The Justice Department wins court approval to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion stolen from Binance and takes down infrastructure behind a North Korean video-call scam

The Justice Department said on Thursday that it had obtained court authorization to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance. Government and private-sector efforts have frozen more than $2.7 billion so far, the department said, and tracing and forfeiture work continues as the hackers move funds through bridges, mixers and exchanges.

The department attributes the theft, on or about October 29, to members of the North Korean military that the FBI calls TraderTraitor, saying they took more than $6 billion in digital assets. Binance has put its losses at about $6.3 billion. The Block reported that Binance said Thursday it had completed coverage of the affected assets and published a new proof-of-reserves snapshot.

In a second action, led from the Central District of California, DOJ seized cloud infrastructure used in a scheme the FBI calls FaceStealer, which it says has stolen more than $400 million in crypto over the past 18 months. Attackers use stolen accounts to invite targets to video calls, play recordings or AI-generated deepfakes, then push a fake "fix" that installs malware. The FBI seized more than 900 webcam videos of victims and published guidance for those affected.

"North Korea's government bankrolls its rogue regime and illicit weapons program through cryptocurrency theft," said M. Scott Proctor of DOJ's National Security Division, in the department's announcement.