IRS criminal referrals on big corporations and ultrawealthy individuals plummeted during Trump’s first year
The IRS office the audits billionaires and large corporations referred *at most* two cases to criminal investigators in fiscal year 2025.
www.icij.org/news/2026/03... @icij.org
"The reduction in supervisory staff at the IRS matches a trend we’ve seen across AML enforcement agencies. This sends the signal that the US is open to dirty money. It undermines our national security and market integrity."
Erica Hanichak, @factcoalition.bsky.social
As cryptocurrency use in the United States surges, the number of civil investigators assigned to review safeguards against dirty money in the industry plummeted last year to the lowest level since at least 2017 www.icij.org/investigatio... @icij.org
According to several law enforcement sources in Belgium and other members of the European Union, Binance has stopped responding to all requests from police, public prosecutors and investigating judges when data is sought related to suspicious accounts www.icij.org/investigatio... @icij.org
How ICIJ traced hundreds of millions from Huione Group to major crypto exchanges www.icij.org/investigatio... @icij.org
Cryptocurrency giant Tether is wildly profitable. Can it do more to stop financial crime? We examined a single crypto wallet address that moved more than $1.4 billion in Tether tokens over a matter of weeks and the wake of destruction it left: www.icij.org/investigatio... @icij.org
Latest in @icij.org Coin Laundry: @scillaa.bsky.social on the inner workings of HTX, the crypto exchange associated with billionaire Justin Sun. How beneficial is the vaunted transparency of blockchains when paired with complex layers of obfuscation? www.icij.org/investigatio...
Join us for a live, free virtual event on Thursday, Nov. 20 and hear directly from @spencerwoodman.bsky.social, the lead reporter of The #CoinLaundry, how the crypto industry profits off proceeds of scams, theft and other crimes.
Register here:
Our reporting on cryptocurrency is just beginning. Stay tuned. Do you have a noteworthy and solidly attributed cryptocurrency address to share? Do you work at a major blockchain analytics firm? Contacts in bio
www.icij.org/investigatio... @icij.org
ICIJ spent months investigating a growing and loosely-regulated industry that converts big sums of Tether into physical cash, often with few questions asked www.icij.org/investigatio... @icij.org
Here's something I've been wondering about for a few months. Anyone know who this is? 0xA06Ad2e0339375124D255F1fAb201964eF707E18
This specific analysis is based on just three high-volume Huione cryptocurrency addresses we identified:
TMqDrZa5kEebg5wi3W3wusVZ6ZF2w6JczH TQuFSvpct2FeBrKjRh8NDqtGAci2Z15RSa TAuMZwRsMEAkfyJvKimsoWdNGfE4WyeMFd
This amounted to roughly 1 million per day in Tether transfers from the laundering group, called Huione, to Binance. This flow hardly abated after Treasury issued the May alert on Huione for its laundering activities
Binance, whose billionaire founder was just pardoned by Trump, kept financial ties with a group that launders crypto for North Korean hackers and human trafficking compounds even after Treasury Dept raised red flag on it earlier this year: www.icij.org/investigatio... @icij.org
Binance, whose billionaire founder was just pardoned by Trump, kept financial ties with a group that laundered crypto for North Korean hackers and human trafficking compounds even after Treasury Dept raised red flag on it earlier this year: www.icij.org/investigatio... @icij.org
Ever wonder whether the biggest crypto firms are linked up with a shadowy financial underworld awash in dirty money? We got you covered www.icij.org/investigatio... @icij.org
Meet the 001k Exchange, offering to deliver stacks of cash for crypto in NYC, DC, San Francisco, Montreal and in major cities around the globe — with no license to do so. Their known crypto wallet addresses have moved more than $14 billion USD in digital currency
We combined undercover ops with blockchain analytics to expose a crypto-fueled shadow economy quietly operating all around you: www.icij.org/investigatio...
@icij.org
Last month, President Trump pardoned Binance's billionaire founder Changpeng Zhao for money laundering lapses that facilitated crypto payments for terrorists, child abusers, etc.
Binance pleaded guilty to these crimes in 2023. But what's it been up to since? we at @icij.org took a look:
$28 Billion in illicit crypto flows 🫰 The first part of @icij.org 's #CoinLaundry series is live: ICIJ & 37 partners investigated how #crypto companies empowered a shadow economy that thrives on crime. By @spencerwoodman.bsky.social & team www.icij.org/investigatio...
From Dubai to Toronto, my colleague @spencerwoodman.bsky.social dives in the world of crypto-to-cash storefronts fueling money laundering’s new frontier
These shadowy operations have made it easier than ever to move dirty money around the world. #CoinLaundry www.icij.org/investigatio...
Today @icij.org and 37 other newsrooms around the world are releasing one of the largest ever investigations into dirty money across the cryptocurrency industry.
This is just the beginning of our work.
www.icij.org/investigatio...
The #CoinLaundry is coming soon. ICIJ’s latest investigation is a global collaboration between 38 media partners in 35 countries!
Stay tuned for more on Monday! Sign up to get it straight to your inbox: buff.ly/yZk76B5
The IRS unit that audits billionaires lost 38 percent of its employees in DOGE cuts — a far higher loss rate than the IRS as a whole: icij.org/news/2025/03...
@icij.org
I investigated millions of dollars in Covid-relief funds that poured into shell companies registered at a Wyoming storefront. Finding questionable recipients wasn't hard: www.icij.org/investigatio...
@icij.org
After mass firings, the IRS is poised to close audits of wealthy taxpayers, according to agents www.icij.org/inside-icij/... @icij.org
