- A former party organizer is charged with allegations related to laundering in Bitcoin and cash.
- This case signifies how new technologies like cryptocurrencies can emerge as key drivers of a broader range of criminal activity that can easily span around the globe, highlighted New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
- Spieker and three others, including sites, met with clients who gave them cash for Bitcoin or the other way round, and they used to get a 3% to 12% fee.
The Manhattan District Attorney recently charged a former party organizer. He allegedly was involved in laundering $27 million in Bitcoin and cash to help various clients with hiding money that they apparently earned from illicit activities.
The Manhattan DA alleged in a statement that between January 2018 and August 2021, Thomas Blackaller Spiekar transformed more than $2.3 Billion into Bitcoin (BTC) and over $380,000 of BTC into US Dollar through a rotating set of accomplices who got a bank and crypto exchange accounts to facilitate the criminal proceeds laundering.
According to New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, as alleged, the web of international money laundering facilitated the drug traffickers, an organized crime ring, and scammers to hide their criminal activities and transmit their proceeds across the globe.
He further added that this case signifies how new technologies like cryptocurrencies can emerge as key drivers of a broader range of criminal activity that can easily span around the globe.
The 42-year-old Thomas Spieker, who pleaded not guilty in front of the New York State Supreme Court, faces several counts of unlicensed money transmission and money laundering in the third and fourth degrees.
Another man named Dustin Sites, who, according to the DA, helped Spieker in the scheme, faces a count of unlicensed money transmission. Various clients of Spieker, who were also investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney, face charges regarding operating a drug marketplace on the dark web and an identity theft scheme.
According to the complaint, back in 2014, Spieker started to research the phrase Bitcoin money laundering in Google searches. Furthermore, he highlighted that his services were focused on people who wanted to stay entirely off the radar in a Facebook post, which gives an understanding that they were indulging in illicit activity.
Apparently, Spieker and three others, including sites, met with clients who gave them cash for Bitcoin or the other way round and managed to collect a 3% to 12% fee. Spieker and his collaborators allegedly opened around 28 bank accounts and eight crypto exchanges accounts.
The post Manhattan District Attorney Charges Former Party Organiser: Laundering in Bitcoin worth $2.3 Million appeared first on The Coin Republic: Cryptocurrency , Bitcoin, Ethereum & Blockchain News.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/03/25/manhattan-district-attorney-charges-former-party-organiser-laundering-in-bitcoin-worth-2-3-million/