Lawyers Want Bitcoin Money Laundering Charges Dropped on Technicality
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....
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Mitchell Adber Espinoza (left) and Pascal Reid (AP/Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Dept.) The lawyers of two men accused of laundering money and running an unregister money services business through the LocalBitcoins.com trading website are hoping to use recent I. R. S. tax guidance on bitcoin as a means to drop charges, according to Fox News. Michell Adber Espinoza and Pascal Reid were arrested in February of this year in a police sting that involved the Miami Beach Police Department and the United States Secret Service. The two were picked up when agents posed as criminals,....
An argument being presented in an American courtroom will alarm many common sense observers: bitcoin isn’t real money, so someone accused of laundering it shouldn’t be convicted of money laundering. This is the argument that attorneys are using in asking a Florida judge to dismiss money laundering charges against Michell Espinoza, a Miami man who police say sold and laundered $1,500 worth of bitcoins to undercover detectives, according to The Miami Herald. Economics Professor Testifies. Charles Evans, an economics professor at Barry University, acting as a defense witness, told the court....
"Ross Ulbricht cannot have been involved in money-laundering at Silk Road because Bitcoin is not regarded as a currency." The IRS ruling gives Ulbricht's lawyer weapons to fight. Remember Ross Ulbricht? The alleged creator of the Silk Road has been facing numerous charges after his black market was taken down last year. After pleading not guilty to all charges in February, it seems he now received some help from a rather unexpected source. No money to launder. In a motion filed over the past weekend, Ulbricht's lawyer Joshua Dratel argued that all charges against his client should be....
Larry Dean Harmon, founder and operator of the bitcoin mixing service Helix has pleaded guilty on Wednesday to money laundering charges. Harmon’s guilty plea follows the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen) fining Harmon $60 million last year. Helix Operator Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering, Conspiracy Charges According to several reports and a court-issued plea, Ohio resident Larry Harmon (38) pled guilty in a D.C. federal court on Wednesday for money laundering and conspiracy charges. Harmon detailed in court that he plans to cooperate with federal....
For the last two months, the lawyers for Ross Ulbricht have tried to shift the focus of the case onto the FBI, bringing into question the legality of their actions. How did the FBI obtain the information that brought down Silk Road and leads the current case again Ulbricht? Mr. Ulbricht is facing charges of drug trafficking, computer hacking, money laundering, and "continuing criminal enterprise." Ross Ulbricht, better know to many as the alleged DPR or the Dread Pirate Roberts, stands accused of creating a billion-dollar online black market known as Silk Road. Silk Road is a marketplace....