Warning: LocalBitcoins Sellers are Being Arrested for Money Laundering
This just in from Krebs on Security, on Thursday the 6th of February, two Floridians have been arrested for breaking state level anti-money laundering laws in place in Florida. Michael Espinoza, whom went by Michaelhack on Localbitcoins, and Pascal Reid, whom went by proy33 on Localbitcoins, were both arrested yesterday on anti-money laundering and unlicensed money transmitter charges. Both individuals were arrested at meetings with undercover police officers whom had arranged to buy $30,000 worth of Bitcoins. Notably, both instances involved $1,000 “trust establishing” buys by....
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At least two men in Florida have been charged for moving large volumes of bitcoins via the popular person-to-person exchange LocalBitcoins.com. They were charged under state anti-money-laundering laws following an investigation by the US Secret Service, said reports. Security blogger Brian Krebs reported that Michell Abner Espinoza of Miami Beach was arrested after a sting in which an undercover agent engaged him in a fake transaction to convert $30,000 worth of cash into bitcoins. In addition, 29-year-old Pascal Reid was also arrested after meeting with an undercover agent to exchange....
Police have arrested six people in connection with an ongoing international money laundering investigation involving bitcoin. The authorities, which became suspicious following a series of large bitcoin trades, carried out various raids in and near Rotterdam - a city in the south of the Netherlands - leading to the arrests of four people in the country and two individuals abroad. According to a statement, the authorities arrested three men aged between 19 and 23. A fourth suspect was subsequently arrested in Capelle, in the western part of the country. A 24-year-old man was arrested in....
Liberty Reserve, one of the more popular alternative payment processors for the USD and Euro, has been shut down and its owner, Arthur Budovsky, arrested in Spain as part of a joint money laundering investigation by police in the United States and Costa Rica. Budovsky had been arrested before in 2006, when he and Vladimir Kats were arrested for operating Gold Age, a digital currency exchanger which the US federal government deemed to be a money transmitting business, without a license. However, they received probation, and Budovsky continued to operate Liberty Reserve. This time, the....
Lawyers representing two Florida men charged with bitcoin-related money laundering want to have the charges dropped on a curious technicality. Adber Espinoza and Pascal Reid were arrested in February following an undercover sting operation. Police made the arrests after undercover officers took to LocalBitcoins.com posing as credit card fraudsters. Officers were looking for someone to launder their cash and buy bitcoins to fund illegal activities, namely to buy stolen credit card data. Having allegedly agreed, Reid and Espinoza both stand accused of laundering money and running an....
Authorities in Hong Kong have arrested four people suspected of money laundering a total of $155 million through cryptocurrency wallets and bank accounts. The city’s customs agency said this was its first case in which virtual money had been used to launder dirty cash. Money Laundering Syndicate Recycles $155 Million in Crypto and Fiat Transactions The criminal group is believed to have processed illegal funds for a total of 1.2 billion Hong Kong dollars ($155 million), Hong Kong Customs announced Thursday. In an operation code-named “Coin Breaker,” officers detained the....