A California resident is accused of running an unlicensed exchange for BTC and other crypto assets, as well as money laundering. He faces up to 25 years in prison.
According to
press release US Department of Justice, Hugo Mejia, a resident of Ontario in southern California, operated a cryptocurrency exchange from May 2018 to September 2020. During this period, $ 13 million in digital assets were exchanged on the platform.
The owner of the service did not register it with the Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN). To hide his illegal activities, Mejia opened firms called Worldwide Secure Communications LLC, World Secure Data and The HODL Group LLC. Mejia advertised his business on the Internet, and also met with potential clients in person in cafes or communicated with them through encrypted messaging services.
From May 2019 to March 2020, Mejia met several times with a dummy “client” who worked with law enforcement. He told the site owner that he was working with a methampitamin buyer in Australia who buys drugs every six weeks and resells them at a fraction of the price. This client, who worked with the police, agreed to exchange $ 82,000 for 14,273 BTC. In total, there were five transactions with bitcoins worth over $ 250,000.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) took part in the investigation. After indicting the owner of the site, he pleaded guilty and gave up all illegally obtained assets. During the search, silver bars and coins, various cryptocurrencies worth about $ 95,587 and $ 230,000 in cash were seized. In March, Mejia will appear before the US District Court. A California resident faces up to 25 years in prison.
Recall that in November, the founders of the cryptocurrency payment operator Payza were also arrested for money laundering using cryptocurrencies. In addition, a few weeks ago, the owner of the RG Coins cryptocurrency exchange was sentenced to ten years in prison for laundering $ 5 million through crypto assets.
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