On May 17, according to a New Zealand police announcement, a Wellington man was arrested in Auckland on suspicion of participating in a global cryptocurrency fraud operation led by the FBI. The criminal group stole US$265 million (450 million New Zealand dollars) worth of cryptocurrency from seven victims and subsequently laundered money through multiple platforms between March and August 2024. New Zealand police said that in the past three days, Auckland, Wellington and California have executed search warrants and arrested several people, one of whom is in New Zealand. A total of 13 people face charges. The U.S. Department of Justice has charged the Wellington man under U.S. federal law with extortion (RICO), conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The man appeared in Auckland District Court today and was temporarily prohibited from revealing his name and has now been released on bail. He will appear again in the Auckland District Court on July 3, 2025. Earlier, the U.S. Department of Justice charged 12 suspects in a $263 million cryptocurrency crime, accusing them of participating in a criminal network organized by the main offender Malone Lam. The gang committed crimes through social engineering fraud, database intrusion and physical theft of hardware wallets, among which Lam was personally charged with a single fraud of $230 million. Currently, 10 defendants have been arrested and 2 accomplices in Dubai are still at large. The indictment shows that the gang's division of labor includes target screening, telephone fraud, money laundering and on-the-spot theft. Lam remotely monitored the victim's iCloud data and directed his accomplices to break into the house. Records in August 2024 showed that the gang stole 4100 bitcoins (current price of US$385.4 million) through P2P fraud.