Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

“Bitcoin Maven” Gets One Year in Prison for Money Laundering

Published 07/11/2018, 10:37 AM
Updated 07/11/2018, 10:40 AM
 “Bitcoin Maven” Gets One Year in Prison for Money Laundering

“Bitcoin Maven” Gets One Year in Prison for Money Laundering

A woman from California, known as the “Bitcoin Maven”, was sentenced to one year in jail for illegally laundering cryptocurrency using LocalBitcoins in the first of its kind case in the district.

Theresa Tetley has pleaded guilty in laundering Bitcoins worth millions of US dollars.

“Theresa Lynn Tetley, 50, of Southern California, a former stockbroker and real estate investor, was sentenced by United States District Judge Manuel L. Real for conducting an illegal business and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions involving Bitcoins. Tetley was also ordered to forfeit 40 Bitcoin, $292,264.00 in cash, and 25 assorted gold bars that were the proceeds of her illegal activity,” a notice of the Department of Justice informed.

Tetley has attracted the attention of law enforcement after helping an individual to launder Bitcoins received from illegal activity. She was later caught in a sting operation when exchanging Bitcoin for cash for an undercover DEA agent.

Tetley has laundered Bitcoins worth more than $6 million while working as a trader for LocalBitcoins between 2014 and 2017.

It is hard to say whether Tetley knew the origin of the money she was trading. She was acting as a conduit between the fiat and cryptocurrency markets.

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of IOHK - the company behind Cardano – condemned the court’s decision in a post on Twitter, saying that she was only guilty of a victimless ordeal.

https://twitter.com/IOHK_Charles/status/1017025615730434048

Although this is the first sentence in California, LocalBitcoins is popular in many countries where cryptocurrency trading is either restricted or illegal and access to exchanges is difficult. In Venezuela, where people put their faith in Bitcoin in an attempt to stay away from the hyperinflating bolivar, most of the volume of trading with cryptocurrencies is made on this marketplace.

If people cannot trade Bitcoin for cash, the financial privacy of the cryptocurrency could be compromised. Tetley’s prison sentence might establish a precedent in California for this.


This article appeared first on Cryptovest

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.