June 6, 2022:
Defendant used sites to buy and sell Bitcoin & profited from those sales by collecting a percentage of the transactions which ranged from 5-30%.
18 U.S.C. ยง 1960 makes it a federal crime to operate an unlicensed money transmitting businesses. "An entity acting as an MSB that fails to register as required is subject to civil money penalties and possible criminal prosecution." DOJ Link
Defendant allegedly received funds in various forms from customers and then "used several bank accounts to conduct his business, but the banks shut down the accounts after inquiring about the origination of the funds." "During the course of three months, the unlicensed money transmitting business received and transmitted approximately $515,147.19 in Bitcoin."