U.S. Justice Department seizes Huione Group account in crypto laundering crackdown

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US seizes Huione account

Highlights

U.S. Justice Department seized a cloud account linked to Huione Group, disrupting billions of dollars in fraud proceeds tied to Southeast Asian scam centers.
H-Pay Service PLC is now recognized as part of Huione Group, which allegedly facilitated fund transfers from cyber heists and investment scams into legitimate banking systems.
In 2025, Americans reported over $7.2 billion in cryptocurrency investment fraud losses, with total U.S. cyber-enabled fraud exceeding $21 billion, intensifying regulatory scrutiny.

Seizure targets fraud infrastructure

As announced by the U.S. Justice Department, officials have seized a cloud computing account used by subsidiaries of Huione Group as part of what prosecutors describe as a technical backbone for moving and concealing fraud proceeds. Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva says the account supported transfers involving billions of dollars, often linked to scam centers operating in Southeast Asia.

Duva says the seizure strikes at one of the world’s most prolific criminal marketplaces and forms part of the ongoing FBI-led Operation Riptide campaign against cybercrime. The department also says H-Pay Service PLC is now recognized as part of Huione Group.

According to the department’s statement, Huione subsidiaries allegedly helped criminals move funds from investment scams, cyber heists and other illicit activity across blockchain networks before routing money into the legitimate banking system. The announcement also says much of the theft was allegedly carried out by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Fraud losses and market implications

U.S. officials tie the case to mounting financial damage from crypto fraud. In 2025 alone, Americans report more than $7.2 billion in losses to cryptocurrency investment fraud through the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, part of nearly $21 billion in total reported losses from all cybercrime and cyber-enabled fraud across the U.S., according to the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report.

The seizure follows FinCEN’s designation last year of Huione Group as a primary money laundering concern under the USA Patriot Act. Huione Guarantee, also known as Haowang Guarantee, allegedly operated Telegram channels advertising stolen credit cards, identity information, malware proceeds, human trafficking services and escrow services for laundering cryptocurrency tied to romance and investment scams.

Elliptic found last year that Huione launched the USDH stablecoin amid financial pressure, creating an alternative payment rail for the Huione Guarantee marketplace. The token launched on Ethereum, BSC and Tron as part of a broader Huione-branded blockchain product suite that includes a decentralized exchange, a native crypto wallet and Huione Chain, also known as Xone.

In our earlier article, we covered U.S. authorities’ actions against Huione Group-linked infrastructure allegedly used to launder proceeds from crypto investment scams and other cyber-enabled fraud. We explained how the Justice Department’s seizure of a cloud computing account and FinCEN’s designation of Huione as a primary money laundering concern were positioned as part of Operation Riptide, alongside proposals to broaden the Huione definition to include entities such as H-Pay Service PLC.

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