Illegal bitcoin exchange Coin.mx busted in NYC

[Arcteryx]

It has to be brought up in the courts. So that process takes months. They also need to collect as much evidence so to convict the accused(company) to the fullest extent of the law. That's why this won't be out of the news until the final verdict is decided and justice is served for all involved.

[DuddlyDoRight]

It has to be brought up in the courts. So that process takes months. They also need to collect as much evidence so to convict the accused(company) to the fullest extent of the law. That's why this won't be out of the news until the final verdict is decided and justice is served for all involved.

Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Tax_compliance

[cryptomann420]

These days if you want to play big your going to pay big! But when the government doesn't get there fair share you can bet your last to bits there going to get you one way or another! But when it comes to hacking banks now were not talking state charges it all merges to the feds! I would hate to be in there shoes right now!!

[heilaohu]

 

[TheGr33k]

Okay but eventually we're going to have to do some coding to make it close to impossible to make illegal activity with Bitcoin happen. I have absolutely no idea how we're going to make that happen, but we better think of something quickly. Honestly, time is running out to make this currency look professional.

[elvizzzzzzz]

Follow up: This is getting weird :

http://www.maxkeiser.com/2015/11/russia-did-not-hack-jpm-as-nsa-chief-suggested/

"Keith Alexander, the NSA director from 2005 until last March, said he had no direct knowledge
of the attack though it could have been backed by the Russian government in response to sanctions
imposed by the U.S. and EU over the crisis in Ukraine."

"Notice that ‘experts’ never go challenged by the mainstream media.

A year later, we learn that the ‘state level’ hackers were actually two Israeli-Americans and a Florida-based man whose nationality is not mentioned.

UPDATE: All three were Israelis with US citizenship."

Also
"Aaron, 31, a U.S. citizen who lives in Moscow and Tel Aviv, remains at large and is the subject of an FBI "wanted" poster."

WTF?

[Mickeyb]

Isn't this like an old news? Weren't they shut down few months ago already? Or this is just a follow up? I don't get it!

There are new charges made against the owners of Coin.mx now. That Coindesk link posted earlier was to a story written on July 21, 2015. However, there is a new Coindesk story about the new charges written today. They are now getting charged with hacking banks and laundering money through their exchange. They were already charged with being an illegal payment processor and running an illegal exchange.

http://www.coindesk.com/us-prosecutors-unseal-new-charges-against-bitcoin-exchange-operator/

The new charges, which according to the US Attorney’s Office were filed as a result of its continuing investigation, come in tandem with charges against three other individuals: Gery Shalon, Joshua Aaron and Ziv Orenstein.

The three stand accused of money laundering, computer hacking and securities fraud charges. Coin.mx, according to the US government, was used as a vehicle for laundering illicit funds.

In addition to being accused of aiding the unlicensed operation of Coin.mx, the three allegedly orchestrated a web of digital criminal activity dating back to 2012 that involved a cyberattack on JPMorgan Chase in 2014, as well as attacks against other financial institutions.

The indictment alleges a global infrastructure of crime, including illicit gambling sites, money laundering channels and the theft of data from at least a hundred million individuals over a multi-year period.

Damn, these are very serious charges! I mean illegal payment processor that is a bit US way to make all Bitcoin related businesses get heavily regulated, but all of this above is much more serious than illegal payment processor.

With these charges, they are pretty much done!

[DuddlyDoRight]

These days if you want to play big your going to pay big! But when the government doesn't get there fair share you can bet your last to bits there going to get you one way or another! But when it comes to hacking banks now were not talking state charges it all merges to the feds! I would hate to be in there shoes right now!!

Especially in a country where theft and financial crimes yield stronger punishment than most classes of murder prosecution.. It's a message to not mess with the rich or tax system they own.

[pereira4]

I would have hoped by now that anyone running an exchange or using an exchange shouldn't be anywhere close to NYC because of the BitLicense nonsense. Trying to regulate Bitcoin is pointless since more and more exchanges will keep popping in other places where there aren't said regulations and people will use those services.

[knowhow]

Well there is since the begining a black market where people sell and buy bitcoins without no one between them,soo a new exchange that hasnt a license isnt nothing new todays ,but well sure to run an exchange todays there are a lot issues to be done before be able to have on with a good income.

[teddy5145]

This is why i dont use unknown exchange, only use the well known and trusted one because you will have less a chance of them doing something bad
Except cryptsy, they are on a watch list for now

[QuestionAuthority]

The question now is.. Did they have a BitLicense?

Of course not because they are not based in NY.

Florida does require a Money Transmitter license for any Bitcoin exchange. A such license is very expensive(over 500K) and I don't think it's worth it based on the BTC tradings that a company can get these days.

Don't be fooled by the bots you see in actions on any exchanger platform.I am talking about real transactions. It's hard to maintain a licensed company. You need staff (employees) and the salaries are not low in USA.

Example: you need a compliance officer.

A salary for a such position is around of 3000-4000 usd/month without taxes which are not small at all.

You need a collaboration with lawyer. This should be around of 1000-3000 per month(depends on lawyer). you need yearly audit. the cost is around of 10,000 USD or more(depends on how many transactions you have), advertising, common bills (electricity, phones, internet, rent), taxes.

For a small company, a such license is useless.The costs per month can easily reach at 20,000 usd or more. So, first you need to make 20,000 usd and then to think about a net profit for "yourself"(owner).
Very hard to make these money.

Do not look at Coinbase and others like them. They were/are financed by shareholders with millions of USD; otherwise they would be bankrupted.

A compliance officer only making $36k-$48k a year? Maybe if he's a teenager. lol My companies controller made $120k annually and the compliance officer was in the 90s. Both are VP level positions.

[Hannu]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/three-indicted-u-over-major-144238269.html

"Prosecutors said Shalon and Orenstein also ran payment processors IDPay and Todur, through which they collected $18 million of fees to process hundreds of millions of dollars of transactions for criminals.

Shalon was also accused of running the illegal bitcoin exchange Coin.mx with Murgio, and concealing at least $100 million in Swiss and other accounts."

What counts in NYC WHO IS CRIMINAL and who is not? 

[DuddlyDoRight]

Isn't this like an old news? Weren't they shut down few months ago already? Or this is just a follow up? I don't get it!

It's ONLY millions of dollars and malicious behavior against the country the money comes from..

Please explain how it was malicious behavior. How is not registering with the central government malicious behavior? Sure they were unlicensed, but they weren't stealing money from people, they were just provided a service. It was not malicious at all, just unlicensed so of course the government doesn't like it.

Where do you think state and national infrastructure and public property funding comes from? Taxes.

Unless you're going to seriously say people putting capital from commerce in to non-taxed currency doesn't hurt the host nation. That type of logic seems to work for justifying software piracy.

[megatron1337]

They were Jewish also judging by their name...  Since when can we trust them with our investments?

[mayax]

The question now is.. Did they have a BitLicense?

Of course not because they are not based in NY.

Florida does require a Money Transmitter license for any Bitcoin exchange. A such license is very expensive(over 500K) and I don't think it's worth it based on the BTC tradings that a company can get these days.

Don't be fooled by the bots you see in actions on any exchanger platform.I am talking about real transactions. It's hard to maintain a licensed company. You need staff (employees) and the salaries are not low in USA.

Example: you need a compliance officer.

A salary for a such position is around of 3000-4000 usd/month without taxes which are not small at all.

You need a collaboration with lawyer. This should be around of 1000-3000 per month(depends on lawyer). you need yearly audit. the cost is around of 10,000 USD or more(depends on how many transactions you have), advertising, common bills (electricity, phones, internet, rent), taxes.

For a small company, a such license is useless.The costs per month can easily reach at 20,000 usd or more. So, first you need to make 20,000 usd and then to think about a net profit for "yourself"(owner).
Very hard to make these money.

Do not look at Coinbase and others like them. They were/are financed by shareholders with millions of USD; otherwise they would be bankrupted.

A compliance officer only making $36k-$48k a year? Maybe if he's a teenager. lol My companies controller made $120k annually and the compliance officer was in the 90s. Both are VP level positions.

Yes, but it is not required to hire someone with high experience if you own a small company. We are not talking about Chase bank:).

He/she can learn along the way...but you are required  by law to hire someone on this position. That's why I said around of 45K/year.

[QuestionAuthority]

The question now is.. Did they have a BitLicense?

Of course not because they are not based in NY.

Florida does require a Money Transmitter license for any Bitcoin exchange. A such license is very expensive(over 500K) and I don't think it's worth it based on the BTC tradings that a company can get these days.

Don't be fooled by the bots you see in actions on any exchanger platform.I am talking about real transactions. It's hard to maintain a licensed company. You need staff (employees) and the salaries are not low in USA.

Example: you need a compliance officer.

A salary for a such position is around of 3000-4000 usd/month without taxes which are not small at all.

You need a collaboration with lawyer. This should be around of 1000-3000 per month(depends on lawyer). you need yearly audit. the cost is around of 10,000 USD or more(depends on how many transactions you have), advertising, common bills (electricity, phones, internet, rent), taxes.

For a small company, a such license is useless.The costs per month can easily reach at 20,000 usd or more. So, first you need to make 20,000 usd and then to think about a net profit for "yourself"(owner).
Very hard to make these money.

Do not look at Coinbase and others like them. They were/are financed by shareholders with millions of USD; otherwise they would be bankrupted.

A compliance officer only making $36k-$48k a year? Maybe if he's a teenager. lol My companies controller made $120k annually and the compliance officer was in the 90s. Both are VP level positions.

Yes, but it is not required to hire someone with high experience if you own a small company. We are not talking about Chase bank:).

He/she can learn along the way...but you are required  by law to hire someone on this position. That's why I said around of 45K/year.

The lack of a professional trained compliance officer leads to the BitInstant scenario.

[Kepler510]

If it was all money laundry practices..?? .

and whether the news is true it is..??

or just to drop a bad image towards BTC ..??

[Blawpaw]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/three-indicted-u-over-major-144238269.html

"Prosecutors said Shalon and Orenstein also ran payment processors IDPay and Todur, through which they collected $18 million of fees to process hundreds of millions of dollars of transactions for criminals.

Shalon was also accused of running the illegal bitcoin exchange Coin.mx with Murgio, and concealing at least $100 million in Swiss and other accounts."

this only gives a bad name to digital currency...

[mayax]

The question now is.. Did they have a BitLicense?

Of course not because they are not based in NY.

Florida does require a Money Transmitter license for any Bitcoin exchange. A such license is very expensive(over 500K) and I don't think it's worth it based on the BTC tradings that a company can get these days.

Don't be fooled by the bots you see in actions on any exchanger platform.I am talking about real transactions. It's hard to maintain a licensed company. You need staff (employees) and the salaries are not low in USA.

Example: you need a compliance officer.

A salary for a such position is around of 3000-4000 usd/month without taxes which are not small at all.

You need a collaboration with lawyer. This should be around of 1000-3000 per month(depends on lawyer). you need yearly audit. the cost is around of 10,000 USD or more(depends on how many transactions you have), advertising, common bills (electricity, phones, internet, rent), taxes.

For a small company, a such license is useless.The costs per month can easily reach at 20,000 usd or more. So, first you need to make 20,000 usd and then to think about a net profit for "yourself"(owner).
Very hard to make these money.

Do not look at Coinbase and others like them. They were/are financed by shareholders with millions of USD; otherwise they would be bankrupted.

A compliance officer only making $36k-$48k a year? Maybe if he's a teenager. lol My companies controller made $120k annually and the compliance officer was in the 90s. Both are VP level positions.

Yes, but it is not required to hire someone with high experience if you own a small company. We are not talking about Chase bank:).

He/she can learn along the way...but you are required  by law to hire someone on this position. That's why I said around of 45K/year.

The lack of a professional trained compliance officer leads to the BitInstant scenario.

Agree, but once the company grows you can hire a skilled compliance officer. Imagine that a small company cannot afford to pay someone with 10K per month +taxes.
Also, that company has many other expenses as well. Again, we are talking about a small company and not about something like Coinbase who had a lot of connections in the millionaire's world from California.

What I am saying is that a Bitcoin exchange (small company with a low budget; lower than 30,000 USD per month) has no chance to success in USA because it cannot cover the functional costs.