Localbitcoins User Pleads Guilty to Running Unlicensed Crypto Business — Faces Up to five Years in Prison

A cryptocurrency dealer has been convicted within the U.S. for working an unlicensed money-transmitting enterprise utilizing Localbitcoins and Paxful. He faces as much as 5 years in federal jail and a doable $250,000 most fantastic.

Crypto Trader Pleads Guilty

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to take motion in opposition to crypto merchants utilizing companies similar to Localbitcoins and Paxful to purchase and promote cryptocurrencies as a enterprise and not using a license. The newest such case concerned Hien Ngoc Vo, a 49-year-old man from Seattle, Washington, who operated an unlicensed crypto enterprise in Houston, Texas.

The DOJ introduced Wednesday that Vo has pleaded responsible to operating an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise within the Houston space between March 16 and June 8, 2016. The Department of Justice detailed:

Vo used Paxful and Localbitcoins to purchase and promote bitcoin … He profited from gross sales by gathering a share of the transactions which ranged from 5-30%.

Within the three months specified, Vo’s unlicensed enterprise acquired and transmitted roughly $515,147.19 in BTC, the DOJ described, including that clients paid him in money, direct financial institution deposits, American Express bank cards in addition to Amazon and generic present playing cards.

However, “During the transactions, Vo didn’t ask shoppers for any type of identification nor the aim for which they had been buying the cryptocurrency,” the Justice Department famous.

Noting that Vo is permitted to stay on bond pending sentencing on Sept. 5, the DOJ concluded:

Vo faces as much as 5 years in federal jail and a doable $250,000 most fantastic.

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