THELOGICALINDIAN - The US Treasury Department is dispatch up its focus on actionable cryptocurrencyrelated activities Recently Treasury appear that its banking intelligence and administration agencies are accession and allegory Bitcoin addresses These addresses are associated with several Chinese kingpins allegedly complex in fueling Americas baleful opioid crisis
On August 21, 2019, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced their accommodating accomplishments to footfall up “financial burden aloft those who manufacture, sell, or administer constructed opioids or their forerunner chemicals.”
These accomplishments are apparatus of investigations actuality agitated out “to accost the baleful constructed opioid crisis afflictive America.” According to OFAC, beneath these investigations are the afterward “Chinese biologic kingpins,”
– Fujing Zheng (Zheng) and the Zheng Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO).
– Guanghua Zheng
– Qinsheng Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
– Xiaobing Yan (Yan)
In this connection, on August 21, 2019, OFAC appear it had added 11 Bitcoin addresses and one Litecoin abode to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) list. Therefore, no U.S. alone can execute any transaction involving these addresses.
The SDNs list includes targeted individuals and companies. Their assets are blocked. And it is actionable for U.S. bodies to accord with them.
At the announcement, Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, stated,
“The Chinese kingpins that OFAC appointed today run an all-embracing biologic trafficking operation that articles and sells baleful narcotics, anon accidental to the crisis of opioid addiction, overdoses, and afterlife in the United States.”
According to U.S. officials, the Zheng DTO acclimated Bitcoin to acquit allotment of its biologic gain and to bypass bill controls and advertisement requirements.
Moreover, authorities acicular out that both Zheng and Yan are Bitcoin users. Therefore, “OFAC is additionally anecdotic Bitcoin addresses associated with these two biologic traffickers to aerate disruption of their banking dealings.”
FinCEN Director Kenneth A. Blanco adumbrated that, through the Bank Secrecy Act, FinCEN is collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data, which provides acumen into the banking networks acclimated by individuals “fueling America’s baleful opioid crisis.” And he acicular out,
“We are authoritative the banking area acquainted of approach and typologies abaft adulterous schemes to acquit the gain of these baleful biologic sales, including affairs application agenda bill and adopted coffer accounts.”
How able do you anticipate the U.S. Treasury Department’s investigations will be? Let us apperceive in the comments below!
Images via Shutterstock, Twitter: @USTreasury
