In September 2020, a north korean hack group known as Lazarus broke into a small Slovakian crypto exchange and stole virtual currentness worth some $ 5.4 million. It was one of a chain of cyber heists by Lazarus that Washington said were aimed at funding North Korea ’ s nuclear weapons program .
respective hours belated, the hackers opened at least two twelve anonymous accounts on Binance, the world ’ south largest cryptocurrency exchange, enabling them to convert the steal funds and obscure the money trail, parallelism between Slovakia ’ s national patrol and Binance reveals .
In deoxyadenosine monophosphate little as nine minutes, using only encrypted electronic mail addresses as designation, the Lazarus hackers created Binance accounts and traded crypto stolen from Eterbase, the slovakian switch over, according to account records that Binance shared with the police and that are reported here for the beginning fourth dimension.
“ Binance had no idea who was moving money through their commute ” because of the anonymous nature of the accounts, said Eterbase co-founder Robert Auxt, whose firm has been ineffective to locate or recover the funds .
Eterbase ’ randomness lost money is region of a downpour of illegitimate funds that flowed through Binance from 2017 to 2021, a Reuters investigation has found .
“ Binance had no idea who was moving money through their exchange. ”
During this period, Binance processed transactions totalling at least $ 2.35 billion stemming from hacks, investing fraud and illegal drug sales, Reuters calculated from an examination of court records, statements by law enforcement and blockchain data, compiled for the newsworthiness agency by two blockchain analysis firms. Two diligence experts reviewed the calculation and agreed with the estimate .
individually, crypto researcher Chainalysis, hired by U.S. government agencies to track illegal flows, concluded in a 2020 report that Binance received criminal funds totalling $ 770 million in 2019 alone, more than any other crypto exchange. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao accused Chainalysis on Twitter of “ bad business etiquette. ”
Binance declined to make Zhao available for an interview. Responding to written questions, Chief Communications Officer Patrick Hillmann said Binance did not consider Reuters ’ calculation to be accurate. He did not respond to requests to provide Binance ’ s own figures for the cases identified in this article. He said Binance was building “ the most sophisticated cyber forensics team on the planet ” and was seeking to “ farther improve our ability to detect illegal crypto bodily process on our platform. ”
As Reuters reported in January, Binance kept weak money-laundering checks on its users until mid-2021, despite concerns raised by senior company figures starting at least three years earlier. In answer to that article, Binance said it was helping drive higher industry standards and the report was “ wildly outdated. ” In August 2021, Binance compelled new and existing users to submit identification .
With around 120 million users global, Binance processes crypto trades worth hundreds of billions of dollars a calendar month. The sector was hit by a sharp correction in May, its overall value slump by a quarter to $ 1.3 trillion. Zhao said he saw “ new found resilience ” in the market .
meanwhile, his company is extending its compass into traditional business, announcing a $ 200 million investment in media group Forbes this year and committing $ 500 million to Tesla bos Elon Musk ’ s bid to take over Twitter. Forbes abandoned its plans to list publicly final week and a Forbes spokesperson said Binance ’ south investing would not take plaza. Musk didn ’ t respond to requests for comment .
The flow of illegitimate crypto through Binance, identified by Reuters, represents a humble part of the central ’ s overall trade volumes. Yet as policymakers and regulators, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and european Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, voice concern over the illegal use of cryptocurrencies, the trade wind demonstrates how criminals have turned to the engineering to launder dirty money .
For this article, Reuters interviewed jurisprudence enforcement officials, researchers, and crime victims in a twelve countries, including in Europe and the United States, to assess the last shock of past gaps in Binance ’ s anti-money launder rules .
Reuters reviewed detailed data about Binance client transactions on “ darknet ” sites – marketplaces for narcotics, weapons and early illegal items. Most of the datum was provided by Crystal Blockchain, an Amsterdam-based analysis firm that helps companies and governments trace crypto funds. The data showed that from 2017 to 2022, buyers and sellers on the populace ’ mho largest darknet drugs marketplace, a Russian-language web site called Hydra, used Binance to make and receive crypto payments worth $ 780 million. Reuters cross-check these figures with another analysis firm, which agreed with the findings .
In April, the U.S. Justice Department announced that U.S. and german jurisprudence enforcement had seized Hydra ’ sulfur servers. The U.S. indicted the servers ’ alleged administrator for conspiring to commit money wash and distribute illegitimate drugs. The site was closed gloomy and the alleged administrator arrested by russian authorities .
The datum compiled for Reuters included crypto that passed through multiple digital wallets before reaching Binance. For crypto firms, such “ indirect ” flows with links to known leery sources are loss flags for money launder, according to the Financial Action Task Force, a global watchdog that sets standards for authorities combating fiscal crime. Money launderers often use sophisticated techniques to create complex chains of crypto transfers that cover their tracks, the FATF and the International Monetary Fund have said .
Hillmann, the Binance spokesperson, said the Hydra figure was “ inaccurate and overblown ” and that Reuters was wrongly including indirect flows in its calculation .
Reuters then asked how Binance views its duty to monitor its indirect exposure to dirty money. Hillmann replied that “ what ’ randomness significant to note is not where the funds come from – as crypto deposits can not be blocked – but what we do after the funds are deposited. ” He said Binance uses transaction monitor and risk assessments to “ ensure that any illegal funds are tracked, frozen, recovered and/or returned to their rightful owner. ” Binance is working closely with law enforcement to dismantle criminal networks using cryptocurrencies, including in Russia, he said .
Reuters reviewed documentation from criminal and civil cases. A still afford civil case in the United States alleges that in 2020 Binance declined a request from investigators and lawyers, acting on behalf of a hack victim, to permanently freeze an history that was being used to launder stolen funds. Binance, which disputes the U.S. court ’ south jurisdiction, confirmed to Reuters that it alone put a irregular freeze on the report. Hillmann blamed a failure by law enforcement to submit a seasonably request via Binance ’ s web portal vein and then answer the exchange ’ s follow-up questions .
In Germany, police said investigators began seeing criminals in Europe turn to Binance in 2020 to launder some of the proceeds from investment imposter schemes that caused victims, many of them pensioners, to lose in sum 750 million euro ( $ 800 million ). The criminals ’ practice of Binance has not been previously reported .
Reuters reporting besides reveals for the first time how North Korea ’ south Lazarus used Binance to launder some of the cryptocurrency stolen from Eterbase. A smaller fortune of the funds were laundered at the lapp time through another major substitute, Seychelles-based Huobi, which declined to comment .
After another burglarize in March this class, when Lazarus stole over $ 600 million from an on-line game involving cryptocurrencies, Zhao said north korean hackers had transferred an unspecified amount of the funds to Binance. Hillmann told Reuters that Binance has identified and frozen more than $ 5 million and is assisting jurisprudence enforcement with its probe. He didn ’ t provide further details .
The United States sanctioned Lazarus in 2019 over cyber attacks designed to support North Korea ’ sulfur weapons programmes, calling it an instrument of the area ’ s intelligence service – an accusation Pyongyang called “ poisonous slander. ” North Korea ’ s mission to the United Nations did not respond to emailed questions. Blockchain research worker Chainalysis estimates that Lazarus stole crypto worth $ 1.75 billion by 2020 that by and large flowed through unidentified exchanges .
“ The Hydra is thriving ”
Zhao, known as CZ, started Binance in Shanghai in 2017. Three months late, he unveiled a modern scheme, on an home chat group, for the company ’ s following phase of development. “ Do everything to increase our market share, and nothing else, ” Zhao wrote .
The priority, he said, was to ensure Binance overwhelm larger cryptocurrency exchanges and fended off competition from smaller rivals. “ net income, gross, comfort, etc, all come second. ”
Asked to elaborate on this comment, Hillmann said, “ Neither CZ nor any early Binance business drawing card has ever suggested that increasing market share should supersede submission obligations. ”
Among the countries Zhao sought to expand in was Russia, which Binance described in a 2018 blog as a major marketplace due to its “ hyperactive ” crypto community. A Reuters article in April detailed Binance ’ s efforts to dominate the crypto market there and how, behind the scenes, the exchange was building ties with russian government agencies .
Binance has continued to provide limited services in Russia since the area ’ s invasion of Ukraine this class, despite requests from the government in Kyiv for exchanges to ban russian users as share of efforts to isolate Russia financially. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “ extra operation. ”
Reuters ’ new report following the April article shows that many people who signed improving to Binance in Russia weren ’ thyroxine using it for trade. rather, Binance became a key requital provider for Hydra, the giant darknet market, according to the blockchain data compiled for Reuters, a review of Hydra drug user forums, and interviews with illegal drug users and researchers .
After it was set up in 2015, Hydra distributed narcotics on behalf of drug dealers, all priced in bitcoin, to millions of buyers, by and large in Russia .
german police, in coordination with U.S. authorities, seized Hydra ’ s servers in Germany in April, closing the site down. The U.S. indicted a russian house physician, Dmitry Pavlov, for administering the servers. A week former, russian authorities arrested Pavlov for allegedly dealing in drugs, a Moscow court said, adding he had filed an solicitation. Before his apprehension, Pavlov told the BBC he ran a licensed server company and was not aware it was hosting Hydra. Pavlov didn ’ t answer to messages from Reuters sent via his company .
The Justice Department, describing Hydra as “ the global ’ randomness largest and longest-running darknet market, ” said the site had received in sum around $ 5.2 billion in cryptocurrency. Neither Binance nor any other payment supplier linked to Hydra was named by the Justice Department, which declined to comment on Binance .
Hillmann told Reuters that Binance “ works closely with law enforcement to target the illegitimate drug trade daily. ”
Sites like Hydra are entirely accessible on a clandestine part of the internet, known as the dark web, that requires a browser that hides a user ’ randomness identity .
american samoa early as March 2018, Hydra users recommended on the web site ’ s Russian-language forums that buyers use Binance to make purchases, citing the anonymity Binance afforded its clients at the time by allowing them to register with just an e-mail address. “ This is the fastest and cheapest way I ’ ve tried, ” a exploiter wrote .
Cryptocurrency traders exchanged dozens of messages in 2021 and early 2022 about using Hydra on Binance ’ s own Russian community Telegram chew the fat. “ The Hydra is thriving, ” wrote one last year .
Hydra transformed the narcotics market in Russia, researchers said. previously, drug users tended to buy from street dealers with cash. With Hydra, users selected substances on the site, paid the seller in bitcoin, and received coordinates to pick up the “ treasure ” at a discreet placement. Buyers, known as “ treasure hunters, ” found their purchases buried in forests at the edge of town, hidden in drivel dumps, or stuffed behind at large bricks in abandon buildings .
According to a reputation by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Hydra increased the handiness of drugs in Russia and drove a tide in need for stimulants, such as methamphetamine and mephedrone. Drug-related deaths rose by two-thirds between 2018 and 2020, figures from Russia ’ south express anti-drug committee usher .
At the time of the U.S. and german operation to seize Hydra ’ second servers, the Drug Enforcement Administration, which supported the investigation, said the market ’ randomness services “ threaten the safety and health of communities far and wide. ” The DEA referred Reuters to the Justice Department for far gossip .
Aleksey Lakhov, a film director at russian charity foundation Humanitarian Action, which researches drug use, said he was “ horrified ” by how Hydra fuelled addiction. “ During the days I used drugs, you had to know person at least ” in arrange to obtain narcotics, Lakhov, a recover addict, added .
Alexandra, a 24-year-old function coach in Moscow, started buying mephedrone and ketamine on Hydra in 2019 to help cope with her bipolar disorderliness. several friends who used Hydra told her Binance was the safest way to pay dealers, Alexandra told Reuters, speaking on condition she be identified lone with her foremost name. Some of them used bogus personal information to open Binance accounts, she said, but she uploaded a copy of her recommendation. Binance never blocked or queried any of her payments. Asked about her account, Binance said it was continually strengthening its know-your-customer capabilities .
The system ’ randomness anonymity made it easy to buy drugs on the darknet, Alexandra said. “ It was like buying cocoa in the store. ”
“ Do everything to increase our marketplace contribution, and nothing else. ”
As her drug use became an everyday habit, she went days without sleep, wracked by hallucinations and depressive disorder. “ I felt like I was dying, and I liked that feeling, ” she said. finally, she sought psychiatric help and received therapy. Since then, she just used Hydra to buy cannabis .
State Department reports from 2019 and 2020, without mentioning Hydra or Binance, warned that drug traffickers in Russia were using virtual currencies to launder proceeds. A State Department spokesman declined to comment on Hydra and Binance .
As reported by Reuters in its January probe, an internal document shows that Binance was mindful of the risk of illegal finance in Russia. Binance ’ s complaisance department assigned Russia an “ extreme ” risk rate in 2020 in an assessment that was reviewed by Reuters. It cited money-laundering reports by the U.S. State Department. Hillmann told Reuters Binance had taken more action against russian money launderers than any other crypto exchange, citing a ban it imposed on three russian digital currentness platforms that were sanctioned by the United States .
Crypto flows between Binance and Hydra dropped sharply after the change tightened its customer checks in August 2021, the data from Crystal Blockchain shows .
“ Financial freedom ”
For the past five years, Binance has allowed traders on its platform to buy and sell a mint called Monero, a cryptocurrency that offers users anonymity. While bitcoin transactions are recorded on a public blockchain, Monero obscures the digital addresses of senders and receivers. A Beginner ’ s Guide to Monero by Binance, available on its web site, said such coins were “ desirable for those seeking on-key fiscal confidentiality. ”
Zhao has spoken in favor of “ privacy coins, ” of which Monero is the most trade. During a 2020 video call with staff, a recording of which Reuters reviewed, Zhao said privacy was part of people ’ s “ fiscal freedom. ” He didn ’ thyroxine mention Monero, but said Binance had funded other privacy mint projects.
Monero proved to be popular among Binance users. As of late May, Binance was processing Monero trades worth about $ 50 million a day, army for the liberation of rwanda more than early exchanges, according to data from the CoinMarketCap web site .
Law enforcement agencies in Europe and the United States have warned that Monero ’ randomness anonymity makes it a potential tool for money launderers. The U.S. Department of Justice, in a 2020 report, said it considered the use of “ anonymity enhanced cryptocurrencies ” like Monero “ a bad activity that is indicative of possible criminal conduct. ”
On respective darknet forums that Reuters reviewed, over 20 users wrote about buying Monero on Binance to purchase illegal drugs. They shared how-to guides with names like DNM Bible, a reference point to darknet markets .
“ XMR is essential to anyone buying drugs on the Dark web, ” wrote one exploiter on the forum Dread, referring to Monero ’ s ticker symbol. It international relations and security network ’ thyroxine potential to contact users through the forum so Reuters was unable to reach these people for gloss .
Hillmann told Reuters there were “ many legitimate reasons why users require privacy, ” such as when opposition groups in authoritarian regimes are denied safe entree to funds. Binance opposed anyone using crypto to buy or sell illegal drugs, he said .
Hackers have used Binance to convert stolen funds into Monero .
In August 2020, hackers hijacked a cryptocurrency wallet belonging to an australian man named Steve Kowalski by tricking him into downloading malware, Kowalski said in a witness statement to australian police. They withdrew the 1,400 bitcoin he held in the wallet, worth some $ 16 million at the clock. Kowalski told patrol he had bought the bitcoin for $ 500,000 six years earlier and they were a meaning helping of his assets .
Investigators hired by Kowalski traced most of his bitcoin through a series of wallets to six Binance accounts, where the coins were exchanged for Monero, according to testimony and blockchain analysis reports filed as part of an ongoing civil complaint Kowalski submitted last year against Binance in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Kowalski declined to comment .
Kowalski ’ south probe showed that a U.S. software adviser called Brandon Ng, then living in Florida, controlled most of the Binance accounts. Ng testified to the court that a crypto trade spouse, who he knew online only by the username MoneyTree, deposited the bitcoin in his Binance accounts. MoneyTree, Ng said, paid him a 1 % deputation to convert the bitcoin into Monero on Binance and then transfer it back. A lawyer for Ng, Spencer Silverglate, said MoneyTree likely traded through Ng to shield his identity from Binance. Ng testified that he was not mindful he was laundering stolen bitcoin .
MoneyTree did not respond to emails sent by Reuters to an address that Ng provided to the court. Silverglate, the lawyer, said Ng did not steal or launder Kowalski ’ randomness bitcoin and was an “ innocent downstream trader. ”
Ng ’ s Monero trade had earlier raised alarms at another crypto central called Poloniex, based in the United States, where he besides had an account. In mid-2019, his Poloniex account was freeze after it was flagged for “ high gamble exposure ” to money laundering due to Monero withdrawals totalling over $ 1 million, according to a summary filed with the court. Poloniex didn ’ t respond to a request for remark .
Binance deal with Ng differently. Kowalski ’ south private investigators and lawyers contacted Binance soon after the larceny, before Ng converted all the funds, and repeatedly asked Binance to permanently freeze Ng ’ randomness accounts, their written communications show. The letters, filed with the court, besides accuse Binance of not responding to police requests to secure the assets for the duration of their probe .
Binance imposed a weeklong freeze on the accounts, but then lifted it, allowing Ng to exchange the steal bitcoin for Monero over respective months. In his response to Reuters, Hillmann said police enforcement failed to request a permanent wave freeze via Binance ’ s network portal site within the weeklong menstruation and then didn ’ thyroxine answer the change ’ s follow-up questions .
A Binance probe team penis told one of the secret investigators in a message that “ while it is highly probably the paths leading to this bill are malicious, ” Binance could not prove the accounts were “ created to facilitate laundering. ” When the detective persisted, the team extremity scolded him for “ several issues with your shade. ”
In a submission last December to the woo in Florida, Binance said the encase should be dismissed as the woo did not have legal power over the company. To determine the matter, the estimate has granted discovery, a procedure where parties request documents from each other .
Hillmann told Reuters that Binance investigates all allegations of wrongdoing on its platform and takes appropriate action if its investigators uncover wrongdoing .
Eterbase, the Bratislava-based substitution hacked by the North Koreans, sought Binance ’ s aid, excessively .
After news of the hack by Lazarus, Zhao tweeted on Sept. 9, 2020 : “ Will do what we can to assist. ” But when Eterbase emailed Binance ’ s back kernel, a Binance team extremity said they could not share any score data without a jurisprudence enforcement request, according to communications between the two firms seen by Reuters .
Eterbase submitted a criminal charge to Slovakia ’ s National Crime Agency. In June, 2021, the means wrote to Binance requesting information and saying the funds were stolen by “ anonymous attackers united under the Lazarus hacking group. ” Binance replied that it could not identify accounts connected to the hack. In July, after another, more detail patrol request, Binance sent the agency records on 24 accounts, adding they had been empty for over nine months as “ the assets have instantaneously been traded. ”
Hillmann said Binance fully cooperated with requests received from slovakian authorities and helped them to identify the relevant accounts .
The records, reviewed by Reuters, showed the alone personal data Binance held on the bill holders was their e-mail addresses, many of which were based on misspell long-familiar names, such as “ bejaminfranklin, ” the american establish church father, and “ garathbale, ” the Welsh soccer player. The hackers used virtual private networks to obscure their devices ’ locations, the records show .
Within around 20 minutes of opening most of the accounts, the hackers passed an unspecified “ security match ” allowing them to withdraw crypto, according to the report records. Each report then converted portions of the steal funds into fair under two bitcoin, the withdrawal limit at the time for a basic report without identification .
After the cab, Eterbase stopped its operations and belated filed for bankruptcy. Auxt, the company co-founder, said the losses meant Eterbase could no long cover its expenses. “ The hack killed our clientele, ” he said. Victims of the hack are so far to be reimbursed .
“ Black hole ”
In secret, Zhao has bemoaned that Binance needs to carry out checks on its customers. During the 2020 video recording call, Zhao told staff that know-your-customer rules were “ unfortunately a requirement ” of Binance ’ south business .
At times, the submission team struggled with its workload. In a message to staff in January 2019, Zhao asked other departments to help the complaisance team run background checks due to an “ overwhelming ” count of raw users .
According to a group chat among Binance staff, the complaisance team sometimes approved accounts with inadequate documentation. A team member complained to colleagues that one drug user was able to open an account by submitting three copies of the same reception from a meal at an amerind restaurant. Hillmann said Binance ’ s know-your-customer checks are immediately “ highly sophisticate ” and that it views such rules as both “ mandatary and welcome. ”
Current and former patrol officials in five countries told Reuters that condemnable groups were among Binance ’ s growing customer base in holocene years .
In late 2019, Konrad Alber, a adjourn syndicate lawyer in Germany, invested most of his savings on a trade platform he found on-line. He told Reuters he hoped it would supplement his little pension and allow his wife to stop working to support their life in a village in the Black Forest .
The chopine, called Grandefex, promised to “ unleash ” his money ’ s potential through a sophisticated algorithm. In an e-mail, a sales example told Alber, who had little invest experience, that he could double any deposits within a year. Over 18 months, he wired about 35,000 euros to Grandefex ’ s bank accounts .
then, death June, when he asked Grandefex to pay him his expected profits, he discovered his money had been transferred to Binance, emails and bank report records show. Alber begged Grandefex by e-mail to return his funds, telling their finance department he had a “ mountain of debt ” and was suffering a “ aflutter dislocation. ”
In response, Grandefex told him, “ You will merely not receive your money. ”
Reuters ’ emails and calls to Grandefex went unanswered. In June 2020, Germany ’ randomness regulator said the platform was unauthorized and ordered its closing .
Grandefex was one of a string of juke trade websites set up by organised crime groups that have scammed some 750 million euro from european citizens, many of them pensioners, according to German, Austrian and spanish authorities. Six people involved in patrol investigations into the scams told Reuters that the groups, which operate call centres in Eastern Europe, have shifted to laundering their gains through crypto exchanges, particularly Binance .
Hillmann said Binance is tackling investment imposter by identifying victims and suspects, and whenever possible, freeze criminal proceeds .
A Vienna-based non-profit arrangement, the european Funds Recovery Initiative, which supports victims of investment imposter, has received around 220 complaints from people whose steal savings were converted into crypto. Almost two-thirds lost money that was funnelled through Binance, totalling 7.4 million euro, said the inaugural ’ s co-founder, Elfi Sixt. early investment frauds targeting people in Turkey, Britain and Pakistan besides used Binance, authorities have said .
Police officers and lawyers told Reuters that it is harder for imposter victims to recover lost funds when they pass through a crypto exchange. In many countries, consumers can ask their banks to freeze or reimburse stolen funds. Binance requires victims to sign non-disclosure agreements as a condition for temporarily freezing assets and insists on the direct involvement of law enforcement to process claims, according to its web site .
Sixt said she has followed this process to no avail. “ I ’ ve never succeeded at getting money back from Binance. ” Asked about this, Hillmann didn ’ metric ton immediately answer .
Alber, the retire lawyer, sent a letter to Binance, but said he never heard back. In June 2021, the 67-year-old reported the larceny of his savings and their transfer to Binance to local anesthetic patrol. The prosecutor ’ s agency in the nearby township of Baden-Baden said his case remains under investigation. Binance said it had no record of Alber ’ south letter .
At a patrol place in the Lower Saxony city of Braunschweig, the state cyber crime unit is investigating a similar scam that used Binance. Chief Inspector Mario Krause, two of his investigators and the prosecutor leading the probe detailed the lawsuit to Reuters .
last October, the whole coordinated with bulgarian authorities to raid a call concentrate in the capital Sofia, which police said run hundreds of fake on-line trade platforms .
They obtained attest, reviewed by Reuters, including a database showing the operators had taken in deposits totalling 94 million euro. Videos police seized from an employee ’ s telephone depicted what Krause described as a “ Wolf of Wall Street ” atmosphere at the call center. Staff ring gongs and popped champagne bottles when they secured big deposits. A scoreboard showed which employee had raked in the most money each week. They partied on yachts and secret jets .
In a statement at the clock time of the raid, the prosecutor ’ sulfur office said one defendant was arrested. The case prosecutor, Manuel Recha, told Reuters the organization ’ sulfur leaders are even at large. The company that ran the call center, Dortome BG, did not respond to requests to comment .
During the investigation, the cyber unit sought to trace where the steal funds ended up .
Investigators tracked the money through many layers of bank accounts to Binance and another substitution, U.S.-based Kraken, police said. By the time Binance and Kraken provided bill records, the police said the funds had been withdrawn or sent to a “ mixer, ” a serve which anonymises crypto transactions by breaking them up and mixing them with other funds. The personal information held by both exchanges on the accounts was much fudge or stolen from victims, the officers said .
Kraken told Reuters it has “ bank-grade ” customer checks and robust tools to prevent imposter. Kraken disputed that customer information provided to Braunschweig patrol was fake, saying “ every indicator we have suggests these accounts were used by legitimate clients. ”
The Germans ’ money trail went cold .
Krause said his team was struggling to make progress. “ We ’ rhenium searching for a way out of the black hole, ” he said .
extra report from Michelle Nichols in New York
Black Hole
By Angus Berwick and Tom Wilson
Read more: Dragon Slayer II
photograph edit : Simon Newman
art management : John Emerson
Edited by Janet McBride
