The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has revealed that $3.5 billion in crypto was seized during the fiscal year 2021. This represents 93% of all funds seized by its criminal investigation unit during the same period. The agency plans to seize billions of additional dollars in cryptocurrency next year.
IRS Says It Could Seize Even More Than $3.5 Billion in Cryptocurrency Next Year
The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation (CI) unit, the tas authority’s law enforcement branch, released the 2021 Criminal Investigation Annual Report Thursday. IRS, Chuck Rettig, explained that “CI agents are the only federal law enforcement officers with the authority to investigate criminal violations of the US tax code.”
The report details statistics, partnerships, and significant criminal enforcement actions from IRS-CI for the past fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 2020, and ended Sept. 30, 2021. Among several major crypto cases Highlighted in the report is “the oldest bitcoin money laundering service on the darknet dubbed Bitcoin Fog.”
The 49-page Criminal Investigation Annual Report states that $3.5 billion in cryptocurrency was seized during the fiscal year 2021. This represents 93% of all CI seizures during the period.
The agency said it plans to seize billions of additional dollars in cryptocurrency in the next fiscal year. IRS Chief Criminal Investigations Jim Lee said on a call with reporters on Thursday:
I expect a trend of crypto seizures to continue as we move forward into fiscal year ‘22 … We’re seeing crypto involved in a number of our crimes as we move forward.
Jarod Koopman, acting executive director of IRS Cyber and Forensic Services, said large cryptocurrency foreclosures have become the new normal for IRS criminal investigations.
He was quoted as saying: It’s a huge, huge number … Certainly we’re seeing a shift in our investigative work.” Koopman believes that the IRS Criminal Investigation unit could seize even more in cryptocurrency in the coming fiscal year, stating:
We expect it to stay somewhat within that range, based on some surveys that we’re working on right now that are quite large in size and scope… We could exceed that number next year.
