Wave Digital Assets Requests DOJ OIG Probe into U.S. Marshals' Cryptocurrency Handling

Wave Digital Assets filed a request with the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General on January 27 asking investigators to review how the U.S. Marshals Service handled seized cryptocurrency and submitted related materials to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims challenging procurement and oversight decisions. The filing focuses on custody management, technical safeguards, and the integrity of audit logs for assets the Marshals classify as Class 2 through 4 tokens. Wave alleges more than $40 million moved unlawfully from government-controlled wallets and cites public blockchain traces showing a $24.9 million movement in March 2024 linked to addresses associated with John Daghita (alias Lick) and an October 2024 drain of roughly $20 million, most of which was later recovered with about $700,000 unrecovered. Wave cites leaked clips, chat logs, and on-chain flows that it says indicate coordinated wallet access and attempts to route funds through mixers. The company asks the OIG to trace audit trails for government-controlled wallets, document who had access, explain what policies governed transfers, and clarify why red flags were not escalated, and it contends that existing controls failed to prevent large unauthorized outflows and did not preserve evidence in a manner suitable for court. Wave links its complaint to a 2022 DOJ OIG audit that identified gaps in the Marshals’ policy, asset tracking, and technical controls and to the Marshals’ 2024 award of a custody contract to a vendor known as CMDSS, which Wave contends lacked required licenses or registrations at the time of award and whose selection did not fully account for operational custody requirements. Agency records cited by Wave show the Marshals found Wave noncompliant with parts of the Performance Work Statement because Wave did not demonstrate custody of every asset in the same form until disposal, which reduced Wave’s bid weight. The U.S. Marshals Service has confirmed an active investigation into the alleged thefts, and at the time of Wave’s filing there were no reported arrests and no public update on investigatory findings. 

Source: https://web3businessnews.com/policy/wave-doj-oig-usms-crypto-probe/

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