Jun 30, 2021 - 52min
EPISODE 10
TRM Talks: Discussing Crypto-Related Crime with the FBI
With Ali Comoli, and Steven M. D'Antuono, and Kyle Armstrong and
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), born in 1908, was created to address fast moving technological developments of the day. That same year Henry Ford's Model T began rolling off assembly lines making automobiles affordable to the masses and attractive to illicit actors who could drive cross country on violent crime sprees -- think Bonnie and Clyde. Indeed, it was cross-border technology that called for a national law enforcement entity with the tools and training necessary to meet a new breed of borderless criminal.
While the technology has changed over the years, the Bureau's mission has stayed the same: "to identify, disrupt and dismantle existing and emerging criminal enterprises whose activities affect the United States." Today, George "Machine Gun" Kelly has been replaced by ransomware-as-a-service providers, darknet market administrators, cybercriminals, weapons proliferators and other modern threat actors. Many of these criminals have gone online in order to move funds at the speed of the internet, elude law enforcement, and obfuscate transactions. This month, a New York Times headline read, "Bitcoin and Encryption: A Race Between Criminals and the F.B.I.," and The Wall Street Journal sounded, "FBI Director Compares Ransomware Challenge to 9/11." As illicit actors and the FBI move to a digital battlefield, cryptocurrency, the internet of money, poses both unique risks and unique capabilities. TRM Talks to the FBI about how the Bureau is meeting these emerging threats and building cases in the age of crypto.
About the guests
Ali Comolli is a member of the Virtual Currency Evolving Threats (VCET) Team in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Criminal Investigative Division, where she specializes in the investigation of virtual currency money laundering and money laundering facilitation matters across threat programs. She also covered transnational criminal organizations operating on the Darknet and supported the FBI’s international efforts to combat cybercrime. She is a graduate of Duke University and the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and is admitted to the Massachusetts bar.
On October 13, 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray named Steven M. D’Antuono as the assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office.
Mr. D’Antuono joined the FBI as a forensic accountant in 1996 and was assigned to the Providence Resident Agency in Rhode Island, under the Boston Field Office. He supported criminal investigations into financial crimes, public corruption, organized crime, drugs, and counterintelligence. In 1998, Mr. D’Antuono was appointed a special agent. After graduating from the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, he was assigned to the Washington Field Office to investigate white-collar crime and public corruption. Mr. D’Antuono was promoted to supervisory special agent in 2004 and returned to the FBI Academy to teach white-collar crime courses. He transferred back to the Washington Field Office in 2008 to supervise a public corruption and government fraud squad. Mr. D’Antuono was promoted to an assistant special agent in charge at the St. Louis Field Office in 2014, overseeing the Criminal and Administrative branches. In 2017, Mr. D’Antuono was promoted to chief of the Financial Crimes Section of the Criminal Investigative Division. He oversaw all white-collar crime programs in the Bureau, including corporate securities and commodities fraud, economic crimes, financial institution fraud, money laundering, health care fraud, intellectual property, and forensic accountant programs. Prior to joining the FBI, Mr. D’Antuono was a certified public accountant focused on auditing, forensic accounting, and taxation. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Rhode Island.
While at the FBI, Mr. Armstrong was the Unit Chief of the Bureau’s Counterterrorism Finance Targeting Unit (CTFTU) where he led teams that leveraged financial intelligence to initiate and enhance illicit finance investigations. In addition, Mr. Armstrong was the program manager of the Virtual Currency Evolving Threat team, where he led some of the largest cryptocurrency-related investigations including the dismantling of three terrorist financing cyber-enabled campaigns, involving Hamas, ISIS, and al-Qaeda. He received the FinCEN Director’s Award in 2022 for that work. In addition, Mr. Armstrong received the 2020 FinCEN Director’s Award for his work investigating North Korean cybercriminal and proliferation activity, the 2022 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Award, the Homeland Security Director’s Award, and numerous others.
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