25th Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum – Illicit Finance
Ms. Lilita Infante, CEO and founder of CatLabs, shared her journey from being a U.S. Department of Justice special agent to leading a company that combats cryptocrime. She spent a decade investigating money laundering, initially focusing on traditional methods used by drug cartels and terrorist organizations. She realized the inefficiency and risks of conventional laundering and foresaw cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin, as an ideal tool due to its speed, anonymity, and lack of regulation. Her interest led her to explore the dark web, where she discovered marketplaces openly selling illicit goods like drugs and malware using Bitcoin. This propelled her to pioneer cryptocurrency and dark web investigations, eventually creating a multi-agency task force targeting large-scale crypto crimes. She conducted innovative undercover operations, including posing as a money launderer and facilitating cash-to-crypto transactions.
Over time, she witnessed criminals from cartels to state actors rapidly adopting cryptocurrency, especially after the rise of stablecoins. Today, cryptocurrency is pervasive across all forms of crime, including cybercrime, fraud, and terrorism financing. Ms. Infante emphasized that while crypto presents new challenges, it also provides unprecedented opportunities to trace and seize illicit funds if law enforcement scales its knowledge, tools, and automation.
Key Message: The future of effective law enforcement lies in widespread crypto investigation capabilities, education, and automated tools.
