The person and his accomplices used the funds to acquire, distribute illegal substances and target people for identity theft.
As cryptocurrencies rose in prominence over the past several years, there have been several people who looked to capitalize on its success.
Based on a report by the New York Times, the main perpetrator Thomas Spieker, who was behind the money laundering operation, managed to launder $2.3M in BTC for people in various criminal organizations and drug dealers.
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Alongside laundering their money into crypto, Spieker is being investigated for turning $380K worth of cryptocurrencies into fiat cash.
Likewise, one of the other charged criminals, Dustin Sites also allegedly assisted Spieker in the money laundering operations by helping him set up crypto exchange accounts.
All the alleged associates of the money laundering operation, alongside Spieker, were put on recongizance. However, Spieker took the biggest hit by being charged with multiple counts of laundering money, crypto and cash transactions, for which he took full responsibility.
Even more so, Spieker’s search history did not help him in the case. According to the report, his Google searches were filled with requests on laundering money with Bitcoin and previous court cases related to the criminal activity.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg spoke on the court session, calling the use of digital assets in this particular case a "sprawling web of international money laundering" that helped them transact funds across the globe.
Money laundering in the cryptocurrency industry has been highly documented over the past year, and the law enforcement seems to be dealing with it quite well. Just a few weeks ago, the third co-founder of the BitMEX crypto exchange had pleaded guilty for not securing proper requirements to prevent money laundering activities.
