A U.S. federal court ordered forfeiture of approximately $212,700 in USDC and USDT held in wallet 0x81c4, finding the assets were traceable to an alleged North Korean IT-worker sanctions-evasion and money-laundering operation. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras granted the Justice Department partial default judgment under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, while denying without prejudice its request for seven other asset tranches because public notice did not identify them with sufficient specificity. The broader civil forfeiture case, filed in June 2025, seeks more than $7.74 million in cryptocurrency and other digital property allegedly generated through overseas employment schemes that concealed workers’ identities and locations. U.S. authorities have also targeted intermediaries Sim Hyon Sop and Kim Sang Man, who prosecutors say helped route laundered worker earnings toward North Korea.