US Department of Justice Bolsters Crypto Crime Team

The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced that it will double the size of its 2021-established crypto crime team. The unit will receive additional interim prosecutors and a new leader.

Nicole Argentieri’s remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies were published by the Department of Justice on July 20.

In her address, Argentieri announced the consolidation of two Department of Justice teams the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) and the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET).

NCET will continue to investigate and prosecute criminal offenses involving the misuse of cryptocurrencies after joining the CCIPS.

Argentieri referred to the NCET as “an incredibly successful startup” and emphasized that the merger with a larger organization would provide it with new resources.

The number of criminal division attorneys available to work on criminal cryptocurrency matters will “more than double,” as any CCIPS attorney could potentially be assigned to an NCET case.

The NCET will also collect information regarding computer crime and intellectual property. In addition, the agency will receive a new interim director.

Argentieri thanked Eun Young Choi, the inaugural Director of NCET, for her efforts and appointed Claudia Quiroz as the new team leader. Quiroz, a former assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of California, has served as NCET’s deputy director since the organization’s inception.

The new “super-charged” unit’s priority will be to combat ransomware offenses.

The NCET will concentrate on tracing criminals via their crypto payments, freezing or seizing them “before they go to Russia and other ransomware hotspots.”

In 2021, the NCET was established as part of the Department of Justice’s Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework.

Ex-Director Choi stated in May 2023 that the department’s primary concern was thefts and hacks involving decentralized finance and “particularly chain bridges.”