Massachusetts Prosecutors Pursue Civil Forfeiture Over Stolen Coinbase Bitcoin
Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts have launched a civil forfeiture case to recover Bitcoin (BTC) they believe was stolen from a Coinbase account via a phishing scam.
The alleged attack occurred on June 1 and June 2, 2023, when the beneficiary of a Massachusetts family trust received two text messages claiming to be from Coinbase. The texts prompted the beneficiary to hand over login credentials, allowing unknown actors to drain 33.7 BTC from the account without the owners' knowledge or consent.
The stolen coins were later tracked to a Binance account opened in late May 2023 in the name of Enrique Mora Morales through Binance Spain. The investigators followed six deposits totaling over 11.2 BTC, some of which was swapped into Monero and converted into Tether (USDT).
A seizure warrant was issued, and roughly 110,270 USDT was transferred to a government-controlled wallet in August 2026. Prosecutors value the seized Tether at about $47,000 and are now seeking to forfeit it as property traceable to wire fraud proceeds.