Man Charged With Unlicensed Money Laundering In Bitcoin-Related Case
A federal grand jury has charged one man with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and two others with money laundering and related charges in the first bitcoin-related case before the Western District of New York, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Western District of New York. The grand jury has charged Richard Petix of Rochester, N.Y. with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and making false statements. The grand jury also charged Zhe Wang, 20, and Kevin Szura, 20, both of Queens, N.Y., with money laundering, conspiracy to distribute....
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This article has been updated with a signed complaint against Anthony Murgio. Two operators of the bitcoin exchange service Coin.mx are being charged by US prosecutors for working without a money transmission license. Anthony Murgio and Yuri Lebedev have been accused of operating Coin.mx in violation of federal anti-money laundering statutes. The charges were unveiled today by the US Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York. Murgio was charged with one count of money laundering and one count of willful failure to file a suspicious activity report. Both Murgio and Lebedev were....
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 former operator of bitcoin exchange Coin.mx, Anthony Murgio, has plead not guilty to money laundering. According to Bloomberg, Murgio also plead not guilty to operating the bitcoin exchange, wire fraud and conspiracy. As previously reported by CoinDesk, Murgio was charged with one count of money laundering and one count of willful failure to submit a suspicious activity report. He was arrested alongside Yuri Lebedev in July and accused of using Coin.mx as a money channel for a series of online criminal enterprises. Both him and Lebedev were charged with one count of conspiracy to....
The criminal case that sees Anthony Murgio – a Florida man charged with operating an illegal (unlicensed) bitcoin exchange – saw the presiding US federal judge reject a bid from Murgio’s defense that bitcoin did not classify as “funds”, which would deem it exempt from applicable federal laws. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan has rejected Anthony Murgio’s claim to dismiss two charges related to his alleged involvement of unlicensed bitcoin exchange Coin.mx. In his bid, Murgio argued that bitcoin wasn’t money and therefore doesn’t fall under the purview of federal law of....
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....