Americans jail a 24 year old for selling bitcoins wthout asking for ID

[alyssa85]

http://everycryptonews.com/24-year-old-jailed-selling-bitcoin-without-asking-id/

US law agencies can celebrate another success in their tireless crusade to stop ‘unlicensed money transmitting’ in the land of the free. The latest victory is sending a 24-year old crime kingpin to federal prison for making $40,000 from trading bitcoin offline.

Eldon Stone Ross, a 24-year-old from Kennett Square borough of Chester County, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced on Wednesday to serve a year and a day in federal prison for buying and selling large amounts of bitcoin to people without reporting the transactions to the US government.

The young man supposedly sold $1.5 million in bitcoin for almost two years but made only $40,000 (a mere 2.6%) in commissions, which he now has to hand over to the government in addition to his year-long prison sentence. He has been convicted for conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business between January 2015 and November 2016 and failing to report the fiat to bitcoin transactions.

Ross admitted in October 2017 to selling $50,000 worth of bitcoin to undercover federal agents related to Homeland Security Investigations. In each case, they reported he “failed to obtain identifying information from the agents,” according to court records. Like in previous such cases across the US, the authorities claim that by not conducting exchange-like know-your-customer (KYC) procedures and reporting to the Department of the Treasury, the bitcoin seller was enabling money laundering.

I think he was using local bitcoins to make his sales.

People are better off buying and selling on the exchanges, because that way the responsibility to check ID lies with the exchanges and not you.

[reflector]

http://everycryptonews.com/24-year-old-jailed-selling-bitcoin-without-asking-id/

US law agencies can celebrate another success in their tireless crusade to stop ‘unlicensed money transmitting’ in the land of the free. The latest victory is sending a 24-year old crime kingpin to federal prison for making $40,000 from trading bitcoin offline.

Eldon Stone Ross, a 24-year-old from Kennett Square borough of Chester County, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced on Wednesday to serve a year and a day in federal prison for buying and selling large amounts of bitcoin to people without reporting the transactions to the US government.

The young man supposedly sold $1.5 million in bitcoin for almost two years but made only $40,000 (a mere 2.6%) in commissions, which he now has to hand over to the government in addition to his year-long prison sentence. He has been convicted for conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business between January 2015 and November 2016 and failing to report the fiat to bitcoin transactions.

I think he was using local bitcoins to make his sales.

People are better off buying and selling on the exchanges, because that way the responsibility to check ID lies with the exchanges and not you.

Fake IDs and people accessing the trade from the different country has been done by the many people as I know about the localbitcoins.com still jailing him for trading and all too much I think.
If they are perfectly share the tax receipts to the taxation department there would not any trouble by them.
Really unhappy to hear one of the traders got jailed.

[RonJohannson]

So I'm confused, was this about tax evasion or about not getting people's IDs. I could see the government being upset about both, but I think we have bigger fish to fry these days than busting some kid for making $40k. 

[alyssa85]

So I'm confused, was this about tax evasion or about not getting people's IDs. I could see the government being upset about both, but I think we have bigger fish to fry these days than busting some kid for making $40k. 

It was about being a money transmittor.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is not regulated - but fiat is. You need a licence if you handle fiat.

If you have bitcoin to sell, you are better off using GDAX or Gemini which both have bitlicences from New York state and whatnot. That means checking the ID of the buyer is their responsibility. You just press sell and withdraw your cash.

[stompix]

What a BS title!!! "Americans" !!!!

It's like all the people from Chester County have grabbed their forks and torches and are shouting to burn him in front of the Chester County Justice Center.

Also he was not convicted for selling bitcoins without asking for an id.
Have you even read what you have posted there?

He has been convicted for conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business between January 2015 and November 2016 and failing to report the fiat to bitcoin transactions.

But yeah, all Americans are evil! Good job on spreading the word comrade!

[alyssa85]

What a BS title!!! "Americans" !!!!

It's like all the people from Chester County have grabbed their forks and torches and are shouting to burn him in front of the Chester County Justice Center.

Also he was not convicted for selling bitcoins without asking for an id.
Have you even read what you have posted there?

He has been convicted for conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business between January 2015 and November 2016 and failing to report the fiat to bitcoin transactions.

But yeah, all Americans are evil! Good job on spreading the word comrade!

Calm down! The Department of Homeland Security is a national agency, is it not? This isn't to do with local police at Chester County.

[bob3772]

Even given the laws and that he's clearly breaking them this seems like a really pathetic case. It seems as if they're using him to set an example to other people. I mean come on, undercover agents for some guy who made only $20000 dollars a year.

In this case it really doesn't seem as though the punishment fits the crime. I'll bet he didn't even know what he was doing was illegal.

[stompix]

Calm down! The Department of Homeland Security is a national agency, is it not? This isn't to do with local police at Chester County.

You realized what piece of garbage that article is?And you even made it worse!!!!

You used by yourself the word "americans" like it the fault of all americans and all americans are to blame for.
If you knew if Homeland Security was behind this why didn't you use this for title:

Department of Homeland Security arrests 24yo for conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business

And back to the article, I love how FaletiAbiodun, the author, a guy from Pakistan is painting things:

US law agencies can celebrate another success in their tireless crusade to stop ‘unlicensed money transmitting’ in the land of the free

Yeah, hilarious. Angry he didn't get a visa?

[malbterxic]

  It looks like an indicative spanking, but I basically do not understand people who want to sell their bitcoins for cash, in such cases, the risks of losing bitcoins are much higher than the potential benefits. And now the prison has also been added.
After all, there is a mass of exchangers online.

[soothaa]

Calm down! The Department of Homeland Security is a national agency, is it not? This isn't to do with local police at Chester County.

You realized what piece of garbage that article is?And you even made it worse!!!!

You used by yourself the word "americans" like it the fault of all americans and all americans are to blame for.
If you knew if Homeland Security was behind this why didn't you use this for title:

Department of Homeland Security arrests 24yo for conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business

And back to the article, I love how FaletiAbiodun, the author, a guy from Pakistan is painting things:

US law agencies can celebrate another success in their tireless crusade to stop ‘unlicensed money transmitting’ in the land of the free

Yeah, hilarious. Angry he didn't get a visa?

Holy shit you need to calm down. I think this article perfectly represents our current state here in America. This kid went to Federal prison for making ~$50,000 over a few years. Free my ass.

[stompix]

Holy shit you need to calm down. I think this article perfectly represents our current state here in America. This kid went to Federal prison for making ~$50,000 over a few years. Free my ass.

So I assume you're the one to blame for this too, right?
You convicted this guy and sent him to prison.....since you're an American.

[xdrpx]

I'm sure there are many sellers on exchanges like localbitcoins and Paxful still sell Bitcoins without asking for an ID or Phone number verification [For some odd reason I used to have these options within localbitcoin's search feature, but I no longer see them]. The central parties in most countries tend to think of this as money laundering as they can't keep track of who's buying the cryptocurrencies. I feel this seems an appropriate measure, but it no longer allows buyer and sellers to buy Bitcoins anonymously.

Similarly, is it also a crime for a buyer to purchase Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies in a similar fashion without providing any ID? Isn't it also possible for the authorities to track via the seller's bank accounts the buyer's transaction details and trace back to the buyer, considering that a Bank to Bank transfer has taken place?

[soothaa]

Holy shit you need to calm down. I think this article perfectly represents our current state here in America. This kid went to Federal prison for making ~$50,000 over a few years. Free my ass.

So I assume you're the one to blame for this too, right?
You convicted this guy and sent him to prison.....since you're an American.

Oh please. They were Americans who did this and the country of America did this. This kid wasn't rich enough to be allowed to make money so they made an example out of him.

[motoprose]

So I'm confused, was this about tax evasion or about not getting people's IDs. I could see the government being upset about both, but I think we have bigger fish to fry these days than busting some kid for making $40k. 

Without collect the ids from people there is no way for the IRS to track and thus verify where the money is going too.
It is like the transaction never happened.
And they say $40,000 but there is no way they know for sure if it is was much more than that since he did not report it as a capital gains on his tax form as all US citizens are obliged to do now.
Think of what coinbase has done when the IRS put pressure on them to hand over all of their customer transactions
To get a sense of how much a strangle hold the tax revenue agency has over the citizens they are wanting to collect money owed to the government.

[alyssa85]

Similarly, is it also a crime for a buyer to purchase Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies in a similar fashion without providing any ID? Isn't it also possible for the authorities to track via the seller's bank accounts the buyer's transaction details and trace back to the buyer, considering that a Bank to Bank transfer has taken place?

I think it depends on the amount. $20,000 a month or less isn't considered important. But that kid sold $50,000 without asking for ID. He was SELLING bitcoins for cash - in a hypothetical situation a drug dealer would try to turn his cash into bitcoin by purchasing from him.

With stuff like this, stick to the law people. And don't deal with huge amounts, it just triggers flags.

[romandos86]

I am afflicted, that America so rigidly acts with traders, it is too big timeframe for such crime.

[motoprose]

Similarly, is it also a crime for a buyer to purchase Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies in a similar fashion without providing any ID? Isn't it also possible for the authorities to track via the seller's bank accounts the buyer's transaction details and trace back to the buyer, considering that a Bank to Bank transfer has taken place?

I think it depends on the amount. $20,000 a month or less isn't considered important. But that kid sold $50,000 without asking for ID. He was SELLING bitcoins for cash - in a hypothetical situation a drug dealer would try to turn his cash into bitcoin by purchasing from him.

With stuff like this, stick to the law people. And don't deal with huge amounts, it just triggers flags.

Ah so it was over $50,000 USD.
That is alot of money as the IRS will go over a certain amount no claimed towards yours annual income.
I think it is an amount over $10,000 to make it worth while for them to seek the accused of hiding this from the government.

He was playing with fire in turning it straight into fiat going to his bank account which you just know they were going to nail him.

[cryptokingdom]

This is just a lesson to every cryptocurrency holder to be very careful and also obey the law of his or her country until bitcoin develop to the level of final freedom from government regulation.

[stompix]

Holy shit you need to calm down. I think this article perfectly represents our current state here in America. This kid went to Federal prison for making ~$50,000 over a few years. Free my ass.

So I assume you're the one to blame for this too, right?
You convicted this guy and sent him to prison.....since you're an American.

Oh please. They were Americans who did this and the country of America did this. This kid wasn't rich enough to be allowed to make money so they made an example out of him.

Then if this is how America is be careful....you might be next.
Of course after they get rid of the thousands that have made money and nobody has bothered them....yet
But probably those ones are part of the Illuminati...

One example of one trader breaking the law, and we have a whole conspiracy of the Illuminati in the Gubbermint of the USA rubbing our everyone making money out of crypto...legit

Similarly, is it also a crime for a buyer to purchase Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies in a similar fashion without providing any ID? Isn't it also possible for the authorities to track via the seller's bank accounts the buyer's transaction details and trace back to the buyer, considering that a Bank to Bank transfer has taken place?

No it is not, that's why there are bitcoin ATMs running and they don't require verification.
Again he wasn't jailed for that.
He was doing transfers via banks worth 1.4m$ to strangers and not declaring any income....
Common....

[eckmar]

Calm down! The Department of Homeland Security is a national agency, is it not? This isn't to do with local police at Chester County.

You realized what piece of garbage that article is?And you even made it worse!!!!

You used by yourself the word "americans" like it the fault of all americans and all americans are to blame for.
If you knew if Homeland Security was behind this why didn't you use this for title:

Department of Homeland Security arrests 24yo for conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business

And back to the article, I love how FaletiAbiodun, the author, a guy from Pakistan is painting things:

US law agencies can celebrate another success in their tireless crusade to stop ‘unlicensed money transmitting’ in the land of the free

Yeah, hilarious. Angry he didn't get a visa?

this may be hard for you to understand but not everyone wants to live in America. Calling out Pakistan guy ? I think he is in a better place regarding crypto than you.

Anyways as for article, I think government agencies got their priorities wrong. Lately ICOs banned Americans from participating because of regulations but what about millions of dollars still unregulated ? And they are devoting resources and manpower to catch a guy because of 40k USD