S&P Solutions, which operated as Bitcoin of America, along with three of its executives, are facing charges of money laundering, conspiracy and other crimes connected to the operation of more than 50 unlicensed crypto kiosks in the state.
Authorities seized 52 Bitcoin ATMs last week, but the firm has more in Ohio and other states. Bitcoin of America made $3.5 million in profit from cash deposits at these unlawful kiosks in 2021, Rogalski said.
Officials believe the firm has been operating and evading regulatory safeguards and financial compliance requirements since 2018.
This is crazy. Running more than 50 unlicensed Bitcoin ATM kiosks in the United States should have earned them a lot of money to become licensed and registered, but they stayed unlicensed, avoiding taxation and perhaps trying to cover up their travesties. The article mentioned that they have been operative since 2018, which have been a long time since they started. I wonder what they were thinking—that they might not be noticed. The prosecutor is right about their conviction. If this was a registered company, perhaps the scammy acts faced by users may have been detected.
Meanwhile, the company allegedly
pocketed a 20% transfer fee each time this occurred and continued to do even after learning they were fraudulent.
He added that in one instance, an elderly gentleman lost $11,250 in three transactions to one of the dodgy kiosks in under an hour to this scam.
I'm just wondering: if this Bitcoin ATM took a 20% transfer fee from the innocent guy that got scammed for $11,250 and that earned this firm $9,000 all at once, how about people that got scammed for more than $11,000 and spent the 20% fee? This really confirms that this company would have really obtained a license if they wanted to.