The Department of Justice has taken action to return more than $154 million in funds allegedly stolen from a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation by one of its employees who subsequently converted it to Bitcoin. According to the civil forfeiture complaint in the Southern District of California, the stolen funds were discovered on Dec. 1 after an FBI investigation into the matter revealed how the employee embezzled over 3,879.16 Bitcoins on May 1, which is currently worth more than $190 million. “Rei Ishii, an employee of Sony Life Insurance Company Ltd. (“Sony Life”) in Tokyo, allegedly diverted the $154 million when the company attempted to transfer funds between its financial accounts,” said the complaint. “Ishii allegedly did this by falsifying transaction instructions, which caused the funds to be transferred to an account that Ishii controlled at a bank in La Jolla, California. Ishii then quickly converted the funds to …