DOJ Launches Prosecutor Network to Combat Digital Asset-related Crimes
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has established the
nationwide Digital Asset Coordinator Network, which comprises over 150 federal
prosecutors. The Department explained that the new network will further its
"efforts to combat the growing threat posed by the illicit use of digital
assets to the American public."
Digital Asset Coordinator (DAC) Network
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday that
its Criminal Division has established the nationwide Digital Asset Coordinator
(DAC) Network.
The Justice Department explained that the DAC Network launch is
"in furtherance of the department’s efforts to combat the growing threat
posed by the illicit use of digital assets to the American public,"
adding:
"Led by the Department’s National Cryptocurrency
Enforcement Team (NCET), the DAC Network comprises over 150 designated federal
prosecutors from U.S. attorneys’ offices and across the department’s litigating
components."
The DOJ added that the DAC Network will serve as its primary
forum for prosecutors to obtain and disseminate specialized training, technical
expertise, and guidance about the investigation and prosecution of digital
asset crimes.
Digital asset developments, according to Assistant Attorney
General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department's Criminal Division,
"have created a new landscape for criminals to exploit innovation to
further significant criminal and national security threats domestically and
abroad."
He explained:
"Through the creation of the DAC Network, the Criminal
Division and the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team will continue to
ensure that the Department and its prosecutors are best positioned to combat
the ever-evolving criminal uses of digital asset technology."
The DOJ launched the National
Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team in
October last year "to tackle complex investigations and prosecutions of
criminal misuses of cryptocurrency, particularly crimes committed by virtual
currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and money laundering
infrastructure actors."
Members of the DAC Network will learn about "the
application of existing authorities and laws to digital assets and best
practices for investigating digital assets-related crimes." They include
drafting search and seizure warrants, restraining orders, criminal and civil
forfeiture actions, indictments, and other pleadings, the DOJ detailed, adding:
"The DAC Network will also serve as a source of information
and discussion addressing new digital asset issues, such as Defi (decentralized
finance), smart contracts, token-based platforms, and their use in criminal
activity."
The DAC Network will also "raise awareness of the unique
international considerations of the crypto ecosystem, including the benefits of
leveraging foreign relationships and the challenges of cross-border digital
asset investigations," the Justice Department said.
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