Tweet Do foreign digital currency exchanges that take US customers online have to be AML registered in the US? Not unsurprisingly, the answer is yes. Under US law, digital currency ​exchangers​ qualify as money transmitters and are subject to the obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act. Key concepts to know are that: An exchanger is a person […]
Tweet The US has indicted 12 Russian foreign nationals for hacking, conspiracy and money laundering for allegedly interfering with the 2016 US presidential election. According to the indictment, Russia operated an intelligence agency called GRU which obtained confidential documents from the Clinton campaign systems by hacking and systematically released them to sway public opinion. According […]
Tweet Europol announced today that the Spain and Columbia collectively arrested 23 members of an unidentified transnational criminal organization (the “Group”) involved in laundering the proceeds of crime on behalf of other unidentified transitional criminal organizations. The Group didn’t launder a lot of money – only €2 million.  The Group allegedly used Bitcoin to launder […]
Tweet A woman in California, who admitted operating an unlicensed in-person digital currency exchange where she traded cash for Bitcoin,  was sentenced today to 12 months in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of US$20,000. Theresa Tetley pled guilty to conducting an illegal business and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions involving Bitcoin, and […]
Tweet The US Department of Justice, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Secret Service, and the DEA announced the arrest and pending prosecution of more than 35 darknet vendors across the country after a year-long investigation dubbed Operation Dark Gold. US federal law enforcement seized more than $20 million in Bitcoin and other digital currencies, 100 illegal […]
Tweet I wrote this post, below, 5 years ago, and sadly nothing has changed to reduce the incidents of human trafficking of young girls around the world, or to make their world a better and safer place. In fact, it has gotten worse. Now its a US$32 billion annual business – up from US$9 billion […]
Tweet Over 35 people were arrested in a US-wide sweep by the US DOJ, DEA, US Secret Service, ICE, HSI and the FBI agents for selling illegal drugs over the darknet and laundering the proceeds of crime using, inter alia, Bitcoin. The operation involved agents posing as digital currency exchanges to obtain personal information of […]
Tweet 25-year-old Matthew Yensan, from North Carolina, was sentenced to 78 months incarceration today for producing Xanax and Alprazolam, selling them on the darknet and laundering the proceeds of crime using, inter alia, Bitcoin and Litecoin. According to the indictment, Yensan had a Glock 27 .40, a Smith & Wesson Revolver .357, a Colt King […]
Tweet Canada once again a “Major Money Laundering†country The 2018 “International Narcotics Control Strategy Report†(INCSR) published in March 2018 by the U.S. Department of State identifies Canada once again as a “major money laundering country†along with a host of risky countries for financial crime, and is generally doing a lot worse combatting money […]
Tweet Authorities in New York indicted a man alleged to be part of the Sinaloa Mexican cartel in connection with trafficking fentanyl in quantities that would kill 10 million people. Francisco Quiroz-Zamora, aka the “fat one” was charged under the Kingpin Act, which is significant because it carries a term of imprisonment of life on conviction. […]