FBI Raids Luxury Miami Home Linked to Cryptocurrency Insider

The Federal Bureau of Investigations raided a luxury home in Miami thought to belong to a cryptocurrency insider following an investigation by blockchain sleuth ZachXBT into an alleged $243 million heist.

According to Miami’s 7News, the agency conducted a “court-ordered law enforcement activity” on a home Wednesday, with agents reportedly using flashbangs while equipped with “heavy artillery.” However, the TV station did not mention any connection to cryptocurrency theft.

Although it remains unclear who owned the home at the time of reporting, ZachXBT, known for investigating alleged crypto frauds, posted a long thread detailing what he calls “one of my best investigations of all time.”

Incident Summary

ZachXBT alleges that on Aug. 19, 2024, three alleged perpetrators—Greavys (Malone Iam), Wiz (Veer Chetal), and Box (Jeandiel Serrano)—stole $243 million from a single unnamed individual, claimed to be a creditor of bankrupt lending firm Genesis, through a complicated social engineering attack.

ZachXBT writes that the attackers tricked the victim by impersonating representatives of Google and the Gemini crypto exchange to access his accounts and reset security systems. They then gained access to his private keys, allegedly transferring 4,064 BTC to an account controlled by the attackers.

“An initial tracing showed $243M split multiple ways between each party before funds quickly peeled off to 15+ exchanges, immediately swapping back and forth between Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Monero,” ZachXBT alleges.

In leaked videos supposedly occurring in real-time during the attack, the alleged attackers revealed their identities and money laundering scheme. It is unclear how ZachXBT obtained these videos and the many chat records from Telegram and Discord he cites.

When asked on X about the evidence’s provenance, ZachXBT responded, “Some things are better left unsaid.”

Web3 forensics experts Cryptoforensic Investigators and zeroShadow allegedly collaborated with ZachXBT, the victim, and Binance Security to recover some of the funds.

Arrests Made

ZachXBT stated that as a result of the investigation, Serrano and Iam were arrested Wednesday evening in Miami and LA. However, The Block has not yet been able to find arrest records for either in Miami-Dade County or Los Angeles County.