Trader of LocalBitcoins is sentenced to one year in prison for money laundering

Theresa Lynn Tetley, 50, was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison after being found guilty of a cause of operating an unlicensed money transfer business and a money laundering case in the state of California, USA. Theresa was arrested in March 2017 and pleaded guilty to those charges.

"Bitcoin Maven" as Tetley was also known on the LocalBitcoins platform, after a year in prison she will have to serve an additional sentence of 3 years of probation, pay a fine of USD $ 20,000 and must deliver 40 bitcoins to the authorities (approximately USD $ 254,000 ), USD $ 292,264 in cash and 25 gold bars that were earned from their illegal activities.

According to court documents, Tetley offered bitcoin exchange services for cash without registering the business as a money service with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and without implementing anti-money laundering mechanisms such as reporting certain transactions. required for this type of business.

"Bitcoin Maven" started advertising in 2014 at LocalBitcoins and changed approximately USD $ 9.5 million for clients across the country until it was arrested when it was intending to exchange money for bitcoins with a covered agent who claimed that their digital currencies came from of activities related to narcotics trafficking.

It is believed that during the time he managed his business he facilitated money laundering for an individual who was suspected of receiving bitcoins from illegal activities, such as selling drugs on the dark web. The government argued that "in view of the growth of the dark web and the use of digital currency, unlicensed exchangers provide a laundering space for those who use digital currency for illicit purposes."

Originally, the time in prison was to be 30 months, but after the reduction was known, Tetley's lawyers said that the sentence was a "victory".