In brief
- The son of a federal contractor was arrested and charged with stealing $46 million in crypto from the U.S. Marshals Service.
- The young man’s father is the president of of a firm that provides “critical services” to the Justice Department.
- The alleged theft was first exposed by blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, who linked the funds to crypto seized from the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
The son of a federal contractor who managed critical services for the U.S. government has been arrested and charged with stealing some $46 million worth of crypto from the U.S. Marshals Service.
John “Lick” Daghita was arrested last night on the Caribbean island of St. Martin, the FBI announced Thursday morning. He was found traveling with a metal briefcase containing wads of hundred-dollar bills, and numerous hard drives and security keys, the FBI said.
Daghita’s father, Dean Daghita, is the president of CMDSS, a firm that says it provides critical services for federal agencies including the Justice Department and the Department of Defense. FBI Director Kash Patel X post on Thursday also suggests that John himself was a U.S. government contractor, though it’s not immediately clear whether he worked for his father’s firm.
The younger Daghita’s alleged crimes were first brought to the public’s attention in January by ZachXBT, the pseudonymous blockchain sleuth with a long history of exposing misconduct in the crypto sector.
ZachXBT published group chats and on-chain data which appeared to show Daghita bragging to other alleged hackers about the amount of money he stole from the U.S. government. Daghita reportedly moved some $23 million worth of crypto from wallet to wallet, predominantly in Ethereum, to prove to a jeering rival that he in fact possessed significant funds.
ZachXBT connected that money to funds seized by the U.S. government in 2024 related to the infamous 2016 Bitfinex hack.
Shortly after ZachXBT publicly made those allegations, the U.S. Marshals Service announced it was actively investigating Daghita. Daghita’s father, Dean, did not respond to Decrypt’s request for comment at the time.
The younger Daghita’s arrest last night was the product of a joint operation between the FBI and an “elite tactical unit” of the French military, FBI Director Kash Patel said on X Thursday.
“FBI will continue working 24/7 with our international partners to track down, apprehend, and bring to justice those who attempt to defraud American taxpayers—no matter where they try to hide,” Patel said.
After ZachXBT accused Daghita of the alleged theft in January, Daghita reportedly taunted the crypto sleuth in Telegram messages and sent small amounts of the stolen funds to his wallet—a common tactic, known as dusting,” to implicate unconsenting crypto users in malfeasance.
On Thursday, ZachXBT celebrated Daghita’s arrest in an X post.
“Thanks for the last laugh, John,” he said.
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