[2019-01-07] US Feds Raid Tech Hub for Unauthorized Crypto Trading: Report

[Churck]

United States federal agencies reportedly raided the office of a Michigan-based science and tech center last month during a crypto-related investigation, local news outlet Wood-TV reported Jan. 5.

As Wood-TV reported, Chris Boden, the founder of The Geek Group, made a live public statement on YouTube Saturday night, which has evidently since been deleted. Boden reportedly claimed the office of his tech-oriented, non-profit organization had been raided by members of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Dec. 21, elaborating that computers and other equipment were taken from his the office.

Wood-TV reported that Boden had stated he was “commercially trading in crypto-currency [sic] without the proper authorization.”

The founder also reportedly believes he is facing federal prison time and up to $100,000 in legal expenses.

Read more: https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-feds-raid-tech-hub-for-unauthorized-crypto-trading-report

[snipie]

Commercial trading in cryptocurrencies without authorization = jail + fine equal to all what you earned in several years is a little bit abusing law.

[squatter]

Wood-TV reported that Boden had stated he was “commercially trading in crypto-currency [sic] without the proper authorization.”

The founder also reportedly believes he is facing federal prison time and up to $100,000 in legal expenses.

Read more: https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-feds-raid-tech-hub-for-unauthorized-crypto-trading-report

The details are really minimal here. I can't figure out exactly what he's being charged for. "Commercial trading" is a term usually employed by the CFTC to characterize traders that use futures markets to hedge their business activities:

Entities that make up the commercial trader classification can include futures commission merchants, foreign brokers, clearing members or even investment banks that buy index futures to hedge current long positions.

Commercial traders are required to register with the CFTC and make periodic disclosures. "Trading authorization" usually refers to clients granting authority to brokers to places trades on their behalf. It sounds like Boden was running a brokerage of sorts and dipping into customer accounts without the proper authority.

However, that doesn't explain why the DHS and FBI are involved as opposed to the CFTC or SEC. I don't really get it.

[Harlot]

That is what you get when you go outside the scope of your main business. To start of he or his organization have not proper authorization to trade cryptocurrencies chances are if the prosecutor continues to investigate they might find out more evidence incriminating him with other offenses such as money laundering or tax evasion. With many employees under him I know Feds will start to look for one who is willing to testify against him in exchange for his immunity, I just hope the FBI really has the right guy under this case.