Shrem to jail for two years!!! Holy shit!

[TKeenan]

The fed is crazy!  What the hell does Charlie have to go to jail for two years for?  If you are going to do bitcoin, be careful you don't do something illegal!!!!

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=1&ved=0CB0QqQIoADAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2F2014%2F12%2F19%2Fus-usa-crime-bitcoin-idUSKBN0JX2CW20141219&ei=rMWUVKLpNMOqgwSH7oP4BA&usg=AFQjCNGY-k3vxmX8GQZn6B79VyKyv0NvOw&sig2=7Y12SnWRSVOzXtIXhUwGJg&bvm=bv.82001339,d.eXY

Everyone should prepare some care packages and send them to the jail.  He could use a little sympathy from the community.

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[g27wr]

Don't they have to prove intent? Did he actually know of the connection with Silk Road?

[MicroGuy]

The fed is crazy!  What the hell does Charlie have to go to jail for two years for?  If you are going to do bitcoin, be careful you don't do something illegal!!!!

Thanks for the head's up! I'll make sure not to conspire with drug dealers to launder cash. lol

[franky1]

so if this was about drugs....

then shrems 2 year sentance means that BTCKING will be expecting a bigger punishment.. seeing as BTCKing is one step closer to the drug crime. and on that presumption ross ulbricht should be expecting an even bigger jail sentence then both shrem and btcking...

so lets see how the other 2 get sentenced in January and see if this is about drugs or about the fact that government didnt get a nice slice of money from any of the transfers as either licence fee's or taxes..

if ubricht gets a lesser sentance.. or btcking.. then shrem should appeal his sentancing as it does not fall into line that a lesser crime compared to the other two deserves a bigger punnishment.

[TKeenan]

if ubricht gets a lesser sentance.. or btcking.. then shrem should appeal his sentancing as it does not fall into line that a lesser crime compared to the other two deserves a bigger punnishment.

Are you kidding?  Ulbricht is going to get no less than 20 years.  He is in a complete different position than Shrem.  Shrem was a little loose with the folks he chose as business partners and didn't care what they were engaged in.  

Ulbricht set up one of the biggest drug trading platforms known to man.  

Ol' Shremmy was a bit naughty - but not too much more.  Ross is a world class drug lord of epic proportions.  He could go to jail for life.  Size does matter.  Ross sold more drugs that nearly anyone in history.  Many poor suckers caught with a two pound bag of cocaine did 20 years.  Ross does no less than them - I am certain of that.

If that murder for hire stuff sticks - 100% he never sees light of day again.

[moriartybitcoin]

Shrem was an idiot for doing anything in the bitcoin world under his real name. Period. End of story.

Unless you are sucking the teat of big business, Uncle Sam is gonna get you if you start playing around with BTC with your real name.

Caveat Emptor!

[moriartybitcoin]

I mean c'mon folks, really?

This guy is a freaking MORON

He's processing payments (basically) for silk road drug dealers and doing this all under his REAL NAME ..

what the hell did he think would happen? 

[TheButterZone]

[rz20]

if ubricht gets a lesser sentance.. or btcking.. then shrem should appeal his sentancing as it does not fall into line that a lesser crime compared to the other two deserves a bigger punnishment.

Are you kidding?  Ulbricht is going to get no less than 20 years.  He is in a complete different position than Shrem.  Shrem was a little loose with the folks he chose as business partners and didn't care what they were engaged in.  

Ulbricht set up one of the biggest drug trading platforms known to man.  

Ol' Shremmy was a bit naughty - but not too much more.  Ross is a world class drug lord of epic proportions.  He could go to jail for life.  Size does matter.  Ross sold more drugs that nearly anyone in history.  Many poor suckers caught with a two pound bag of cocaine did 20 years.  Ross does no less than them - I am certain of that.

If that murder for hire stuff sticks - 100% he never sees light of day again.

I think the same sa you, Ulbricht is going to be sentenced to almost all his entire life in prison.

[IamCANADIAN013]

The fed is crazy!  What the hell does Charlie have to go to jail for two years for?  If you are going to do bitcoin, be careful you don't do something illegal!!!!

Thanks for the head's up! I'll make sure not to conspire with drug dealers to launder cash. lol

Make sure not to use your real name either, LOL!  What did Shrem think would happen?  He really isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.  

As for the OP:

The whole "If you are going to do bitcoin, be careful you don't do something illegal!!!!" works with every type of currency, why would bitcoin be any different?  Also, he has to go to jail because he laundered money. He knew exactly what he as doing.  Pretty straight forward if you ask me.

[TrailingComet]

Two years for him while all those banking exec douchebags who helped facilitate money laundering on an industrial scale got off with fines. Crazy world.

[cakir]

Well, if he has helped silk road & money laundering he has to go to jail.

He's making bad impression on Bitcoin!

Well, you can use USD on silk road & money laundering etc but no one blames federal reserve right? But "bitcoin" is not well known so it's thinked to be evil...

[jonald_fyookball]

Two years for him while all those banking exec douchebags who helped facilitate money laundering on an industrial scale got off with fines. Crazy world.

No, they get off scott free.

The bank has to pay the fines and maybe the shareholders get 5-10% less dividends that quarter.  
I guess it is kind of crazy, but then again, the elite have always enjoyed exclusive privileges.

[Robert Paulson]

[tvbcof]

Damn.  I predicted that Shrem would never go to jail.  This prediction was based in part on my guess that he'd cooperate fully and help glue some pieces together from Bitcoin's early times and that Krapholes was the main target.  Another part was that what Shrem did was simply not all that big a deal and for not all that much money (so far as I know from mainstream reports.)

I hate to be wrong.  I'll modify my prediction to be that if he does do any 'time' it will be one of those deals where he get's to check in on weekends or whatever.  I should just retract my prediction, but I'm stubborn like that.

[theymos]

That's terrible news. He didn't do anything ethically wrong.

Throughout all this, I've been wondering how much he was actually complicit in the Silk Road stuff. Apparently he knew that btcking had something to do with the Silk Road, but was it just a bit of passing knowledge, or was he actually very purposefully trying to help btcking with money laundering? I'd feel better if it was the latter, since at least he'd have known the risks ahead of time.

[bitcoin_bagholder]

Damn.  I predicted that Shrem would never go to jail.  This prediction was based in part on my guess that he'd cooperate fully and help glue some pieces together from Bitcoin's early times and that Krapholes was the main target.  Another part was that what Shrem did was simply not all that big a deal and for not all that much money (so far as I know from mainstream reports.)

I hate to be wrong.  I'll modify my prediction to be that if he does do any 'time' it will be one of those deals where he get's to check in on weekends or whatever.  I should just retract my prediction, but I'm stubborn like that.

Pretty sure Charlie knew he'd be doing time while awaiting sentencing.

Doubt the weekend gig is for two year sentences. He'd be a weekender for about eight years.

[BitCoinNutJob]

Don't they have to prove intent? Did he actually know of the connection with Silk Road?

They just do whatever they want, the main goal of this was to send out a signal to others. 

Doesnt make much sense putting him in prison though, they should have just given him 2 years home arrest or something if anything.

[Searing]

Don't they have to prove intent? Did he actually know of the connection with Silk Road?

They just do whatever they want, the main goal of this was to send out a signal to others. 

Doesnt make much sense putting him in prison though, they should have just given him 2 years home arrest or something if anything.

Heh ...2 years in the USA he will be out in 6 months on good behavior etc....most he will serve imho is 1 year...the rest
will be like 5 years probation or some such

[Foxpup]

That's terrible news. He didn't do anything ethically wrong.

He was BitInstant's AML compliance officer. By taking the job, he accepted a duty to report money laundering and ensure his company was complying with all relevant laws. The moment this duty conflicted with his own sense of ethics, he should have quit. Whether money laundering is ethical is beside the point, since he voluntarily agreed to enforce the laws (and the money laundering charge was dropped anyway).

Throughout all this, I've been wondering how much he was actually complicit in the Silk Road stuff. Apparently he knew that btcking had something to do with the Silk Road, but was it just a bit of passing knowledge, or was he actually very purposefully trying to help btcking with money laundering? I'd feel better if it was the latter, since at least he'd have known the risks ahead of time.

It was the latter. Not only that, he used his position in the company to prevent btcking's transactions from being flagged as suspicious, and hide those transactions from the BitInstant's founder, Gareth Nelson. He abused his power in a blatantly illegal and unethical way, that's all there is to it.