‘No questions asked’ Bitcoin launderer gets 6 years in prison

A US man operating what prosecutors called a “no questions asked” cash-to-Bitcoin conversion service has been sentenced to six years behind bars and was ordered to hand over millions of dollars. 

Boston federal court Judge Richard Stearns sentenced Trung Nguyen, from Danvers, Massachusetts, to six years in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered him to forfeit $1.5 million, the Boston US Attorney’s Office said on May 22. 

Prosecutors said Nguyen ran an unlicensed money-transmitting business called National Vending between September 2017 and October 2020, which used various techniques he learned in an online course to evade authorities.

As part of the course, Nguyen was taught how to conceal his actual business from banks, crypto exchanges and state authorities by masquerading as a vending machine company that accepted cash deposits, had a list of fictional suppliers, and generally avoided using the phrase “Bitcoin” where possible.

According to prosecutors, among Nguyen’s customer base were several scam victims who were tricked into converting cash into Bitcoin (BTC) by con artists overseas, as well as a drug dealer who sent $250,000 in cash across 10 transactions in 2018.

The Justice Department said Nguyen converted more than $1 million to Bitcoin and “purposely failed” to register with the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) despite being required to do so under federal Anti-Money Laundering regulations.