Police have seized assets worth more than $650,000 from a Wellington man arrested for his alleged involvement in an international cryptocurrency scam. Photo: Supplied / NZ Police
Police have seized assets worth more than $650,000 from a Wellington man arrested for his alleged involvement in an international cryptocurrency scam.
The man appeared in Auckland District Court late last week where he was granted interim name suppression.
He was the only New Zealander among 13 people facing charges following an FBI investigation into a group that stole cryptocurrency valued at $450 million.
The defendants are accused of scamming seven victims, using the stolen virtual currency to purchase $9 million of exotic cars and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury handbags, watches and clothing and rental homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons and Miami.
Detective Inspector Christiaan Barnard said the man's assets included cash held in bank accounts and in a lawyers trust account for the purchase of a property, cryptocurrency and high value goods.
Barnard said police would continue to work with law enforcement in the United States to recover any further assets stolen by the group.
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