Bitcoin Forum

One of the operators of the now-defunct bitcoin exchange Coin.mx has been sentenced to 16 months in prison.

According to a Reuters report, Florida-based software engineer Yuri Lebedev had been found guilty of helping run the unlicensed bitcoin exchange. His sentencing – handed down by U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan – came more than two years after he was initially arrested and charged with violating U.S. money laundering statutes.

Along with Lebedev, Pastor Trevon Gross was convicted in March, though in the case of Gross, he was charged with bribery in connection with a now-shuttered New Jersey credit union that was allegedly used to channel funds from Coin.mx overseas.

According to the prosecutors in the case, Lebedev helped arrange bribes to Gross, including $150,000 in donations to his church. Gross is expected to be sentenced later this month.

Bloomberg reports that Judge Nathan said Lebedev used his "impressive technology skills" in order to avoid detection. Lebedev's attorney, Eric Creizman, described him in court as an "unlikely criminal defendant."

The Florida-based bitcoin exchange Coin.mx was operated as a so-called "Collectibles Club" in order to obscure its exchange activities. Prosecutors had previously tied the exchange to a broader cybercrime enterprise, arguing that Coin.mx served as as a clearing house for funds derived from various criminal activities including a hack on JPMorgan Chase.

Another Coin.mx operator, Anthony Murgio, was arrested and charged, along with Lebedev, in 2015. Murgio pled guilty earlier this year on three charges, including one count of wilfull failure to file a suspicious activity report, and was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison in June.



Source: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-exchange-operator-given-16-month-prison-sentence/

Again, it you used bitcoin in illegal activities and you know it will fully that you are engaging in such act, then the full sweep of the law will caught upon you. I think those criminals really took advantage of bitcoin design and technology to run its illegal activity and them not reporting to authorities. If they just took the liberty to report it, then thy should not be in jail. However, they see potential profits from it, so they just permitted it to run on their unlicensed trading exchanges.

It was unlicensed , obviously you will clearly get imprisoned because of that(operation without license is considered doing illegal activities). After reading that they have used the exchange to support criminal activities then the bitcoin operator should be sentenced more than 16 months. The Bitcoin exchange operator clearly violated law resulting to a criminal case.