On November 19, the Criminal Investigation Department (CI) of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized $3.5 billion in cryptocurrency in fiscal 2021. It accounts for 93% of seizures in criminal investigations.
The seized items included $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency related to the Silk Road in the dark web market. In the introductory note, the head of CI, Jim Lee, also emphasized that “the first time in history, a judgment has been made in a Bitcoin case with a tax component.”
In November 2020, a former Microsoft software engineer used Bitcoin and digital gift cards. He was sentenced to nine years in prison for a plan to defraud the company of $10 million.
According to an article by Bloomberg. The Internal Revenue Service said it may seize billions of dollars related to tax fraud and other crimes next year.
In order to further combat the illegal use of cryptocurrency. CI plans to open a collaboration and data center in Northern Virginia next year.