“Bitcoin Doctor” faces five years in federal prison for supporting illegal Bitcoin money laundering
A resident of Texas who is “Dr. Bitcoin “is being held in federal prison for its illegal cash-to-bitcoin behavior.
Bitcoin indictment of illegally converting money into cryptocurrency
“Bitcoin Doctor” threatens 5 years in federal prison
Mark Alexander Hopkins, also known as “Dr. Bitcoin ”pleaded guilty to operating an illegal money transfer system and faced up to five years in prison.
Attorney Prerak Shah said, Hopkins admitted to running an unlicensed money transfer business of his own. Prosecutors recalled that the man failed to comply with Texan laws and allowed criminals to profit from trading Bitcoin.
“This defendant ignored federal law and allowed fraudsters to use bitcoin to operate under the control of law enforcement. We are determined to eliminate the Bitcoin market for anyone who knowingly helps criminals hoard illegal profits in crypto wallets. “
According to the allegations, Hopkins managed his business by converting US dollars into digital assets, mostly Bitcoin, for a certain fee. However, it is illegal for him to bypass the source of funds verification process in many cases. In September 2019, for example, an unnamed man with the pseudonym “MH” turned to Hopkins to exchange dollars for Bitcoin. The money turned out to be from a lottery scam in Nigeria, but this bitcoin doctor was still accepting. He also advised “MH” to convert quickly with deposits under $ 9,500, and even told him to lie to financial institutions. Hopkins confessed to making 37 transactions with multiple criminals in the past year, turning over between $ 550,000 and $ 1.5 million.
The Dallas field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigating the incident found that its activities in the state of Texas were illegal. Additionally, Hopkins has failed to authenticate its customers’ personal information – an important law designed to prevent criminals from using their assets.
Bitcoin Cash has accepted all charges and is now facing a federal prison sentence reduced to five years.
Last week, the Drug Control Bureau of India (NCB) recently reported a similar case. They arrested Makarand Pardeep Adivirkar, also known as the “crypto king”, on suspicion of buying drugs on the black market with Bitcoin. The investigation revealed that Adivirkar allegedly traded bitcoins for LSD, police found 20 drug blocks in the village of Kharodi, Malad. It is currently not clear what punishment the “Crypto King” will face.
Veronica
According to Crypto Potato
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