A man in the U.S. was sentenced to prison for running a cash-to-Bitcoin conversion service, which prosecutors have characterized as operating without proper oversight. Six years after beginning his activities, Thurn Nggien received a three-year supervised release and a directive to forfeit $1.5 million from a judge in Boston Federal Court, Richard Stearns, as of May 22.
Prosecutors allege that Nguyen operated an unauthorized money transfer business called National Vending from September 2017 to October 2020. He allegedly employed various strategies learned from online courses to evade regulatory scrutiny.
These courses instructed Nguyen on how to obscure the nature of his business from banks and state authorities, including posing as a vending machine company that accepted cash and fabricating supplier details, all while avoiding the term “Bitcoin” whenever possible.
It’s reported that some of Nguyen’s clients included fraud victims tricked by overseas scammers into converting cash to Bitcoin and drug dealers who executed cash transactions amounting to $250,000 in 2018.
The Justice Department asserted that Nguyen “willfully failed” to register with the Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FINCEN) at the Treasury Department, despite having the responsibility to comply with federal money laundering laws for transactions exceeding $1 million.
Additionally, prosecutors noted that he didn’t file any suspicious activity or currency transaction reports for transactions surpassing $10,000.
Undercover Investigations
Nguyen reportedly met clients in person for significant cash exchanges. In May 2023, during covert operations by law enforcement, he accepted cash and exchanged it for Bitcoin, earning a mere 5% in the process.
The indictment states that Nguyen employed an encrypted messaging app and various techniques that obscured Bitcoin transactions. He also divided cash deposits into smaller amounts that were deposited on consecutive days at different bank branches to evade detection.
Charged with operating an unlicensed remittance service and committing money laundering, Nguyen pleaded not guilty to all allegations in June 2023. However, by November, a court found him not guilty regarding one count related to money laundering, ultimately just convicting him of running the unlicensed money transfer operation.
