s X account. These documents were used to deceive a staff member at AT&T into reassigning the victim’s phone number to Council Jr.’s SIM card. He then bought a new iPhone, inserted the new SIM card, and shared the SEC’s X account access codes with his accomplices, who then posted the fraudulent Bitcoin ETF approval news.

The prosecutors stated that Council Jr. was paid in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for the SEC hack. However, his luck ran out in June 2024 when law enforcement agents caught him while attempting another SIM swap. A subsequent search warrant led to the discovery of templates for fake ID cards on his laptop. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 10, following an indictment for Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Identity Theft and Access Device Fraud in October.

The fake news post on the SEC’s X account garnered over a million views before the SEC confirmed the hack 15 minutes later. The incident led to a $1,000 rise in Bitcoin’s price, followed by a nearly $2,000 drop, wiping out tens of millions of dollars in market positions. The SEC’s X account did not have two-factor authentication installed at the time of the incident, a security oversight that the SEC blamed on erroneous removal by X Support.

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As per a recently disclosed FBI affidavit, the kidnappers posed as individuals who had accidentally damaged the family’s garage door, knocked on the door of the townhouse, and gained forced entry using firearms. The family was then reportedly compelled into a van and taken to an Airbnb an hour away, and subsequently to another residence the following day.

The abductors allegedly extorted ransom payments in Bitcoin (BTCUSD), Ether (ETHUSD), and other cryptocurrencies, threatening the victims with death. The victims were purportedly held captive for a period of five days. During this period, one of the victims managed to communicate with his father via the Chinese messaging app WeChat, informing him of their abduction.

According to the victims, they were set free on November 1st and managed to reach a nearby dry cleaner from where they called an Uber to a local hospital. Though the victims claim that cryptocurrencies worth $15 million were transferred, US officials have only traced $6 million worth to date.

On December 13th, charges were pressed against six individuals. Only Zehuan Wei, 34, was arrested while attempting to re-enter the US from Mexico on January 17th. The other suspects – Fan Zhang, Huajing Yan, Shengnan Jiang, Shiqiang Lian, and Ye Cao – are believed to have fled to China following Wei’s arrest.

Before filing charges, US officials gathered evidence which included surveillance footage from the Airbnb, examination of cryptocurrency wallets, and contents from the white Ford van used in the crime. DNA samples were also collected from a white Chrysler Pacifica vehicle rented by Wei on October 29th. US officials matched the footage with Cao’s picture from US Customs and Border Protection, while others had their state-issued driver’s licenses compared. At least two victims were able to identify some of the alleged kidnappers from a photo array.

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On December 21st, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced the plea agreement reached with Ellison. As stated in the paper, the former Alameda executive will be exonerated of all key allegations, which could have resulted in a term of up to 110 years in jail.

Ellison was hit with seven separate charges. Two people said she was involved in and conspiring to conduct wire fraud against FTX clients. Two others claimed she plotted to conduct wire fraud against Alameda Research’s financiers. Commodities fraud conspiracy was count five, while securities fraud conspiracy against FTX’s equity investors was count six. The seventh count said that she was involved in a money laundering conspiracy.

In return for Ellison’s cooperation — the full disclosure of all the information and documents required by prosecutors — the Attorney’s Office agreed not to prosecute her on any of these seven offenses.

This agreement does not shield Ellison from legal action taken by any other governmental entity. In the event that any criminal tax offenses are uncovered throughout the course of the litigation, they will not be prosecuted.

U.S. federal prosecutors have indicated that they would not challenge Ellison’s release on bail, provided that she pays a $250,000 bond, remains in the country, and surrenders all passports and other travel papers.

Meanwhile, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is already in FBI custody and on route back to the United States, where he will be sent straight to the Southern District of New York to stand before a court.

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