FBI Arrests Contractor Who Stole ₱2.7 billion ($46 million) in Crypto From US Marshals

FBI Director Kash Patel announced Thursday that French authorities arrested John Daghita, a US government contractor accused of stealing ₱2.7 billion ($46 million) in cryptocurrency from the US Marshals Service. The French Gendarmerie's elite tactical unit apprehended him on the island of Saint Martin in a joint operation with the FBI.

Daghita allegedly used his father's Virginia-based IT company to pull off the theft. Command Services and Support won a ₱235.01 million ($4 million) contract with the US Marshals Service in 2024, giving the younger Daghita access to seized cryptocurrency holdings.

Pseudonymous investigator ZachXBT first outlined the allegations in January, tracing crypto addresses Daghita controlled on both Ethereum and Tron. Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, said he would look into the allegations after ZachXBT's report surfaced.

The theft exposed weaknesses in how the US Marshals Service manages seized cryptocurrency. A 2022 Department of Justice audit found the agency relied on supplemental spreadsheets that lacked inventory controls and documented procedures. The spreadsheet systems couldn't track edits, meaning records could be altered or deleted without a trace.

The US Marshals Service now holds cryptocurrency as part of the US Bitcoin Reserve administration. The agency managed nearly 200 DOJ cryptocurrency seizures across 22 asset types as of June 2021, valued at roughly ₱27.38 billion ($466 million) three months later. The broader US government cryptocurrency stockpile totals $22 billion, managed through outdated systems with procedures unchanged since 2014.