Overview
- The Treasury Department, which announced the sanctions Thursday, targeted Senator Kok An and 28 affiliates tied to compounds that ran crypto and romance scams.
- Officials said the network operated from casinos and office parks retrofitted for fraud, laundered proceeds, and targeted Americans using coerced workers.
- Prosecutors charged two people accused of running a cryptocurrency investment fraud compound in Myanmar and trying to start another in Cambodia.
- The State Department offered rewards for information that leads to the seizure or recovery of proceeds from “Tai Chang” scam centers in Myanmar.
- The push is coordinated through the Scam Center Strike Force, and stablecoin firm Tether said it froze about $344 million in USDT in a step it said was coordinated with OFAC.