Vegas Guy Jailed for Operating Illegal Bitcoin Trading Business
Anthony J. Battagia, a federal judge of the United
States representing the Southern District of California has sentenced a Las
Vegas, Nevada resident, Morgan Rockcoons to a two years prison term for operating
an unregistered and unlicensed money transmitting business and wire fraud.
According to the official press release by the United States Department of Justice [DOJ], “A Nevada resident, Morgan Rockcoons, has been handed 21 months imprisonment for operating a trading business based on Bitcoin without registering the trading firm with relevant financial regulators.” Morgan Rockcoons specifically publicized his Bitcoin services on the website, LocalBitcoins.com. In the year 2015, Morgan was also identified as one of the most productive seller in San Diego by Homeland Security Investigations [HIS].
The
profile of the 31-year-old on LocalBitcoins.com disclosed that he was an official
Bitcoin trader and seller in San Diego. In the year 2016, Morgan cracked nearly
500 transactions and by October 2017, he was able to carry out more than 1,000
transactions with 644 individuals, where he charged 36 percent fee per trade. However,
Morgan was charged on 8th November 2017, for running the unlicensed
and unregistered money transmitting business. He was then arrested on that
charge on 9th February 2018 but was released on a bond pending
trial. Despite being amidst issues with the law, in spring last year Morgan created
a fraud platform which was named as Bitcointopia. The platform defrauded people
via the sale of a non-existent real estates which were claimed to be located in
the desert of Elko County, Nevada. On the website, Morgan claimed that his
website was a place where bitcoin was a legal tender and that Bitcointopia,
Inc. corporation owns land in the above stated region.
Morgan
also claimed that a potential investor could buy nearly 500 to 1,000 Acre plots
at a price of 0.5 BTC per acre. However, those who invested were never given
the land. The police officials have also identified at least ten such people
have been scammed through Bitcointopia. On 7th March 2019, Rockcoons
pleaded guilty to the charges against him and the Judge ordered him to forfeit
$80,600 in profits. Morgan has been in custody since his arrest on 29th
October, 2018.
Gloss