tl;dr
The FBI has recovered over $8 million in digital assets to reimburse shareholders of a failed bank, Heartland Tri-State Bank (HTSB), after its CEO, Shan Hanes, redirected $47.1 million of the bank's funds into a fraudulent crypto scheme. The DOJ revealed that Hanes was a victim of "pig butchering," ...
The FBI has recovered over $8 million in digital assets to reimburse shareholders of a failed bank, Heartland Tri-State Bank (HTSB), after its CEO, Shan Hanes, redirected $47.1 million of the bank's funds into a fraudulent crypto scheme. The Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that Hanes was a victim of "pig butchering," a scam where scammers form relationships to deceive victims into making fake investments. While the bank's customers were insured and recovered their deposits, around 30 local shareholders lost a total of $8.2 million.
The FBI, led by Special Agent Sage Hemmert, tracked and seized the embezzled crypto, offering hope for the shareholders to reclaim most of their losses. Hanes, who pleaded guilty to embezzlement, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison.
In 2023, Shan Hanes, the CEO of Heartland Tri-State Bank (HTSB) in Elkhart, Kansas, sent a total of $47.1 million of the bank’s funds to a crypto scheme that turned out to be a blatant scam. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said that Hanes had fallen prey to “pig butchering,” a scheme where scammers build relationships with their targeted victims to lure them into making fraudulent investments. The bank’s customers got their deposits back because the institution was insured through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). About 30 local shareholders, however, lost a combined $8.2 million when their equity in a holding company that owned the bank nosedived after the scandal, explains Special Agent Sage Hemmert, who led the FBI’s investigation into Tri-State.
“These were not Silicon Valley investors. These were regular people from southwest Kansas. And a lot of them had their net worth tied up in this bank.” Those shareholders are now primed to get most of their money back after the FBI traced more than $8 million worth of the embezzled crypto and seized it from one of the scammer’s digital wallets. Last August, Hanes was sentenced to 24 years in prison after leading guilty to one count of embezzlement by a bank officer.