Recently, a Los Angeles man has agreed to confess to 25 million dollars for money-laundering activity, where he ran a cryptocurrency exchange and a Bitcoin ATM. The person by name, Kunal Kalra, described as the “coinman,” was charged on 23rd August at the United State District Court for the Central District of California. Moreover, he agreed to confess to four charges, which includes running unlicensed cash transmitting business and illegal tax avoidance.
As per Department of Justice statement, from May 2015 to October 2017, the 25-year-old man operated a cryptocurrency trade without a cash transmitter license. A declaration from the U.S. Justice Department recently said, Kalra, who is duly expected to show up next month, has agreed to concede to the charges.
Additionally, the exchange has handled the transactions among Bitcoins and dollars, and its customers included criminals and drug dealers. Kalra has acknowledged that he has operated an ATM that enabled his clients to trade Bitcoin for money without revealing their personalities, shedding light on what is a bitcoin ATM and how it functions in crypto-to-fiat transactions. To cover the unlawful dealings, the litigant even established bank accounts in the names of other people, which include fake organizations. Moreover, he acknowledged operating Bitcoin ATM to offer crypto-to-fiat trade service to his customers.
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The business was primarily run through LocalBitcoin; besides, Kalra ran an organization called Paxful, offered trades of money for Bitcoins to criminals, which includes individuals who sold drugs on the darknet, a part of the web reachable through specialized software.
His definitive ruin came through several law enforcement frauds. Furthermore, in a case, Karla traded 400,000 dollars in real money for Bitcoin with an undercover operator. On another event, he sold to another agent, two pounds of meth and traded 50,000 dollars in Bitcoin for money.
Moreover, he traded fiat currencies into Bitcoin and vice versa and managed only high-volume customers who were eager to pay a charge of 5,000 dollars Minimum. The law authorization seized almost 889,000 dollars in cash from his bank accounts alongst with his vehicles. Another 54.3 Bitcoins worth half a million dollars were seized. Almost for all the charges, he is required to face a one life sentence maximum in a government prison.
Furthermore, Kalra operated a Bitcoin ATM that did not expect clients to give their identities or install surveillance cameras to recognize clients as the law requires it. The U.S. Division of Justice said that the case is likely the first federal criminal case versus unlicensed cash remitting that utilized a bitcoin counter.
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Finally, Karla agreed to four lawful offenses like dealing with methamphetamine, working an unlicensed cash transmitting business, laundering of fiscal instruments, and inability to keep up an effective tax evasion program. It is not so much clear about this case, yet the charges have an extreme sentence of life in a government prison.