The F.B.I. searched the house of the cryptocurrency government Jesse Powell in March as a part of a felony investigation into claims that he hacked and cyber-stalked a nonprofit that he based, three folks with data of the matter mentioned.

The investigation targeted on an allegation by the nonprofit that Mr. Powell, who additionally based the cryptocurrency alternate Kraken, had interfered with its pc accounts, blocking entry to emails and different messages, the folks mentioned. Brokers with the F.B.I. and the U.S. lawyer’s workplace for the Northern District of California have been trying into Mr. Powell since at the very least final fall, three folks with data of the case mentioned.

Brokers searched Mr. Powell’s residence within the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and seized digital units, in accordance with an individual acquainted with the search and paperwork reviewed by The New York Instances. Prosecutors haven’t accused Mr. Powell of any crimes.

Brandon Fox, a lawyer for Mr. Powell, confirmed that he was beneath investigation by federal prosecutors in Northern California. Mr. Fox mentioned the investigation was targeted on the allegations by the humanities group, Verge Middle for the Arts, and “by no means associated to Mr. Powell’s employment or his conduct within the cryptocurrency area.” He additionally mentioned Mr. Powell “did nothing fallacious.”

A Kraken spokeswoman mentioned the Verge investigation had nothing to do with the corporate, and that Kraken had no purpose to consider that prosecutors have been investigating different potential points.

An F.B.I. consultant declined to remark. A spokesman for the U.S. lawyer’s workplace for the Northern District of California declined to substantiate whether or not an investigation was underway.

In latest months, federal investigators have cracked down on a number of of Kraken’s rivals. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founding father of the FTX crypto alternate, was charged with fraud final yr, whereas Coinbase and Binance, two of the most important exchanges, face authorities lawsuits.

A key determine within the early historical past of crypto, Mr. Powell, 42, constructed Kraken into the second-largest U.S. crypto alternate behind Coinbase.

His firm has confronted years of authorized scrutiny. In latest months, prosecutors have examined allegations towards Kraken and Mr. Powell that have been made in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed towards the corporate in 2019, two folks acquainted with the probe mentioned. In that lawsuit, a former Kraken worker accused the agency of incomes income from accounts in nations that have been beneath U.S. sanctions, and claimed Kraken’s financial institution accounts have been lacking hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of buyer deposits.

The swimsuit was settled in 2021, after a decide dismissed the worker’s declare that his firing was associated to the sanctions subject.

Final yr, Kraken paid a $360,000 superb to settle Treasury Division expenses that it violated sanctions by permitting customers in Iran to commerce digital currencies. In February, Kraken paid a $30 million superb to the Securities and Change Fee for providing an funding product that the company mentioned violated securities legal guidelines.

Mr. Powell based Verge, the Sacramento arts group, in 2007. Final yr, the group eliminated him from its board of administrators, citing his failure to attend board conferences and violations of the group’s “guiding rules,” in accordance with courtroom data. The removing occurred after an article in The Instances detailed Mr. Powell’s efforts to incite debates about race and gender that some Kraken workers discovered offensive.

After Mr. Powell’s dismissal, he blocked Verge from utilizing its web site, emails and inner messaging system, and improperly accessed confidential data saved in these accounts, in accordance with a letter that Verge’s lawyer, Phillip Cunningham, despatched to Kraken in November. The letter was reviewed by The Instances.

Final month, Mr. Powell sued Verge in state courtroom in Sacramento, claiming his ouster was improper and that he owned Verge’s digital accounts. Mr. Cunningham, Verge’s lawyer, mentioned Mr. Powell’s claims didn’t have any benefit.

In September, Mr. Powell introduced he would step down as Kraken’s chief government whereas remaining chairman. He was changed by Dave Ripley, Kraken’s chief working officer, who took over the agency in March.

Kirsten Noyes and Kitty Bennett contributed analysis.