Norwegian authorities, in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ), have reportedly seized nearly $6 million stolen during last year’s Axie Infinity heist.” It is the largest crypto seizure ever made by Norwegian police,” said Norway’s Økokrim.
Norway and the FBI recover some of the funds stolen from the Axie Infinity attack
Økokrim, Norway’s national agency for the investigation and prosecution of economic and environmental crimes, said Thursday that in connection with the attacks on Axie Infinity and Sky Mavis, a developer of non-fungible token (NFT)-based online video games, it has recovered 60 million The company announced that it had seized crypto worth Krone (about $5.8 million).
Norwegian authorities, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), explained that.
Økokrim seized approximately NOK 60 million in cryptocurrency. This is the largest crypto seizure made by Norwegian police.
“We cooperate with FBI experts in tracking cryptocurrencies. This kind of state-to-state cooperation means that we as a society stand stronger in the fight against digital, profit-driven crime,” commented First State Attorney Marianne Bender. Økokrim, however, did not disclose details of the seizure.
Accy Infinity was attacked last March after the Ronin Network Validator was compromised. At the time, the reported loss was $620 million.” SkyMavis stated that the attackers “successfully took control of four Ronin Validators at SkyMavis and a third-party validator operated by Axie DAO.
According to the FBI, the North Korean hacker group Lazarus was behind the heist. The hackers launched a massive and sophisticated money laundering operation shortly after the attack, Økokrim detailed.
Last May, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)sanctionedthe crypto mixer Blender.io. The Treasury Department explained that Blender was used in the laundering process of the Axie Infinity robbery in North Korea and processed over $20.5 million in illicit proceeds.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
