Federal prosecutors in Texas have charged 21 Americans with a variety of crimes for allegedly assisting various transnational criminal rings in launder their ill-gotten gains using cryptocurrency. The multi-year investigation, dubbed Operation Crypto Runner, was carried out by the East Texas branches of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the United States Secret Service (USSS), and the Postal Inspection Service (PIS) – the law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. According to a press release issued Wednesday, the operation “disrupted more than $300 million in annual money laundering transactions, seized and forfeited millions in cash and cryptocurrency, and identified thousands of victims.”
