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Members of the U.S. authorities are investigating allegations that tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in cryptocurrency seized by legislation enforcement had been stolen by means of insider entry by way of a federal contractor, in response to public statements from officers.
The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) confirmed to CoinDesk that it’s investigating claims that greater than $40 million in confiscated digital belongings had been siphoned from government-linked wallets.
The allegations heart on Command Companies & Assist (CMDSS), a Virginia-based know-how agency contracted by the USMS to handle and get rid of sure classes of seized cryptocurrency.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT alleged that John “Lick” Daghita — the son of CMDSS president and chief govt Dean Daghita — gained unauthorized entry to crypto wallets holding government-seized digital belongings and diverted funds for private use.
ZachXBT stated he reported the alleged exercise to authorities and linked a number of pockets addresses to belongings managed by or related to the USMS.
Brady McCarron, chief of public affairs for the USMS, advised CoinDesk that the company couldn’t remark additional on the case as a result of investigations had been underway.
Particulars of the digital asset theft fraud
The allegations first surfaced after a dispute in a personal Telegram chat was recorded and later circulated on-line. Based on ZachXBT, the person recognized as “Lick” appeared to screen-share a pockets holding hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in cryptocurrency and demonstrated the flexibility to maneuver funds in actual time.
Subsequent on-chain evaluation linked these wallets to addresses identified to carry government-seized belongings, together with funds related to prior high-profile legislation enforcement seizures.
“Meet the menace actor John (Lick), who was caught flexing $23M in a pockets handle immediately tied to $90M+ in suspected thefts from the US Authorities in 2024 and a number of different unidentified victims from Nov 2025 to Dec 2025,” ZachXBT wrote on X over the weekend.
ZachXBT later recognized the person as John Daghita, alleging that he’s the son of CMDSS’s president and that CMDSS at present holds an lively federal IT contract.
CMDSS was awarded a contract in October 2024 to help the USMS in managing and disposing of seized and forfeited digital belongings, together with crypto not supported by main exchanges and belongings tied to advanced prison instances.
These crypto belongings reportedly embrace funds seized from the 2016 Bitfinex hack, one of many largest cryptocurrency thefts on document.
ZachXBT has stated it stays unclear how John Daghita allegedly obtained entry to the wallets, together with whether or not that entry was facilitated by means of his father or CMDSS’s inside techniques.
Based on ZachXBT, one pockets he attributed to Daghita held 12,540 ether — price roughly $36 million at latest costs. He additionally alleged that Daghita despatched him 0.6767 ETH, which the investigator stated he would ahead to a U.S. authorities seizure handle.
ZachXBT additional claimed that transaction trails recommend roughly $20 million was faraway from USMS-linked wallets in October 2024, most of which was returned inside a day, although roughly $700,000 routed by means of on the spot exchanges was not recovered.
In further posts, ZachXBT estimated that whole suspected thefts might exceed $90 million in varied crypto when accounting for different pockets exercise noticed in late 2025, a few of which he stated stays in compromised wallets.
United States’s bitcoin safety beneath scrutiny
The allegations have raised legitimate considerations over how the U.S. authorities safeguards its rising stockpile of seized bitcoin and different digital belongings. The federal authorities could management between roughly 198,000 BTC and greater than 300,000 BTC, price tens of billions of {dollars} at present market costs.
Based on bitcointreasuries.internet, the U.S. authorities holds 328,372 bitcoin price roughly $29 billion.
The controversy comes amid heightened scrutiny of how seized bitcoin is dealt with following experiences earlier this 12 months questioning whether or not forfeited belongings tied to the Samourai Pockets case had been improperly bought regardless of govt orders directing that seized bitcoin be retained as a part of a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Whereas U.S. officers later denied that any sale passed off, the dearth of on-chain proof supplied publicly has continued to gas skepticism.
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