Charlie Shrem & Robert Faiella arrested

[DutchBrat]

Wire: Associated Press (APW) Date: Jan 27 2014  11:41:21
2 Men Charged in NY 'Silk Road' Drug Prosecution


     New York (AP) -- Federal prosecutors say two men are
charged in New York with conspiring to commit money laundering
by selling over $1 million in bitcoins to users of the black
market website Silk Road that let users buy illegal drugs
anonymously.
     Authorities say Charlie Shrem was arrested Sunday at
Kennedy International Airport in New York while Robert Faiella
was arrested Monday at his Cape Coral, Fla., residence.
     Prosecutors say in a release that Faiella sold bitcoins to
users seeking to buy illegal drugs on the site through a
Manhattan office.
     They say Shrem personally bought drugs on Silk Road and
helped Faiella exchange more than $1 million in cash for
bitcoins so they could make illegal purchases.
     It wasn't immediately clear who would represent Faiella and
Shrem in court.

-0- Jan/27/2014 16:41 GMT

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[Pangia]

There are uniformed people who are actually believing that the "Vice-President of Bitcoin" was arrested instead of the Vice-President of the Bitcoin Foundation.

[ChuckBuck]

Yikes!  There goes the chart...

[Carlton Banks]

     They say Shrem personally bought drugs on Silk Road and
helped Faiella exchange more than $1 million in cash for
bitcoins so they could make illegal purchases.

Was Charlie Shrem really doing that? Seems a little hard to believe. Surely not!?

[tacotime]

http://www.businessinsider.com/report-ceo-of-major-bitcoin-exchange-arrested-2014-1

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Charges Against Bitcoin Exchangers, Including Ceo Of Bitcoin Exchange Company, For Scheme To Sell And Launder Over $1 Million In Bitcoins Related To Silk Road Drug Trafficking
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 27, 2014
Defendants Sold Bitcoins to be Used to Buy and Sell Illegal Drugs Anonymously on the Silk Road Drug Trafficking Website
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, James J. Hunt, the Acting Special-Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), and Toni Weirauch, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”), announced the unsealing of criminal charges in Manhattan federal court against ROBERT M. FAIELLA, a/k/a “BTCKing,” an underground Bitcoin exchanger, and CHARLIE SHREM, the Chief Executive Officer and Compliance Officer of a Bitcoin exchange company, for engaging in a scheme to sell over $1 million in Bitcoins to users of “Silk Road,” the underground website that enabled its users to buy and sell illegal drugs anonymously and beyond the reach of law enforcement. Each defendant is charged with conspiring to commit money laundering, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. SHREM is also charged with willfully failing to file any suspicious activity report regarding FAIELLA’s illegal transactions through the Company, in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act. SCHREM was arrested yesterday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, and is expected to be presented in Manhattan federal court later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman. FAIELLA was arrested today at his residence in Cape Coral, Florida, and is expected to be presented in federal court in the Middle District of Florida.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “As alleged, Robert Faiella and Charlie Shrem schemed to sell over $1 million in Bitcoins to criminals bent on trafficking narcotics on the dark web drug site, Silk Road. Truly innovative business models don’t need to resort to old-fashioned law-breaking, and when Bitcoins, like any traditional currency, are laundered and used to fuel criminal activity, law enforcement has no choice but to act. We will aggressively pursue those who would coopt new forms of currency for illicit purposes.”

DEA Acting Special-Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt said: “The charges announced today depict law enforcement's commitment to identifying those who promote the sale of illegal drugs throughout the world. Hiding behind their computers, both defendants are charged with knowingly contributing to and facilitating anonymous drug sales, earning substantial profits along the way. Drug law enforcement's job is to investigate and identify those who abet the illicit drug trade at all levels of production and distribution including those lining their own pockets by feigning ignorance of any wrong doing and turning a blind eye.”

IRS Special-Agent-in-Charge Toni Weirauch said: “The government has been successful in swiftly identifying those responsible for the design and operation of the ‘Silk Road’ website, as well as those who helped ‘Silk Road’ customers conduct their illegal transactions by facilitating the conversion of their dollars into Bitcoins. This is yet another example of the New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force’s proficiency in applying financial investigative resources to the fight against illegal drugs.”

According to the allegations contained in the Criminal Complaint unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:

From about December 2011 to October 2013, FAIELLA ran an underground Bitcoin exchange on the Silk Road website, a website that served as a sprawling and anonymous black market bazaar where illegal drugs of virtually every variety were bought and sold regularly by the site’s users. Operating under the username “BTCKing,” FAIELLA sold Bitcoins – the only form of payment accepted on Silk Road – to users seeking to buy illegal drugs on the site. Upon receiving orders for Bitcoins from Silk Road users, he filled the orders through a company based in New York, New York (the “Company”). The Company was designed to enable customers to exchange cash for Bitcoins anonymously, that is, without providing any personal identifying information, and it charged a fee for its service. FAIELLA obtained Bitcoins with the Company’s assistance, and then sold the Bitcoins to Silk Road users at a markup.

SHREM is the Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and from about August 2011 until about July 2013, when the Company ceased operating, he was also its Compliance Officer, in charge of ensuring the Company’s compliance with federal and other anti-money laundering (“AML”) laws. SHREM is also the Vice Chairman of a foundation dedicated to promoting the Bitcoin virtual currency system.

SHREM, who personally bought drugs on Silk Road, was fully aware that Silk Road was a drug-trafficking website, and through his communications with FAIELLA, SHREM also knew that FAIELLA was operating a Bitcoin exchange service for Silk Road users. Nevertheless, SHREM knowingly facilitated FAIELLA’s business with the Company in order to maintain FAIELLA’s business as a lucrative source of Company revenue. SHREM knowingly allowed FAIELLA to use the Company’s services to buy Bitcoins for his Silk Road customers; personally processed FAIELLA’s orders; gave FAIELLA discounts on his high-volume transactions; failed to file a single suspicious activity report with the United States Treasury Department about FAIELLA’s illicit activity, as he was otherwise required to do in his role as the Company’s Compliance Officer; and deliberately helped FAIELLA circumvent the Company’s AML restrictions, even though it was SHREM’s job to enforce them and even though the Company had registered with the Treasury Department as a money services business.

Working together, SHREM and FAIELLA exchanged over $1 million in cash for Bitcoins for the benefit of Silk Road users, so that the users could, in turn, make illegal purchases on Silk Road.

In late 2012, when the Company stopped accepting cash payments, FAIELLA ceased doing business with the Company and temporarily shut down his illegal Bitcoin exchange service on Silk Road. FAIELLA resumed operating on Silk Road in April 2013 without the Company’s assistance, and continued to exchange tens of thousands of dollars a week in Bitcoins until the Silk Road website was shut down by law enforcement in October 2013.

[justusranvier]

Was Charlie Shrem really doing that? Seems a little hard to believe. Surely not!?

Are you implying that truth has anything whatsoever to do with the US criminal justice system?

Why would it? It is a criminal system, after all.

[Carlton Banks]

Was Charlie Shrem really doing that? Seems a little hard to believe. Surely not!?

Are you implying that truth has anything whatsoever to do with the US criminal justice system?

Why would it? It is a criminal system, after all.

Totally agree, but it must be pretty difficult to fully fabricate the actual evidence that Charlie Shrem was using $1million to pay for narcotics. It can't just be "well, in practice, that's what happened", that would be like a full-on show trial in the 21st century.

[elux]

Indictment here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/202555785/United-States-vs-Charles-Shrem-and-Robert-M-Faiella

[guybrushthreepwood]

     They say Shrem personally bought drugs on Silk Road and
helped Faiella exchange more than $1 million in cash for
bitcoins so they could make illegal purchases.

Was Charlie Shrem really doing that? Seems a little hard to believe. Surely not!?

Vast amounts of money can corrupt anyone. Gonna read the indictment now for further details.

[TheIrishman]

Bitcoin Foundation vice chair arrested for money laundering

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/27/bitcoin-foundation-vice-chair-arrested-money-laundering

"Charlie Shrem stands accused of knowingly selling over $1m of bitcoins to users of the Silk Road online black-marketplace."

[epetroel]

     They say Shrem personally bought drugs on Silk Road and
helped Faiella exchange more than $1 million in cash for
bitcoins so they could make illegal purchases.

Was Charlie Shrem really doing that? Seems a little hard to believe. Surely not!?

Vast amounts of money can corrupt anyone. Gonna read the indictment now for further details.

Vast amounts of money?  The allegation says about $1 Million in bitcoins were purchased.  I'm not sure what BitInstant's commission was for cash purchases, but let's say it was 2% and he didn't give any discounts.  That's $20,000 in commissions.  Not exactly "vast amounts of money".

[guybrushthreepwood]

     They say Shrem personally bought drugs on Silk Road and
helped Faiella exchange more than $1 million in cash for
bitcoins so they could make illegal purchases.

Was Charlie Shrem really doing that? Seems a little hard to believe. Surely not!?

Vast amounts of money can corrupt anyone. Gonna read the indictment now for further details.

Vast amounts of money?  The allegation says about $1 Million in bitcoins were purchased.  I'm not sure what BitInstant's commission was for cash purchases, but let's say it was 2% and he didn't give any discounts.  That's $20,000 in commissions.  Not exactly "vast amounts of money".

It's not exactly peanuts either.

[jakedeez]

It's not exactly peanuts either.

$20,000 is peanuts in Preet Bararaha's world.  For sure.  Less then peanuts.

[smoothie]

http://www.vocativ.com/12-2013/night-bitcoin-millionaire-proud-stoner-charlie-shrem/

[mindfulmojo]

I like zerohedge's ending to the story:

And now, please join us in a moment of solemn silence as we fondly recall the memory of all the HSBC bankers who were thrown in prison for aiding, abetting and profiting from laundering money with known global terrorists...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-27/doj-finally-going-after-criminal-materminds-arrest-24-year-old-bitcoin-exchange-foun

[justusranvier]

Don't forget the Wachovia bankers who were more than happy to support the cartels' civil war in Mexico that nobody likes to talk about.

[The-Real-Link]

MSN's also mentioning the story on a subheadline.

I read it and was like, wait, THAT Shrem?  So much for hoping that BitInstant had remained a good business (even though I'm sure it had been mentioned before that they had issues).

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/two-men-arrested-selling-bitcoins-connection-defunct-silk-road-site-2D11999981

[Grinder]

And now, please join us in a moment of solemn silence as we fondly recall the memory of all the HSBC bankers who were thrown in prison for aiding, abetting and profiting from laundering money with known global terrorists...

There was just a very good comment about bankers in Financial Times, "Nothing can dent the divine right of bankers". It has been replicated a little down the page here: http://www.peterwarren.no/2014/01/med-svindel-som-odelsrett/

"The basic structure of the system – with its perverse incentives, too-big-to-fail institutions and too-powerful-to-jail executives – remains untouched."

[mindfulmojo]

What gets me in the average person just doesn't understand, they start taking sides and arguing about the imaginary two party system in the US,

and I want to throw my hands in the air. I get tired of trying to get them to understand the true masters of world...


"Give me control of a nations money supply, and I care not who makes it’s laws."

 Mater Amschel Rothschild, founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty.

[Carlton Banks]

Well, if the indictment is accurate, maybe there is a case to answer. Seems like a very risky move, making personal & private deals with someone to sell regular large volumes, and it certainly breaks AML guidelines. It's possible that the guy tricked Charlie, but it'd have to be a pretty convincing story ("large institutional investor, wants to remain anonymous"). And even then, getting caught up breaking the rules for a "good" reason is not smart, this guy could've been a DEA or IRS agent entrapping him.