Crypto Laundering Disrupted
DOJ seizes cloud infrastructure supporting Huione Group's crypto laundering network.
Key Points
The cloud account seizure could yield valuable intelligence, including transaction logs and user data, and disrupts Huione Guarantee's ability to process transactions, store data, and maintain services.
H-Pay Service PLC is now recognized as part of Huione Group, expanding the corporate umbrella involved in the case.
Huione Guarantee operates alias Haowang Guarantee, with Telegram channels advertising illicit goods and services and offering escrow to facilitate money laundering, including listing stolen credit card and identity data, malware theft proceeds, and human trafficking recruitment.
In 2025, Americans reported more than $7.2 billion in losses from cryptocurrency investment fraud via IC3, part of nearly $21 billion in total cybercrime losses.
FinCEN designated Huione Group as a primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA Patriot Act last year, signaling heightened regulatory action.
The U.S. Department of Justice has seized a cloud computing account that powered the criminal backbone of Huione Group, a Cambodia-based conglomerate tied to billions of dollars in crypto fraud. The seized account hosted backend infrastructure for Huione Guarantee — also known as Haowang Guarantee — a Telegram-based marketplace that ran escrow services for scammers, sold stolen credit card data, and advertised human trafficking recruitment, according to CyberScoop.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva called the cloud account the "technological backbone that allowed billions in fraud proceeds to be transferred" across blockchains and into the legitimate banking system. The action is part of Operation Riptide, the FBI's broader campaign to dismantle the infrastructure behind crypto-enabled cybercrime, according to Finance Feeds.
Huione's Criminal Marketplace Stretched Across Southeast Asia
Huione Guarantee operated as a massive escrow service on Telegram. Sellers listed stolen identities, malware tools, and recruitment ads for scam compounds. The group processed what researchers at Elliptic tracked as $27 billion in total transaction volume before the 2026 crackdown. FinCEN found at least $4 billion in confirmed illicit proceeds moved between August 2021 and January 2025, according to The Washington Times.
The group's reach extended through a web of shell entities. H-Pay Service PLC is now officially recognized as a successor to Huione Group, according to Traders Union. FinCEN proposed adding H-Pay to its existing rule to stop the group from evading sanctions through renamed subsidiaries. Former Huione chairman Li Xiong was arrested in Cambodia and extradited to China in April 2026, facing charges tied to large-scale money laundering.
Years of Regulatory Pressure Culminated in This Seizure
The DOJ action did not happen overnight. In May 2025, FinCEN named Huione Group a "primary money laundering concern" under Section 311 of the USA Patriot Act. That October, the Treasury's OFAC sanctioned 146 individuals and entities tied to the Prince Group transnational criminal organization — a network that used Huione's services to move money, according to Head Topics.
The National Bank of Cambodia revoked Huione Pay's banking license in March 2025. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration is "united in its efforts to dismantle these overseas criminal enterprises" that steal "billions of dollars from American victims each year." The June 23 seizure is now the sharpest blow yet in that campaign.
Seized Cloud Data Could Trigger a Wave of New Arrests
The cloud account likely holds IP addresses, login records, and unencrypted messages between scam operators and money launderers. Analysts at TRM Labs say this kind of backend seizure provides "valuable intelligence" — far beyond what blockchain tracing alone can reveal. FBI Assistant Director Heith Janke said the goal is to "prevent further victimization" by targeting infrastructure, not just individual wallets, according to Finance Feeds.
By seizing the escrow backend, the DOJ broke the trust mechanism that held the criminal marketplace together. Fraudsters now face a liquidity crunch — they cannot easily verify or settle transactions. However, analysts at Recorded Future warn that guarantee marketplaces are already migrating to decentralized apps like Session and Signal, suggesting a "displacement effect" rather than a full shutdown, according to CyberScoop.
Americans Lost $7.2 Billion to Crypto Fraud in 2025 Alone
The scale of harm behind this case is staggering. Americans reported $7.2 billion in losses from cryptocurrency investment fraud in 2025 through the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). That figure is part of nearly $21 billion in total cybercrime losses that year, according to The Washington Times. "Pig butchering" scams — where victims are groomed into fake crypto investments before being robbed — drove most of that figure.
The Huione seizure also signals new risk for cloud providers. Legal experts say AWS, Google, and Azure now face heightened pressure to run stricter "Know Your Business" checks on financial clients. Hosting criminal infrastructure, even unknowingly, could expose providers to liability. For unregulated crypto marketplaces worldwide, the message from Washington is clear: the backend is no longer safe, according to Finance Feeds.
Sentiment
Mostly NegativePublishers
11
Articles
2
Reach
13
