U.S. federal prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of 1.00001188 bitcoin seized from a Binance account allegedly tied to a synthetic drug importation ring operating in Georgia.
“The United States is seeking forfeiture of cryptocurrency seized during the investigation through both the criminal indictment and a recently unsealed civil forfeiture case,” the Department of Justice said in a statement on May 20, 2026.
The civil forfeiture complaint, unsealed April 15, 2026, targets bitcoin seized from Binance account 53514319, which investigators linked to Chinese national Wei Gong. The account, which used identification documents tied to Gong, saw 666 BTC in transactions between October 2020 and July 2023, including sells worth about $2.33 million. Binance transferred the bitcoin to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in March and April 2024.
Prosecutors allege the seized bitcoin represents proceeds from drug trafficking, customs violations, and money laundering, part of a wider crackdown on illicit digital finance. If extradited and convicted, Gong faces up to 20 years in prison on each count, highlighting the increasing severity of penalties for crypto-related crimes.
The government’s case relies heavily on blockchain analysis and undercover operations to link cryptocurrency payments to physical drug shipments. On March 28, 2023, a DEA agent sent 0.18092382 BTC (valued at $4,868.59 in the filing) for a 5-kilogram shipment of suspected eutylone. A second undercover purchase on June 20, 2023, involved 0.03589067 BTC for one kilogram.
Investigators traced payment flows across multiple exchanges, including Coinbase, Huobi, and OKX, connecting digital payments to packages of controlled substances intercepted in Georgia. The case against Gong was built with cooperation from Chinese authorities after U.S. agencies shared intelligence through official law enforcement channels.
The Savannah case is part of a broader trend of international law enforcement agencies collaborating to dismantle criminal networks that use cryptocurrency. Between May 19 and May 22, 2026, Europol concluded a major operation involving 31 countries that identified bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets linked to organized crime.
Separately, a new EU-Mexico trade agreement includes provisions for monitoring suspicious digital flows, specifically mentioning concerns about groups like the Sinaloa cartel using crypto to launder funds internationally. In Italy, police recently dismantled a counterfeiting network that sold fake banknotes on Telegram and accepted payments in Bitcoin, charging 61 individuals. These actions demonstrate a coordinated global effort to apply financial intelligence and cross-border cooperation to the digital asset space.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
