This week, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed a criminal complaint alleging money laundering and fraud against Swedish citizen Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson and his company. According to the complaint, Karlsson used websites to trick potential investors into sending him cryptocurrency payments that ultimately totaled about $11 million. The individuals thought they were purchasing shares in investment companies, but in reality, the cryptocurrency funds were converted to fiat, transferred to Karlsson's bank account and later used to buy real estate in Thailand. Karlsson was arrested on June 18 in Thailand; the U.S. is seeking his extradition.
Also this week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed an action in New York against a purported bitcoin company and its principal, Benjamin Reynolds, from the United Kingdom. Defendants purportedly used a website and social media sites to induce customers to purchase bitcoin and then transfer it to the defendants, who said that expert traders would then invest it. But those investments were never made. Instead, the defendants used single-use cryptocurrency wallet addresses to receive their victims' bitcoin, transferred it into pooled wallets to conceal the illegal origin and kept the funds for their own use. An elaborate pyramid scheme was used to further hide the fraud. According to the CFTC press release, at least 22,858 bitcoin (worth about $147 million at the time) were stolen from more than 1,000 customers.
Last week in Boston, the U.S. Attorney's Office indicted three men for conspiring to manufacture and distribute controlled substances. The individuals allegedly advertised the substances on a darknet website called "EastSideHigh." Authorities confiscated nearly 30 kilograms of drugs from the defendants, in addition to $100,000 in cash and $200,000 worth of bitcoin. To help combat these types of cybercrimes, over 300 cryptocurrency experts from law enforcement and businesses convened last week in the Netherlands at the sixth Cryptocurrency Conference – an event designed to forge a closer relationship between the public and private sectors to reduce cybercrime. Participants shared best practices, and Europol announced a new virtual game to help train authorities in cryptocurrency recovery.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- Alleged Cryptocurrency Fraudster Arrested in Thailand, Charged in Multi-Million Dollar Investment Scheme
- CFTC Charges Company and its Principal in $147 Million Fraudulent Bitcoin Trading Scheme
- Three Brockton Men Indicted For Selling Drugs Via The Dark Web
- CRYPTOCURRENCY EXPERTS MEET AT EUROPOL TO STRENGTHEN TIES BETWEEN LAW ENFORCEMENT AND PRIVATE SECTOR
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