‘No questions asked’ Bitcoin launderer gets 6 years in prison

A US antheral operating what prosecutors called a “no questions asked” cash-to-Bitcoin conversion work has been sentenced to six years down bars and was ordered to manus implicit millions of dollars. 

Boston national tribunal Judge Richard Stearns sentenced Trung Nguyen, from Danvers, Massachusetts, to six years successful situation followed by 3 years of supervised release, and ordered him to forfeit $1.5 million, the Boston US Attorney’s Office said connected May 22. 

Prosecutors said Nguyen ran an unlicensed money-transmitting concern called National Vending betwixt September 2017 and October 2020, which utilized assorted techniques helium learned successful an online people to evade authorities.

As portion of the course, Nguyen was taught however to conceal his existent concern from banks, crypto exchanges and authorities authorities by masquerading arsenic a vending instrumentality institution that accepted currency deposits, had a database of fictional suppliers, and mostly avoided utilizing the operation “Bitcoin” wherever possible.

Prosecutors accidental Trung Nguyen operated a fake vending instrumentality concern to obscure the currency deposits helium was receiving. Source: Pacer

According to prosecutors, among Nguyen’s lawsuit basal were respective scam victims who were tricked into converting currency into Bitcoin (BTC) by con artists overseas, arsenic good arsenic a cause trader who sent $250,000 successful currency crossed 10 transactions successful 2018.

The Justice Department said Nguyen converted much than $1 cardinal to Bitcoin and “purposely failed” to registry with the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) contempt being required to bash truthful nether national Anti-Money Laundering regulations.

Nguyen besides “failed to record Suspicious Activity Reports oregon Currency Transaction Reports connected immoderate of these transactions, including currency transactions of much than $10,000,” according to prosecutors.

Undercover cops sting Nguyen

Nguyen would often conscionable his clients successful idiosyncratic to judge ample sums of cash, which is however helium was caught, prosecutors said.

A May 2023 indictment said that during respective meetings with undercover instrumentality enforcement officers, helium accepted currency and sent Bitcoin successful return, taking conscionable implicit 5% successful commission.

Related: Crypto usage successful wealth laundering ‘far below’ currency — US Treasury

The indictment said Nguyen utilized encrypted messaging apps and “technologies that made it much difficult” to hint his Bitcoin transactions and broke up the currency deposits into smaller sums implicit consecutive days and astatine antithetic branches of the aforesaid slope to evade announcement by authorities.

Nguyen was charged with operating an unlicensed wealth transmitting concern and 2 counts of wealth laundering. He pleaded not blameworthy to each charges successful June 2023.

A assemblage convicted him successful November connected the unlicensed money-transmitting concern complaint and connected conscionable 1 of the wealth laundering charges, uncovering him not blameworthy of a abstracted wealth laundering charge.

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