Practical trainings on cybercrimes investigation and crypto-assets tracing with the participation of the US Department of Justice were held in the training center of the Prosecutor’s Office in Tsigov Chark

16 Октомври 2024 г.

Practical trainings on “Cybercrimes investigation and crypto assets tracing” were held between 7 – 8 and 9 – 11 October at the Training Center of the Prosecutor’s Office in Tsigov Chark.  Deputy Prosecutor General Elena Karakasheva, the Permanent Legal Counsel in the US Embassy in Sofia John Henley and the US Attorney Camelia Lopez – Global Darkweb and Crypto-assets Advisor at the US Department of Justice opened the training on 9th October.  The training was attended by prosecutors from Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office, investigators from National Investigation Service, representatives of State Agency  “National Security“,  Directorate General  Fight against Organized Crime, Anti - Corruption Commission and National Revenue Agency.

Deputy Prosecutor General Elena Karakasheva said that the management of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria is making all efforts for “providing necessary tools and trainings to improve qualifications of prosecutors and investigators and their skills in investigating these crimes”. She emphasized the willingness of the Prosecutor's Office to join the efforts of all institutions (State Agency “National Security”, Directorate General Fight against Organized Crime, Anti-Corruption Commission and National Revenue Agency) for "quality investigation of crimes related to crypto-assets and the establishment of a safe digital financial environment for our entire society."

US Attorney Nathan Brooks - Advisor to the US Department of Justice and Head of the International Computer Hacking Program with coverage area Eastern, Central and Southern Europeq as well as Central Asia,  representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Viktor Keremedchiev from Secret Service, Prof. Ognyan Nakov from the Technical University and Prof.Georgi Dimitrov from the Law and Internet Foundation and Danko Tonev - an economic specialist from the US Embassy in Sofia joined the training as speakers.

The practical sessions were conducted by TRM Labs - a world-leading company for tracing crypto-assets transactions, and the training was moderated by Svetoslav Vasilev - Head of the "Cybercrimes" Department at the National Security Agency.

Among the topics discussed were legal tools for countering various types of cybercrime, tracing crypto-assets transactions, international legal assistance and interaction with US law enforcement institutions, as well as the possibilities of digital forensics.