Ian Freeman of Keene, New Hampshire, a 43-year-old has been slapped with a 96-month jail term. His crimes involved laundering over $10 million for internet scams leveraging bitcoin, primarily stemming from romance fraud according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Hampshire. His penalties also include a $40,000 fine and are to serve two years under supervised release post his term. The amount of restitution for his victims is still under consideration.
Freeman, in complete disregard of regulations, failed to register his business with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and disabled the "know your customer" features on his bitcoin kiosks. This facilitated fraudsters in blackmailing vulnerable individuals and helped Freeman pocket over a cool $1 million in fees, as per the Department of Justice.
During the 10-day trial, records and exhibits revealed that as part of his criminal scheme, Freeman and his accomplices created and operated accounts at different financial institutions, under various church names. These churches included the Shire Free Church, the Church of the Invisible Hand, the Crypto Church of New Hampshire, and the NH Peace Church. His victims, innocently buying bitcoin, were urged to misinform institutions by labeling their deposits as church donations. By doing so, he successfuly concealed his earnings from the Internal Revenue Service from 2016 to 2019.
The investigation, carried out by multiple U.S. agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, IRS Criminal Investigation's Boston Field Office, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, proved the cutting-edge tactics and collaborative efforts needed to combat the distinct issues raised by cryptocurrency-related crimes asserts the U.S. Department of Justice. The National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and the Department of Justice, Tax Division, lent significant support to the case.
Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division, shared that internet-related crimes have cost New Hampshire residents close to $33 million in the previous year according to the Department of Justice.
