FBI seizes $260k of assets including ETH, Bored Ape following ZachXBT tip

The FBI has seized more than $260,000 of assets, including NFTs and cryptocurrency, according to a forfeiture document published by the agency on Feb. 4.

That document says that the FBI seized several assets from Chase Senecal, a resident of Brunswick, Maine. The agency seized 86.5678 ETH ($116,433) and two NFTs: Bored Ape Yacht Club #9658 ($95,495) and Doodle #3114 ($9,361).

In addition to the roughly $221,000 of crypto assets seized, the FBI also seized one non-crypto asset: an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Watch valued at $41,000.

The watch is not a crypto asset, but its purchase led directly to the other seizures. Self-described crypto sleuth ZachXBT, who was responsible for initiating the investigation, noted in a blog post last September that Senecal — also known as Horror (HZ) — likely paid for the watch with cryptocurrency. The luxury watch’s purchase “was directly funded with stolen money from the hacked Twitter accounts,” he wrote in one tweet.

ZachXBT traced a series of blockchain transactions and found that the account used to pay for the watch was linked to various hacks. The FBI seemingly took note of his findings reasonably quickly, as it seized the items weeks later on Oct. 24, 2022.

ZachXBT posted an update on the case yesterday, Feb. 3. He wrote that he was “very happy” to say that the FBI had seized the assets thanks to his original thread.

Earlier statements from ZachXBT indicated Senecal was involved in a multi-million dollar scheme that had compromised more than 600 Discord servers and more than 12 Twitter accounts. On Feb. 3, he highlighted various accounts affected by the hack, including those belonging to the NFT project JRNY Club and the animator DeeKay Kwon.

The FBI is also involved in several unrelated crypto cases. In January alone, it made progress in matters concerning the North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group, the crypto exchange Bitzlato, and Mango Market’s exploiter Avraham Eisenberg.