Regulators and law enforcement agencies can only do a part of the work. They will not be able to police what the crypto sector does at all times. When Bitcoin was created, it was created as a peer to peer payments method which favored anonymity.
Even though its creation served the greater good and included the unbanked, malicious actors have taken advantage of this for their benefits. With the rise in crime rate, regulators are doing their jobs to keep the rate to a minimum, and this can be seen in the latest feat by authorities as a malicious actor has been convicted and is set to face judgment for his crimes.
Mejia ran the illegal activities for close to two years
Going by the details of the case, the malicious actor in question, Hugo Sergio Mejia, was arrested for illegally operating a crypto exchange. With the digital asset unlicensed, Mejia could launder funds worth millions as he exchanged cash into Bitcoin and cash at will. Notably, Mejia pleaded guilty to the lawsuit and looked set to go away for a long time.
Going by details of the lawsuit, prosecutors said that Mejia has accepted guilty of running a crypto exchange that was unlicensed and used the same avenue to launder funds. The act was said to have started around May 2018 and ended around September 2020. Mejia is expected to make his guilty plea official in court in a few weeks to come, after which a sentence would be passed accordingly.
With the crime in view, Mejia is expected to be locked behind bars for close to 25 years. Mejia was said to have been involved in the business for two and half years as his venture helped several parties exchange illegal cash and digital assets worth around $13 million. The malicious actor was said to have made massive profits from charging commissions on exchanges on his unlicensed exchange.
Mejia will forfeit all his assets to the government
Authorities said that Mejia was heavily involved in getting customers via several online platforms and contacting others. He was also said to have used several methods to communicate with his clients, and he also held secret meetings at strategic locations across the world. The case against Mejia was built in a fashion that he wouldn’t deny.
A disguised member of law enforcement contacted Mejia to make several illegal exchanges, which the suspect carried out. The law enforcement agent was said to have carried out nothing less than five transactions as the agency began to build the case against the actor. The agency transacted values worth $250,000, even though he told Mejia that he got the proceeds from selling Methamphetamine in Australia.
Coming with the charges, Mejia has agreed that he would relinquish all that was seized from him to the government. The total amount of assets seized from Mejia included $233,987 in cash and assets said to be silver. Digital assets worth around $90,000 was also seized from him. The United States crime division see doing well in the past few weeks as they have been bursting crime syndicates in the last few weeks.