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

[soothaa]

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

Yes, I am very careful. Because if they decide they want my money they will come take it, just like Civil Forfeiture.

And that's not what I said and you know it. But I can see this is pointless since you're just here to fly your flag and pretend our government is totally innocent and righteous  

[QFT]

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

It's really crazy indeed, so much for the land of the free.

[stompix]

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

Yes, I am very careful. Because if they decide they want my money they will come take it, just like Civil Forfeiture.

And that's not what I said and you know it. But I can see this is pointless since you're just here to fly your flag and pretend our government is totally innocent and righteous  

At least make your mind.Who sent this guy to jail?
a) americans
b) the court

And from where did you get the idea of me protecting the government and all the agencies?
This is the whole idea why I'm against this stupid title.

It's not the common american that jailed this guy.
It was not a referendum and the whole population asked for capital punishment.

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.

Hilarious:

FIA Recommends Govt to Declare Bitcoins Illegal in Pakistan

https://propakistani.pk/2018/02/06/fia-recommends-govt-declare-bitcoins-illegal-pakistan/

Since I can also follow the trends here that Americans are to blame for what their government agencies are doing...I could easily create a thread :
"Pakistani people want to declare bitcoin illegal ".

How does this sound?

[Bargins]

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.

This is a really good point, actually. I was already writing a comment how it was unfair for the guy to end up with such a harsh punishment but he potentially has given the opportunity for $1.5 million to fly under the radar which I think government is actually upset about.

[datodota002]

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.

wow $50000 that huge amount of money no wonder if he US goverment catch him. i wonder who is the people buy bitcoin with him. this is new make people and government a bullet to against bitcoin make regulation for it and even worse shutting down bitcoin.

[eckmar]

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

Yes, I am very careful. Because if they decide they want my money they will come take it, just like Civil Forfeiture.

And that's not what I said and you know it. But I can see this is pointless since you're just here to fly your flag and pretend our government is totally innocent and righteous  

At least make your mind.Who sent this guy to jail?
a) americans
b) the court

And from where did you get the idea of me protecting the government and all the agencies?
This is the whole idea why I'm against this stupid title.

It's not the common american that jailed this guy.
It was not a referendum and the whole population asked for capital punishment.

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.

Hilarious:

FIA Recommends Govt to Declare Bitcoins Illegal in Pakistan

https://propakistani.pk/2018/02/06/fia-recommends-govt-declare-bitcoins-illegal-pakistan/

Since I can also follow the trends here that Americans are to blame for what their government agencies are doing...I could easily create a thread :
"Pakistani people want to declare bitcoin illegal ".

How does this sound?

That is just a recommendation, it may or may not be in effect later but currently its unregulated.

I don't see why are you so offended, yeah the guys who sent him in jail are Americans, whats the problem there ? Its stupid and should not happen again.

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.

wow $50000 that huge amount of money no wonder if he US goverment catch him. i wonder who is the people buy bitcoin with him. this is new make people and government a bullet to against bitcoin make regulation for it and even worse shutting down bitcoin.

50k is not huge. Its negligible. And that is the point i want to make. I don't see how its even justified to use resources for such small amounts of money.

[arthotdog]

This is what happen if someones breaking the law,we have a rules in every country that must be obeyed and if you fill that its not for for you,so better leave that country and find another one that will gives you pleasure..thats the only way you hide from the police chasing.for the man in jail,you know how its bad,but you continues.so you deserve that cold bars

[bocyaj]

I don't accept this one.This is very bad one.The U.S government can ask them to buy a tax for the bitcoin,instead of jail him .Since he is a trader,localbitcoin should help them to get out of this trouble.If this happen to the traders in local bitcoin,many will refuse to trade in local bitcoin in future.

[FrueGreads]

Damn, they really seem committed to this, and although it looks harsh to see a young person going to jail like this, I do understand it. Maybe he was acting in good faith, and just trying to get some profit in the way, but we think about it, why wouldn't their customers just buy bitcoin from an exchange. Maybe they were trying to avoid paying taxes, which is a bad thing if we actually want BTC to be respected and accepted worldwide, or on worst case scenario, they were trying to keep illicit activities undercover.

[Netnox]

I don't accept this one.This is very bad one.The U.S government can ask them to buy a tax for the bitcoin,instead of jail him .Since he is a trader,localbitcoin should help them to get out of this trouble.If this happen to the traders in local bitcoin,many will refuse to trade in local bitcoin in future.

This has happened to traders in Localbitcoins many times. I have heard about at least half-a-dozen cases in the United States. It still surprises me that the traders there are using this platform for their crypto-trading.

[HashFace]

A little more on the story ... the guy was previously convicted of heroin trafficking, so he was likely already on the feds radar after getting released from prison. 

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/bitcoin-crime-nets-pa-heroin-trafficker-prison-time-20180228.html

[MakeMoneyBtc]

I am absolutely 100% sure that there are a lot of people that buy and sell bitcoin without asking ID.The important thing is the quantity that is traded, because it is not the same to sell 0.1 bitcoin or 10 bitcoins. Police dont check little sellers because there are hundreds of them and it will be a waste of time. When it comes to big sellers the police is more aware of them because they dont pay fees and it could be considered money laundering since the quantity get to millions of dollars.

[cryptorTUX]

This is what happen if someones breaking the law,we have a rules in every country that must be obeyed and if you fill that its not for for you,so better leave that country and find another one that will gives you pleasure..thats the only way you hide from the police chasing.for the man in jail,you know how its bad,but you continues.so you deserve that cold bars

The problem is that this guy went there and flip the money by buying and selling btc for commission from multiple people. You have to be registered no matter where you are to be able to do such things. Many people take everything without looking into the rules written by the law. If you earn money and don't report it plus you are not following all procedures you will get caught eventually if you continue to do what you do. There were cases in the past when some people did such things on localbitcoins and got caught. It is their fault for not doing everything right, law is there to obey it...

[5ensei]

A little more on the story ... the guy was previously convicted of heroin trafficking, so he was likely already on the feds radar after getting released from prison. 

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/bitcoin-crime-nets-pa-heroin-trafficker-prison-time-20180228.html

Exactly, it wasn't like a regular person was trading bitcoins in private, this dude was a criminal king pin and they wanted to lock him up for as long as possible. Only worry if you're on their radar

[TravelMug]

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

Exactly my thoughts. $40K is peanuts are compare to those drug dealers in America, and yet they call this a victory?

And they portray the kid as criminal kingpin? How do American categorized criminals? I'm at a total lost.

My point is that this article shouldn't be exaggerated. The kid was caught and now suffer the consequences of his deeds. But please stop sensationalizing. Homeland Security should target those whales.

[HashFace]

A little more on the story ... the guy was previously convicted of heroin trafficking, so he was likely already on the feds radar after getting released from prison.  

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/bitcoin-crime-nets-pa-heroin-trafficker-prison-time-20180228.html

Exactly, it wasn't like a regular person was trading bitcoins in private, this dude was a criminal king pin and they wanted to lock him up for as long as possible. Only worry if you're on their radar

I don't know if he was a criminal king pin -- he might just be some dope that sucks at staying out of prison -- but I have to wonder if his new business was discovered because he was still involved in the heroin trade.  But This time, as a money launderer instead of a smuggler.  

It is quite possible that undercover agents are trying to make contact with under the table bitcoin dealers because they believe it will lead them to all sorts of illegal trades.  Then they found this guy, ran his record, found he was on probation, and decided to hit him up with some rarely used charges to send him back to prison.  The prosecutor did say these kinds of cases are rare.  

[BillyBobZorton]

I have been saying for a while that localbitcoins it's not safe... it never was, it never will be. You don't know who is on the other end. Who knows if a government fucktard is trying to ruin your life because you need a couple hundred bucks worth of cash to pay the bills and he is on the other end delivering the money... that is why I i've never sold any bitcoins.

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.

Even with exchanges, you don't know what the hell to expect.

Have you sold payments in signature campaigns in exchanges? what happened? me and a lot of other people are scared to do that, even if we obtained the coins legally. They can decide that it's not clear where the money came from, then you would be screwed. Unfortunately im starting to feel like I will never be able to buy anything of substance with bitcoin, because the government will always know if you buy real estate etc with it. Even if my coins are legally, im scared that they will not like the evidence presented.

[stompix]

That is just a recommendation, it may or may not be in effect later but currently its unregulated.

But based on that logic, the people that recommended it are Pakistani.
So, using this stupid generalization all the Pakistani are against bitcoin.

I don't see why are you so offended, yeah the guys who sent him in jail are Americans, whats the problem there ?

Generalization, that is my problem!!!

Have you sold payments in signature campaigns in exchanges? what happened? me and a lot of other people are scared to do that, even if we obtained the coins legally. They can decide that it's not clear where the money came from, then you would be screwed. Unfortunately im starting to feel like I will never be able to buy anything of substance with bitcoin, because the government will always know if you buy real estate etc with it. Even if my coins are legally, im scared that they will not like the evidence presented.

There are a lot of threads about this.This one is from my post history:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2671454.0

Nobody gives a damn about your coins while you have them in your wallet.
What they are interested is what you do when you convert them to fiat.
If you just sell them for $ and you don't pay taxes for it then you are in trouble.

Till last year I din't bother with it because I've only sold small sums <100$ times each but for the last year I've filled my tax form up.
Both for crypto and betting gains.

When you gain coins from signatures campaigns is like working for somebody, if you earn money from it you're liable for taxes, it's the same stuff.

[furry04]

unfortunately this is a bit embarrassing but if we consider the regulations about US citizens where they can`t participate in ICO`s and some exchanges it clarifies the situation a bit.

[bob3772]

A little more on the story ... the guy was previously convicted of heroin trafficking, so he was likely already on the feds radar after getting released from prison.  

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/bitcoin-crime-nets-pa-heroin-trafficker-prison-time-20180228.html

Exactly, it wasn't like a regular person was trading bitcoins in private, this dude was a criminal king pin and they wanted to lock him up for as long as possible. Only worry if you're on their radar

I don't know if he was a criminal king pin -- he might just be some dope that sucks at staying out of prison -- but I have to wonder if his new business was discovered because he was still involved in the heroin trade.  But This time, as a money launderer instead of a smuggler.  

It is quite possible that undercover agents are trying to make contact with under the table bitcoin dealers because they believe it will lead them to all sorts of illegal trades.  Then they found this guy, ran his record, found he was on probation, and decided to hit him up with some rarely used charges to send him back to prison.  The prosecutor did say these kinds of cases are rare.  

'Criminal king pin' 

What you said seems quite likely, it does change things slightly if he has prior convictions and makes the sentence a little more understandable as given his background it's more likely he was acting with bad intentions instead of just being misinformed, although still harsh in my opinion.

That's actually quite a good strategy, although by now I would think most illegal activities have transitioned to privacy based cryptocurrencies instead of using bitcoin. Bitcoin is actually pretty bad from a criminals point of view because everything can be evidenced with the blockchain.