A 24-year-old man from Florida has been convicted of running a crypto-stealing scheme that also included kidnapping and assault.
In a new press release, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says that Remy St. Felix, from West Palm Beach, was the mastermind of a burglary crew that targeted crypto owners from September 2022 to July 2023 in multiple states.
According to the DOJ, St. Felix and his crew would invade homes, kidnap the victims, and force them to access and then drain their cryptocurrency wallets. To do this, St. Felix and his co-conspirators would hack into their targets’ email accounts and conduct physical surveillance beforehand.
Then, after stealing the funds, they would launder them using privacy-enhanced digital assets, such as Monero (XMR), decentralized exchange (DEX) platforms with no know-your-customer (KYC) regulations, as well as “instant exchanges.”
As stated by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division,
“St Felix and his co-conspirators targeted victims across the United States for brutal home invasions, kidnappings, and robberies in order to steal cryptocurrency.
Although the members of this violent conspiracy tried to cover their tracks through encrypted communication and anonymous financial transactions, they were not beyond the reach of our dedicated investigators and prosecutors.”
In one case, during April 2023, St. Felix and another person broke into someone’s home, zip-tied them, held them at gunpoint, and threatened the victim and their spouse while stealing $150,000 worth of crypto assets from them.
St. Felix was arrested in July 2023 as he was on his way to conduct another home invasion, according to the DOJ. He was convicted on nine counts and could face a minimum of seven years behind bars and a maximum penalty of life in prison.
