Florida Seizes $1.5M in Dogecoin, Pepe, Solana and Avalanche in Case Tied to Chinese National
Florida prosecutors have seized roughly $1.5 million in cryptocurrency after tracing funds from an alleged investment fraud case to a digital wallet that authorities say was controlled by Tu Weizhi, a Chinese national.
According to filings cited by the Florida Attorney General’s office, investigators followed a transaction trail stemming from a local complaint in Citrus County. That analysis allegedly connected the victim’s losses to a broader pool of crypto assets held in Tu’s wallet.
The state sought and obtained a court order to take control of the wallet. Prosecutors did not limit the action to the amount originally lost in the complaint; instead, they requested authority to seize the full wallet balance after linking it to the investigation.
At the time of the seizure, the wallet contained Dogecoin (DOGE), Pepe (PEPE), Solana (SOL), and Avalanche (AVAX), with the holdings valued at about $1.5 million, the state said.
Tu, who authorities believe is currently in China, has been charged with money laundering, grand theft, and operating an organized scheme to defraud.
The seizure was pursued under the Fugitive Disentitlement Act, a legal mechanism that can allow courts to act against assets tied to an ongoing criminal case even when the defendant is outside the jurisdiction. A seizure warrant was filed in Florida’s Fifth Judicial Circuit to recover the wallet and its contents.
The case highlights how law enforcement agencies are increasingly relying on blockchain transaction tracing to connect alleged fraud proceeds to specific wallets—and how courts may allow broader asset recovery when prosecutors argue that a wallet’s total balance is linked to criminal activity.