SEC files injunction against digital currency executives who allegedly obtained investments on the basis of false representations

Tweet The US Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC“) filed a complaint in Texas on March 16, 2020, against Robert Dunlap, Nicole Bowdler, the girlfriend of Dunlap, and a former Washington State Senator, David Schmidt, in connection with a digital currency they launched called Meta 1 coin (the “MetaCoin“) which raised US$4 million from the […]

American ICO lawyer and director of Vancouver Blockchain company, hit with more extortion charges

Tweet Grand jury indictment for Canadian director Steven Nerayoff, a US lawyer who advised a number of digital currency companies and initial coin offerings (“ICOs“) was indicted by a Grand Jury on January 10, 2020, in New York. Nerayoff is, or was, the Chairman of a British Columbia public company called Global Blockchain Technologies Corp. […]

UK Bitcoin drug dealer who imported illegal drugs from Canada on the darknet, sentenced to 8 years in jail

Tweet A UK man, Paul Johnson, was sentenced to eight years in jail in the UK for operating a darknet drug trafficking business from the attic of his home. In order to obfuscate what he was doing, he set up a company called “Labrador Tea Company” and used it to buy illegal drugs from Canadians […]

Narcos Canada: Canadian banks & professions deal with significant proceeds of crime from narco trafficking and serious crimes; Canada listed again as “major money laundering country”; plus 10 money laundering areas of concern identified by the US for Canada

Tweet Canada still on the Majors List Canada made it on the “Majors List” in the annual US State Department’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (“INCSR“) again this year. The Majors List is three lists and it designates countries that are (1) “Major Illicit Drug Producing and Drug Transit Countries”; (2) “Major Precursor Chemical Source […]

US releases national strategy for anti-money laundering threats to US financial system

Tweet The US Department of the Treasury has released a “2020 National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing“, which provides a roadmap to identify current money laundering and terrorist financing threats and provides strategies to mitigate the identified threats and risks. In the Strategy, some of the key money laundering risks are identified […]

Canadian CEO of Silk Road drug market who bragged that US law enforcement “don’t have sh*t on me”, nabbed and pleads guilty in the US

Tweet One of the kingpins of Silk Road, the online darknet drug market that operated with Bitcoin, and its alleged CEO, Roger Clark, a Canadian, pled guilty on Thursday in New York to conspiracy to distribute narcotics. He faces a term of incarceration of 20 years. Clark was extradited from Thailand in 2018, and was […]

Bitcoin SIM swapper charged with stealing $50 million, arrested in British Columbia

Tweet $50 Million SIM-swapped A man from Montreal, Samy Bensaci, who allegedly stole US$50 million in Bitcoin from US residents, was arrested in Victoria, British Columbia, and removed to Ontario for prosecution, where he has since been released on bail, reported La Presse today. The theft of $50 million happened during 2018 and 2019, according […]

Canadian digital currency exchange helps you buy a sanctions-avoidance virtual currency created by a Russian on a sanctions list, with ties to a $100M Ponzi scheme

Tweet Russian on OFAC list launches a coin The Kharon Brief has an interesting article here about Aleksei Muratov, also spelled Aleksey Muratov, a Ukrainian on the OFAC sanctions list here, who founded, launched and owns an initial coin offering called PRIZM. Donetsk People’s Republic Muratov lives in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. According to […]

Italian police shut down darknet market allegedly run by a teenager that listed for sale drugs, weapons, fake ID and “bank drop” money laundering services, including to Canadians

Tweet Canadians among top users of seized darknet drug and weapons site The Italian Guardia di Finanza has arrested three individuals in Italy who are alleged to have operated the darknet site on TOR called the Berlusconi Market. The Berlusconi Market had over 100,000 illegal goods and services listed for sale such as illegal drugs, […]

SEC obtains emergency order against Telegram’s ICO, which raised $1.7 billion from investors

Tweet Ex parte injunction The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC“) announced today that it filed an emergency application ex parte in US Federal District Court in Manhattan, and after a hearing, obtained a temporary order over the initial coin offering (“ICO“) launched by Telegram Group, Inc. (“Telegram“), the messaging application, which raised $1.7 billion from investors […]