CLEVELAND, Ohio – Federal prosecutors are seeking to claim $200,000 worth of cryptocurrency that was siphoned from an investor in Ashtabula.

Bitcoin valued at about $340,000 was fraudulently transferred from the investor’s virtual currency wallet in February, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Cleveland on Thursday. The victim did not seek the transaction.

Investigators analyzed a public ledger of crypto transactions to trace the funds to two accounts, the documents show. Authorities found that the bitcoin from the Ashtabula investor was converted to Tether, a cryptocurrency tied to the U.S. dollar and created by Tether Limited Inc.

In March, a month after the theft, Tether Limited Inc. froze the two accounts. Federal investigators filed a seizure warrant in July for the funds. Tether Limited later transferred $200,000 worth of cryptocurrency from the two accounts to a federal law enforcement fund.

Authorities are seeking to return the funds to the investor, though the value of the investment has dropped since the theft. Prosecutors must first go through forfeiture proceedings with the owners of the two addresses.

But the owners of the addresses are unknown, prosecutors said in the documents. A court filing indicates that the scheme originated in Nigeria.

The court filings in the case say FBI agents in Cleveland are “investigating cryptocurrency confidence fraud scams perpetrated on victims throughout the United States, including in the Northern District of Ohio.”

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Norwich, CT – Connecticut State Police successfully returned over $42,000 in stolen cryptocurrency after a months-long investigation.

In March, Norwich police reported that $159,712.26 worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum had been illegally removed from a cold storage wallet. Connecticut detectives traced the stolen assets to two exchanges. They issued search warrants, leading to the freezing of stolen cryptocurrency.

According to Connecticut State Police, detectives returned 0.28993293 Bitcoin (BTC) and 24,051.40 USDT to the victim on October 1, with a total value of $42,129.95. Investigators received support from the New London Superior Court, which granted search warrants to seize the assets.

State police reminded residents to strengthen online security for cryptocurrency. Key tips included using two-factor authentication (2FA), keeping private keys secure, and avoiding phishing scams.

With its expertise in security token offerings (STO) and real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation, HKVAX aims to offer over-the-counter trading, exchange and custody services, the company said in a statement published on Friday.

The licence “demonstrates Hong Kong’s resolve to lead in the virtual-asset industry”, while HKVAX aims to establish the city as “the STO and RWA centre for Asia and beyond”, co-founder and chief executive Anthony Ng said in the statement.

The company’s trading platform and onboarding system are still “undergoing final preparations”, the company said in a notice on its website.