Arbitrum DAO faces U.S. court freezing $71 million worth of Ethereum

CryptoWorld News reports that the plan by Arbitrum DAO to use the frozen hacker funds has been legally restricted by an American court. According to documents from the Southern District of New York, the plaintiff filed a restraining notice on May 1st through Arbitrum’s governance forum, preventing the transfer of 30,766 ETH (worth nearly $71.1 million), which were frozen by the Arbitrum Security Council after the Kelp DAO was attacked. The lawyer representing the plaintiff stated that these seized ETH constitute property held by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The plaintiff’s claim is based on allegations that the funds were stolen by the Lazarus Group, which is believed to serve Pyongyang. Arbitrum’s intervention began on April 20th, when its Security Council transferred the assets to a controlled wallet after identifying addresses associated with the attacker. In an update on April 21st, the network stated that the freeze was based on input from law enforcement regarding the attacker’s identity, and that the action did not affect user activity or applications.