FBI Director Kash Patel announces arrest of contractor John Daghita in Saint Martin for allegedly stealing over $46M in cryptocurrency from the U.S. Marshals Service in joint FBI–French raid

U.S. and French authorities have arrested John Daghita, a 21‑year‑old former U.S. government contractor, in Saint Martin on allegations that he stole more than $46 million in cryptocurrency from wallets controlled by the U.S. Marshals Service. The operation, carried out by the French Gendarmerie in coordination with the FBI, was announced publicly by FBI Director Kash Patel, who shared images of seized hardware wallets and a briefcase of cash from the raid. According to law enforcement statements and blockchain-analytics reporting, the case traces back to an October 2024 incident in which tens of millions of dollars in crypto were moved out of a U.S. government–controlled wallet holding assets seized in connection with the 2016 Bitfinex hack. Investigators allege that Daghita, linked to Virginia-based contractor Command Services & Support (CMDSS) run by his father Dean Daghita, exploited his proximity to systems used to safeguard seized digital assets for the Marshals Service to misappropriate funds, with estimates of suspicious movements reaching up to roughly $90 million across related wallets. A key break came in January 2026 when blockchain investigator ZachXBT identified a user known as “John” or “Lick” flaunting and moving funds traceable to U.S. government seizure addresses during an online “band-for-band” crypto display, prompting a formal FBI investigation and accelerated tracing of the funds across mixers, bridges, and multiple blockchains. The arrest highlights both the insider-risk dimension of government crypto custody and the growing role of open-source blockchain investigation in high-value digital asset cases. The matter remains ongoing: authorities are expected to pursue asset forfeiture to recover remaining funds, while investigators continue following on-chain trails to determine how much of the stolen cryptocurrency can be clawed back to U.S. government control.

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