An international cryptocurrency supplier was sentenced to 121 months in prison by the U.S. Department of Justice for conspiracy to launder money

ChainCatcher news, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Indian national Anurag Pramod Murarka has been sentenced to 121 months in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering. The 30-year-old Murarka is an international virtual currency vendor operating under the aliases "elonmuskwhm" and "la2nyc." From April 2021 to September 29, 2023, Murarka promoted his money laundering services on dark web markets.

Customers negotiated exchange rates with him via encrypted messages and then sent cryptocurrency to a designated address. Murarka subsequently arranged for cash to be delivered to employees in the U.S. through Indian hawala operations, who then concealed the cash in books or envelopes to send back to the customers.

Murarka charged service fees and used part of the funds to bribe employees. He was aware that many of his customers were involved in criminal activities such as computer hacking and drug trafficking, facilitating money laundering exceeding $20 million for these criminal activities.