Two LocalBitcoins.com Users Charged in Florida in Sting Operation
Two men in Florida have been arrested and charged following transactions arranged on the LocalBitcoins.com service, which allows bitcoin enthusiasts to buy and sell bitcoin with locals in-person. The men were charged with violating state anti-money laundering laws along with operating an unregistered money services business. The Miami Beach Police Department and the United States Secret Service Miami Electronic Crimes Task Force reportedly contacted individuals on the service looking to sell high volumes of the digital currency in what was to be a sting operation. One of those very....
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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....
The Bitcoin Foundation announced Thursday afternoon that they have filed an amicus brief with respect to a criminal case surrounding bitcoin transactions in the state of Florida. Said case involves an individual who has been accused of being an unauthorized money transmitter, in addition to facing two counts of laundering money. The case involves two men, Pascal Reid (29) and Michel Abner Espinoza (30), who were both sellers of bitcoin on LocalBitcoins.com. Undercover officers each purchased $1,500 worth of bitcoin from the men, noting that they were going to use the digital currency to....
Lawyers for the two men recently arrested in Miami for engaging in "too-large" bitcoin transactions are claiming that the men's actions were legal because state law covers only money issued by the US or another country. Many in the bitcoin community are hopeful that this argument is persuasive, seeing money laundering laws as an attempt to regulate thoughtcrime in finance. Others also argue that citizens do not currently owe the state of Florida any kind of explanation for why they want to buy or sell bitcoin. Sting operation. In what may be the first instance of citizens being charged....
The process of purchasing bitcoins on a LocalBitcoins ATM will not require an Internet connection. It seems a few arrests in Florida are not going to slow down progress over at LocalBitcoins. LocalBitcoins ATMs are now in production, and users will soon be able to make local trades without having to find a human counterparty. Their ATMs will allow anyone to buy or sell bitcoins, and the most amazing feature of these new devices might be that they don't require an Internet connection to function. Instead of connecting with your phone, the LocalBitcoins ATM will give a user a redeemable code....
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....