U.S. Government Moves to Forfeit $12 Billion in Bitcoin Tied to Global “Pig Butchering” Scam

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed one of the largest cryptocurrency forfeiture actions in history, a bid to seize 127,271 Bitcoin (BTC) worth roughly $12 billion, linked to a vast international “pig butchering” operation.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), the civil action targets assets allegedly controlled by Chen Zhi, a Chinese national accused of orchestrating the multi-billion-dollar “Synoptic” fraud network.

According to court filings, the assets trace back to wallets connected to a series of deceptive crypto investment schemes, scams that blended romance and financial manipulation to defraud victims worldwide.

At current prices, per CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin trades near $112,000, making the 127,271 BTC haul worth over $12 billion, a figure that, if seized, would expand the U.S. government’s Bitcoin holdings by nearly 30%.

Breaking: U.S. Government Targets Massive $12 Billion #Bitcoin Forfeiture in Transnational Synoptic "Pig Butchering" Scam – would add 127271 $BTC to US holdings.

In a stunning escalation of efforts to dismantle international cryptocurrency fraud networks, the U.S. Department of…

— MartyParty (@martypartymusic) October 14, 2025

“Pig butchering,” known in Chinese as Sha Zhu Pan, is a hybrid of romance and investment fraud that has exploded globally since 2021.

The scam works like this: victims are approached online, often through dating platforms or social media. The scammer builds trust over weeks or months, the “fattening” phase, then introduces the victim to a seemingly legitimate crypto investment platform.

Once the victim invests, often encouraged to add more over time, the scammers vanish, “slaughtering” the pig. The funds disappear through a maze of blockchain addresses and offshore exchanges.

The DOJ’s “Synoptic” case describes an industrial-scale version of this playbook, spanning hundreds of wallets, multiple exchanges, and international money-laundering networks routed through Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean.

If successful, the DOJ’s forfeiture would represent one of the largest crypto asset seizures in U.S. history, rivaling the 2022 Silk Road and Bitfinex recoveries.

The filing details an “integrated ecosystem” of fake trading apps, server clusters, and off-chain payment processors, all allegedly used to funnel victim deposits into Chen Zhi–controlled Bitcoin wallets.

Investigators traced the 127,271 BTC through multiple chain-hopping transactions, aided by analytics firms and subpoenaed exchange data.

“This action underscores our commitment to dismantling transnational financial crimes that exploit the promise of digital assets,” a DOJ spokesperson said in the filing.

The Bitcoin is believed to have moved through at least 20 wallet clusters, many tagged as “Synoptic” by federal forensic teams.

The seizure effort follows another major on-chain movement this week.

Blockchain tracker Arkham Intelligence confirmed that the U.S. government transferred $75 million worth of BTC from wallets tied to the Potapenko/Turogin case, a separate 2019 crypto fraud case.

The transfer occurred in two transactions:

• $1.7 million BTC moved first
• Followed by $73 million BTC three minutes later

Both transactions settled to a new government-controlled wallet:

`bc1q5l4uhuqxw7s86tjqxaf0t7zf02d5hyv8zv9tmq`

ARKHAM ALERT: THE US GOVERNMENT JUST MOVED $75M $BTC

The US Government has transferred $75M BTC seized from the Potapenko/Turogin case to a new wallet.

They first transferred $1.7M BTC into the new wallet, then sent the remaining $73M, 3 minutes later.

Address:… pic.twitter.com/HUVlrd1a0H

— Arkham (@arkham) October 14, 2025

With this new action, the U.S. government’s total Bitcoin holdings, already among the largest globally, could exceed 250,000 BTC, rivaling corporate treasuries like MicroStrategy and Metaplanet combined.

The court filing describes the scam as a “transnational synoptic criminal enterprise,” referencing its intricate web of relationships between shell entities, offshore servers, and crypto wallets.

Victims were primarily based in the United States, Canada, and Europe, lured into investing through websites that mimicked licensed trading platforms.

These fake apps even displayed “real” price charts and fake profit dashboards. Victims could deposit funds, see gains accrue on-screen, and were sometimes allowed to withdraw small sums early on to build trust.

Behind the scenes, however, their deposits were being converted into BTC and moved through a chain of tumblers and OTC brokers, ending up in addresses tied to Chen’s network.

What began as flirty text exchanges often ended in bankruptcy for victims.

The “pig butchering” model has proven especially effective at blending emotional manipulation with financial deception.

According to the FBI’s 2024 Internet Crime Report, romance-investment scams involving crypto grew by over 240% year-over-year, with total losses surpassing $4 billion in the United States alone.

The “Synoptic” operation, the DOJ says, weaponized this model at scale, deploying AI chatbots, professional call centers, and cloned exchange apps hosted on offshore domains.

Each victim’s communication was logged and analyzed by the network to refine scripts and identify “high-value targets.”

The Eastern District of New York has become the DOJ’s preferred venue for high-value crypto forfeitures due to its jurisdiction over global financial institutions and digital asset intermediaries.

By filing as a civil forfeiture action, prosecutors can seize the Bitcoin even without a direct criminal conviction, provided they can demonstrate probable cause that the assets were derived from fraud.

The filing also allows the DOJ to request cooperation from foreign exchanges and blockchain analytics providers to trace additional addresses.

If successful, the U.S. Treasury will assume custody of the BTC, which may later be auctioned or held as part of federal reserves.

Crypto analysts on X (formerly Twitter) quickly reacted to the scale of the seizure.

“127K BTC, that’s nearly 0.6% of Bitcoin’s total supply. The DOJ is about to become one of the biggest holders in the world,” one analyst wrote.

The announcement comes as Bitcoin remains volatile, trading near $112K

While large government holdings can create market anxiety, the U.S. typically sells seized BTC through public auctions, a process that can take months and is designed to minimize market impact.

The Synoptic case reinforces U.S. authorities’ growing focus on cross-border crypto crime.

By targeting the ultimate on-chain destinations of illicit funds, rather than just intermediaries, the DOJ is signaling a shift toward end-point enforcement.

In short, if dirty Bitcoin touches a U.S.-reachable wallet, it’s fair game.

For victims, the action offers hope of restitution, though recovery often takes years. For scammers, it’s a stark warning: no wallet is beyond reach forever.

As blockchain visibility increases and government analytics sharpen, the days of laundering billions through “pig butchering” networks may be coming to an end.

The DOJ’s move to seize 127,271 BTC tied to the Synoptic “pig butchering” scam is a historic escalation in the fight against crypto fraud.

It’s a case that spans continents, exchanges, and human tragedy, now converging in a Brooklyn courtroom.

If successful, the forfeiture won’t just boost U.S. Bitcoin reserves.

It will set a new precedent for how law enforcement hunts, freezes, and reclaims digital assets, in an industry that once believed the blockchain was beyond the law.

Other sources:

What’s most interesting is wallet addresses listed in the US government $14B (127K BTC) seizure previously were named in a Milky Sad report ~2 years ago for having vulnerable private keys and now the USG says they have custody of them. https://t.co/sHNwMXhLKH pic.twitter.com/icLWKU33kC

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) October 14, 2025

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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