Florida Files Appeal After Charges Against Bitcoin Seller Dismissed
The state of Florida has appealed a recent court decision that saw a judge dismiss charges against a local bitcoin seller. The news marks the latest twist in Florida v Michell Espinoza, a case filed in 2014 in which a Florida-based bitcoin seller was brought up on charges for unlicensed money transmission and money laundering. The case is best known for a decision by Judge Teresa Mary Pooler in which she sided with Espinoza's attorneys when they argued that bitcoin doesn't qualify as money. She wrote in her decision at the time that she believes it remains difficult to "accurately....
Related News
The state Florida made headlines when Miami-Dade’s Circuit Judge Teresa Mary Pooler tossed out anti-money-laundering charges against website designer Michell Espinoza. According to recent reports, though, the state is filing an appeal against the decision to dismiss charges. State Of Florida Appeals Judge Pooler’s Decision to Dismiss Charges. In February....
A Miami judge has dismissed charges against a Florida-based bitcoin seller after he was indicted in 2014 on illegal money transmission and money laundering charges. Judge Teresa Mary Pooler sided with the defense's argument that bitcoin doesn't constitute a form of money within the confines of Florida’s legal system, stating in a ruling issued today that Michell Espinoza doesn't qualify as a money transmitter as argued by the prosecution. The case was tried in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida. Observers say that the ruling exposes how state statutes don’t account for bitcoin and....
The law firm representing Ira Kleiman has sent a notice of appeal to the Florida District Court in an attempt to appeal the court’s rejection of a Kleiman v. Wright retrial. The self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor, Craig Wright, was cleared of all charges at the end of the Kleiman v. Wright trial, except one count of conversion.
Ira Kleiman Appeals Retrial Rejection in the Kleiman v. Wright Case
On April 8, 2022, the law firm Roche Freedman LLP submitted a notice of appeal to the Florida District Court system. The appeal is tied to the recently concluded Kleiman v. Wright....
A Florida judge has dismissed long-standing charges against Michel Espinoza, accused since 2014 of illegal money transmission and money laundering for selling bitcoin. The case and decision are now likely to have widespread positive implications for Bitcoin in the South Florida region, said the defense’s main expert witness. Espinoza’s legal team had....
Michell Espinoza had a good Monday. On that day last week, the South Florida bitcoin exchanger saw money transmission and money laundering charges against him dismissed. Espinoza was arrested in 2014 for selling bitcoins to an undercover law enforcement agent, and he has again been thrust into the spotlight due to the potential impact of the case. The court's eight-page opinion, discussing the application of Florida money transmission and money laundering statutes to sales of bitcoin, was the first of its kind, and it suggested that certain notions of how the law views transactions made in....