Washington, Jan 17 (TIWN) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has launched a probe to find out if any foreign actors, including governments and groups, funded the rioters who attacked the US Capitol building in Washington D.C. on January 6, according to a news report published on Sunday.

The NBC News report, which cited a former and current FBI official, said the agency "is examining payments of $500,000 in bitcoin, apparently by a French national, to key figures and groups in the alt-right before the riot". 

The officials told NBC News that tose payments were documented and posted online last week by a company that analyses cryptocurrency transfers.  Last week, a joint warning issued by the FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other security agencies said that since the riot staged by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, "Russian, Iranian, and Chinese influence actors have seized the opportunity to amplify narratives in furtherance of their policy interest amid the presidential transition". 

The current FBI official told NBC News that the agency did not necessarily suspect Russian involvement in the bitcoin transfers, which appear to have been made by a French computer programmer who died by suicide on December 8, 2020 after triggering the transfers.  The FBI and the DHS are yet to comment on the NBC News report, which comes as federal law enforcement are trying to track down and charge members of the mob involved in the January 6 riots.