Pirro announced at a June 18 news conference in Washington that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia has filed a civil forfeiture complaint in federal court.

The action targets the proceeds of a vast international fraud operation with ties to organized crime syndicates and human trafficking networks operating out of scam compounds in Southeast Asia.

The $225.3 million seizure, now in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, is "the largest cryptocurrency seizure in U.S. Secret Service history," according to Special Agent in Charge Shawn Bradstreet of the Secret Service's San Francisco Field Office.

The U.S. Secret Service and FBI used blockchain analysis to trace a complex laundering network involving more than 144 cryptoexchange accounts, 263,000 transactions, and more than $3 billion in digital currency, according to the complaint.

Funds were routed through layers of intermediary "pass-through" accounts to obscure their origin, with evidence pointing to scam centers operated with trafficked labor.

The schemes—also known as "pig butchering" scams—typically involve criminals luring victims into sending funds for purported investments, often in the form of cryptocurrency, which turn out to be fraudulent.

One notable case cited in the complaint involved a Kansas bank CEO who was persuaded by scammers running a cryptocurrency confidence scheme to embezzle $47 million from the bank to invest in a fake crypto platform—through which the criminals then defrauded him of the embezzled funds.

In another case, a Texas victim lost $7 million after being persuaded to invest in a platform that he realized was fraudulent when he tried to withdraw his funds.

More than 430 individuals fell victim to the scams detailed in the complaint.

"This is about quick money," Pirro said. "It's about old crimes being committed in new ways. Every fast and loose criminal for centuries knows how it's done, and they've done it over and over again, and they continue to do it today."

Criminals begin by identifying targets—often on social media, through deceptive job postings or fraudulent investment pitches. They work to earn the victim's trust, then exploit that trust to siphon funds under the guise of legitimate investment opportunities.