The U.S. government has seized more than $225 million in cryptocurrency linked to alleged crypto investment scams. The case, known as Operation Big Tuna, has now moved into a difficult legal battle over one basic question: Who has the legal right to the money?
The seizure was one of the largest crypto seizures in U.S. Secret Service history. The U.S. Department of Justice said the funds came from a large network that moved money from crypto investment fraud victims through many digital wallets. Officials used blockchain records and other evidence to trace the funds.
The case has now drawn claims from hundreds of people who say they lost money to scams. At the same time, a company called Infiniweb Technology says it owns the seized wallets and has no connection to the alleged fraud. This has turned the case into a complex fight between victims, the government and a private company.
How Operation Big Tuna began
The case started after crypto exchange OKX received a tip about a suspicious wallet around December 2022. A small team at the company examined the wallet and found a much larger network.
OKX found 144 suspicious wallets linked to the activity. Those wallets had processed about 263,000 transactions worth $2.94 billion.
Many of the accounts had links to the Philippines. Some account holders appeared to use the same location for their identity photos. Some also had links to ITECHNO Specialist Inc., a call center in Manila, according to court records cited in reports on the case.
The Secret Service took the information from OKX and launched Operation Big Tuna in January. Investigators then worked with several crypto companies to trace the money and identify possible victims.
The scale of the activity made the case unusual. The network did not simply hold stolen crypto in one place. It moved funds across many wallets. This made the money harder to trace and helped hide its original source.
Why the crypto could be seized
A major part of the case involved USDT, a type of digital token issued by Tether.
Unlike some other forms of cryptocurrency, USDT can be frozen by Tether. That gave law enforcement a way to stop the movement of certain funds after investigators identified them as part of the suspected laundering network.
The government says its investigation found that more than $225.3 million in crypto had a connection to funds stolen from victims of crypto investment scams. In June 2025, the Justice Department filed a civil forfeiture case against the assets.
The government also said more than 400 suspected victims had suffered losses linked to the network.
The Secret Service later identified about 60 victims whose combined losses of roughly $19 million could be traced to seven unhosted wallets. Officials believed there were about 374 other victims, but they could not identify or contact all of them.
That created an important problem. The government had found a huge pool of crypto, but it still had to decide which victims had a valid legal claim to that money.
Victims now want their money back
Several groups of victims have come forward.
One law firm, known as the Crypto Lawyers, studied its blockchain records and found 118 clients whose losses could be linked to the seized crypto. Another law firm filed a claim for 147 victims.
One of those victims is Charles Stilwell, a Miami insurance business owner who lost a large amount of money through a fake crypto investment scheme.
Stilwell first believed that he had found a real investment opportunity. The people behind the scam showed him false profits and later told him that he had to pay more money before he could withdraw his funds.
He eventually lost millions.
His lawyers traced much of his crypto to wallets linked to Binance. They tried to use the courts to freeze the funds. The legal effort did not succeed, and the crypto later moved elsewhere.
The Big Tuna seizure gave Stilwell and other victims another possible path toward recovery.
But a seizure does not automatically mean that victims receive the money.
Infiniweb makes a competing claim
The biggest challenge to the victims comes from Infiniweb Technology, an online gaming company based in the British Virgin Islands.
Infiniweb challenged the government’s seizure in October 2025. The company says it owns the wallets and has no connection to the alleged scam operation.
This claim matters because the government must prove that the seized assets can legally remain under U.S. control.
If Infiniweb can show that it owned the crypto and did not knowingly take part in the alleged fraud, the government could face a major legal problem. Some or all of the money could have to go back to the company.
Infiniweb has declined to comment on the dispute because the case remains active.
The court case therefore has two very different sides. Victims say the crypto came from money stolen from them. Infiniweb says it owns the wallets. The government says the assets are tied to a large money-laundering network.
One victim’s case reaches Turkey
Another unusual part of the case involves Nivie Kaul, a California resident who says she lost more than $8 million in a crypto scam in 2022.
Kaul did not stop after reporting the loss. She traced some of her money to Turkey and filed a legal claim there.
Her efforts helped trigger a major investigation into a money-laundering group in Istanbul. A Turkish court in 2023 ordered the seizure of a digital wallet that held more than $100 million.
Kaul says she expected that seizure to help return her money.
Before Turkey could distribute the funds, U.S. authorities took control of the wallet as part of Operation Big Tuna, along with other crypto assets. The total value of the seized assets was about $225 million.
Kaul now wants the U.S. court to give special weight to the Turkish seizure order. U.S. Justice Department lawyers disagree. They say her money cannot be traced to the wallets seized in the Big Tuna case.
The Turkish investigation has also grown much larger. Prosecutors filed a 1,548-page indictment, and more than 130 arrests had taken place by July, according to reports.
The government may create a claims process
The Justice Department has faced a growing number of claims from victims and other parties.
At first, government lawyers argued that victims should apply directly to the department rather than file claims in the forfeiture case. They also said a judge must approve the forfeiture before the government can return the money.
By August 2026, however, the Justice Department said it was close to a possible deal with Infiniweb and the victims.
One possible solution could involve a claims administrator. That person or group would review claims and decide who qualifies for a share of the money.
Victims who can prove a direct link between their stolen crypto and the wallets identified in Operation Big Tuna could receive priority.
That could make blockchain records extremely important. A victim may have a stronger case if investigators can show a clear path from the victim’s wallet to one of the wallets seized by the government.
Why the case matters for crypto victims
Operation Big Tuna shows both the strength and the limits of blockchain technology.
Crypto transactions can leave a detailed public record. Investigators can follow funds from one wallet to another and sometimes identify links that would be difficult to find with traditional financial records.
But tracing money is only one part of the problem.
The government must also prove who legally owns the assets. Courts must decide whether the funds qualify for forfeiture. Victims must show why they have a right to the money. Other companies or people can also claim ownership.
This means that even after authorities find stolen crypto, victims may still wait for years before they receive anything.
The U.S. government has not filed criminal charges connected to Operation Big Tuna. The case is a civil forfeiture action, not a criminal trial against the alleged operators.
The $225 million is only part of the story
The money at the center of Big Tuna is huge, but it represents only a small part of the wider crypto scam problem.
The FBI said crypto investment fraud caused more than $5.8 billion in reported losses in 2024 alone. The scams often use fake investment platforms, false profits and personal trust to convince victims to send more money.
For the victims of Operation Big Tuna, the government seizure offered a rare chance to recover at least part of what they lost.
But the case now shows that finding stolen crypto does not end the fight.
The government has the money. The victims say it belongs to them. Infiniweb says the assets belong to the company. Courts must now decide which claims have legal weight.
Until that question is settled, the $225 million remains at the center of one of the most closely watched crypto recovery cases in the United States.
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