Seized crypto safe with US Marshals Service? Not so much, new audit reveals
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the United States Department of Justice conducted an extensive audit of the cryptocurrencies seized by the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) — revealing the dire need for the federal agency to revamp its existing crypto management and policy systems.
OIG’s audit on the seized cryptocurrencies found the USMS implementing adequate safeguards over its storage and access. However, the agency was found to be using spreadsheets to maintain track of the inventory owing to the inability of the existing system, Consolidated Asset Tracking System (CATS), for daily management of crypto assets.
As of June 2021, the USMS managed nearly 200 DOJ cryptocurrency seizures. We looked at the USMS’s management of seized cryptocurrency, and found that the USMS faced challenges in managing and tracking cryptocurrency.
OIG’s audit disclosed the lack of documented policies and practices related to the management of seized crypto assets — especially related to the use of inventory spreadsheets— adding:
Having the knowledge about USMS’s intent to outsource the management of seized cryptocurrencies, the Justice department’s OIG laid down seven recommendations to help improve the management of the same, starting with implementing a property management system ”that logs edit history to prevent fraudulent alteration of the inventory records.”
In addition, the OIG recommended establishing fresh policies related to the proper security and handling of the spreadsheets used for tracking crypto seizures. This includes moving the data from the spreadsheets into the CATS inventory.
Other key recommendations include introducing a sufficient number of decimal places to ensure fractional accuracy and implementing policies
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