On Tuesday, October 6, 2026, the United States government filed a complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia seeking the forfeiture of roughly $145,000 in cryptocurrency that federal investigators say was traced to a scam targeting an 80-year-old woman.
The civil action, filed in rem against the digital assets themselves, names approximately 144,986.63 USDC, valued at about $144,966.77, held at an Ethereum address. Assistant U.S. Attorney Morgan S. McKee filed the case on behalf of the government, and it was assigned to Judge John Preston Bailey. USDC is a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar and issued by Circle Internet Financial.
According to the complaint, the victim, identified only as B.K., lives in the Northern District of West Virginia. The filing says the FBI is investigating the scheme, which was carried out by unknown individuals.
The complaint states that B.K. was told about a mystery or secret shopping business opportunity by a friend and began using the Telegram messaging app. There, she communicated with a person she believed to be Susan Wiles, President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, referred to in the filing as UNSUB1. She also communicated with someone who identified himself as Marcus Brown, called UNSUB2.
Investigators say B.K. first sent money to UNSUB1 as part of the supposed venture, and that the money was returned as promised, building her trust. At the request of the two unknown individuals, she wired $145,000 on January 29, 2025, from her Hancock School Employees Federal Credit Union account to Cross River Bank. The wire was earmarked for a Coinbase account that, according to the complaint, had been opened in her name five days earlier, on January 24, 2025.
The filing states that UNSUB1 or UNSUB2 later told B.K. she had sent the money to the wrong account. She notified her bank, but the wire could not be reversed.
Once the funds arrived at Coinbase, the complaint says, an unknown person used the account to buy about 144,990 USDC on January 31, 2025, at roughly 11:20 a.m. Eastern. About seven minutes later, the account sent that amount to the Ethereum address named in the case.
The complaint says the FBI confirmed the blockchain transaction and determined that the only USDC at the address was the Defendant USDC. Prosecutors say the tokens appear to make up nearly all of B.K.’s wire and came from no other source.
Circle can block addresses from sending or receiving USDC, a process known as blocklisting. According to the filing, the government served a warrant on Circle in or around February 2025 directing it to blocklist the address. Circle complied, and the address remains blocklisted. At the time of service, it held approximately 144,986.63 USDC.
The government argues the tokens are proceeds traceable to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 1349, and are therefore subject to forfeiture under 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C). It asks the court to forfeit the USDC to the United States and award costs.
Please contact BlockTribune for access to a copy of this filing.
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