Jesse Powell. Source: Bloomberg
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reportedly searched the residence of Jesse Powell – founder and former CEO of crypto exchange Kraken – earlier this year. The investigation came a few months after a nonprofit organization accused him of hacking and cyberstalking activities.
The FBI has targeted other crypto-related individuals in the recent past, with Ryan Salame (former CEO of FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary) being one example.
The New York Times informed that US law enforcement agents had searched Powell’s home in Los Angeles in March this year after an arts center called Verge Center for the Arts claimed he cyberstalked the entity and blocked employees from accessing confidential data.
Unnamed sources revealed that the FBI confiscated electronic devices from Kraken’s former boss to further investigate the case.
It is worth mentioning that prosecutors have not accused Powell of any crimes after the raid, whereas his team denied engaging in hacking or cyberstalking activity.
While Kraken’s founder was part of the nonprofit organization, he was removed from the board of directors over expressing some controversial views. Powell has previously filed a lawsuit against the arts center, insisting that his dismissal was unjustified.
His attorney – Brandon Fox – maintained that his client’s involvement in the case is unrelated to “his conduct in the cryptocurrency arena.”
“We have reason to believe Verge provided a one-sided account that did not provide the government with the full picture, which would have shown that he did nothing wrong,” he added.
As CryptoPotato reported in April, the “Bureau” searched the home of Ryan Salame in Potomac, Maryland. The latter is former Chief Executive Officer of FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary. The sources failed to provide specifics on the exact reason for the raid. However, some presumed it could be related to the gigantic crash of the once-leading cryptocurrency exchange FTX and Salame’s possible involvement.
The American was a key figure in the investigation against the platform last year after he told the Bahamian regulators that it might have misappropriated billions of dollars in users’ funds and transferred them to Alameda Research.
Salame also made considerable donations to politicians, distributing more than $23 million to Republican candidates. For his part, the fallen crypto mogul – Sam Bankman-Fried (the former CEO of FTX) – gave away approximately $40 million in political donations in the 2022 election cycle, mainly to Democrats.