ChainCatcher message, according to the latest report from Chainalysis, Texas resident Frank Richard Ahlgren III was sentenced to 2 years in prison for tax crimes related to the sale of $4 million worth of Bitcoin and ordered to pay $1,095,031 in restitution to the United States. This is the first tax fraud case purely related to cryptocurrency.The report shows that Ahlgren used multiple wallets to transfer Bitcoin, engaged in face-to-face peer-to-peer transactions, and employed complex methods such as CoinJoin and Wasabi Wallet mixers to conceal the flow of funds. With the assistance of blockchain analysis company Chainalysis, investigators successfully tracked the transaction process, ultimately leading the IRS to bring him to justice.

ChainCatcher news, recently, the People's Court of Pingjiang County, Hunan Province announced multiple criminal judgments involving the BKEX exchange, clearly defining the platform's contract trading as gambling behavior, and holding relevant employees and agents criminally responsible for the crime of operating a casino.The judgment shows that BKEX was founded by Ji Jiaming in 2018 in Chengdu, mainly providing virtual currency exchange and spot trading services. In 2021, the platform launched perpetual contract trading features, allowing users to bet on the price fluctuations of virtual currencies like BTC and ETH using USDT, suspected of using the internet to gather crowds for gambling. By the time of the incident, BKEX had accumulated a net profit of approximately 54.798 million USDT (equivalent to about 300 million RMB), with 270,000 contract trading users, of which over 60,000 were active users.Due to the founder Ji Jiaming being on the run, this case mainly targets platform employees and agents. The judgment involves 2 employees and 6 agents, among them, an employee named Zheng Lei, who served as a wallet engineer responsible for technical support for fund circulation, was sentenced to 2 years and 1 month in prison, with a 2-year and 1-month probation, and fined 150,000 yuan; another employee, Wang, was responsible for KYC verification and fund settlement, sentenced to 1 year and 11 months in prison, and fined 52,000 yuan. Agent Dong was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, with a 1-year and 6-month probation, and fined 35,000 yuan for developing downline participants for gambling profits. The related illegal gains have been confiscated and turned over to the national treasury.The court determined that the defendants were all accomplices, and some individuals received lighter penalties due to pleading guilty and actively returning stolen goods.Earlier in 2023, news from BKEX exchange: due to suspected "money laundering" and cooperating with the police for evidence collection, it will suspend withdrawals.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the founder of the cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme Forcount, Antonia Perez Hernandez, has pleaded guilty to telecommunications fraud and has been sentenced to over two years in prison.On January 27, during a hearing at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Judge Analisa Torres (who is also the judge presiding over the SEC's case against Ripple Labs) sentenced Hernandez to 30 months in prison for her involvement in the cryptocurrency scam. Hernandez admitted to collaborating with accomplices from 2017 to 2021 to promote cryptocurrency trading and mining on Forcount, stealing approximately $8.4 million from investors by promising substantial returns.Hernandez apologized to those who "suffered financial losses" due to her actions. The project's senior founder, Juan Tacuri, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in October 2024, while the indicted Nestor Nuñez was also sentenced to 4 years in November.

ChainCatcher news, a court in Kazakhstan has sentenced three cryptocurrency exchange operators to imprisonment. According to the official report from the Financial Regulatory Agency (AFM) operated by the Kazakhstan government, the court sentenced these three individuals to 2.5 to 3.5 years in prison, and the bailiffs confiscated their assets worth $750,000.The three individuals "operated a platform without a license" and "charged fees for exchanging cryptocurrencies." The illegal exchange processed cryptocurrency transactions worth over $1.28 million for approximately 380 clients. Prosecutors provided "client" bank statements as evidence. The bailiffs confiscated the assets of the three, "including real estate, five cars, a four-wheeler, and expensive computer equipment."

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.

ChainCatcher news, an employee of a Russian diamond mining company has been sentenced to prison for "providing economic assistance to a Ukrainian terrorist organization" by sending cryptocurrency.The man is a male resident of the Yakut Mirninsky District (Sakha Republic in the Russian Far East). He was arrested by the Sakha Republic branch of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB). The FSB stated that the man "repeatedly used cryptocurrency to transfer funds to Ukrainian armed groups," which used these funds "to conduct reconnaissance and subversive activities against the security of the Russian Federation."

ChainCatcher news, on January 7 local time, Judge Alan G. Schwartz of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York dismissed President-elect Trump's latest request to delay the sentencing proceedings in his "hush money" case.Trump's lawyers argued that as President-elect, Trump enjoys the same criminal litigation immunity as the President, but this view was rejected by the court. With less than two weeks until Trump's inauguration, if sentencing is not completed before January 20, the start of his second term, presidential immunity could delay the case until after he leaves office. The court's ruling means that Trump's sentencing is still scheduled for January 10. However, Trump and his legal team have stated they will continue to seek legal avenues to delay or cancel the sentencing.

According to ChainCatcher news and the official WeChat account of the Yuzhou Court, the Yuzhou People's Court publicly pronounced a verdict in a telecommunications network fraud case yesterday (December 27). The court found that the defendant, Wen, along with several accomplices, used fictitious identities to chat with foreign individuals. After gaining their trust, they induced them to purchase virtual currency to commit fraud. During this period, a total of 54,360 fraudulent messages were sent, and Wen illegally profited 2,400 yuan.After comprehensively considering the facts, nature, circumstances, and social harm of Wen's crime, the court sentenced the defendant Wen to three years of imprisonment for fraud, along with a fine of 20,000 yuan. After the verdict was announced, Wen expressed his intention to appeal in court.

ChainCatcher news, self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto, Australian scientist Craig Wright has been found in contempt of court and sentenced to 12 months in prison, with a two-year probation. It is reported that he appeared in court via video link, refused to disclose his exact location, but stated that he would appeal.Previous news, COPA accused Craig Wright of contempt of court, seeking a two-year prison sentence.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea sentenced Dylan Meissner to 48 months in prison on December 17, followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered him to repay over $4.6 million in stolen funds and unpaid loans.The U.S. Department of Justice did not mention the name of Meissner's previous employer in the case, referring to it in court as "Company A" and "a cryptocurrency research company," but Meissner was employed by Delphi Digital at the time of his crimes.Meissner's attorney also repeatedly mentioned in a sentencing memorandum submitted earlier this month that "Delphi" is the name of the company.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cryptonews, former South Korean Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Nam-guk is facing legal consequences for concealing a large amount of cryptocurrency assets, reflecting South Korea's strict stance on cryptocurrency regulation.According to local reports, prosecutors have proposed a six-month prison sentence for Kim Nam-guk, on the charge that he intentionally altered the asset declaration submitted to the National Assembly, concealing cryptocurrency assets worth $7.5 million.

ChainCatcher news, former South Korean Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Nam-guk attended the first public trial today at the Southern Seoul Court for allegedly concealing cryptocurrency holdings and falsely reporting assets in the 2021 and 2022 National Assembly property declarations. Former lawmaker Kim is accused of adjusting the total amount of assets by transferring part of his cryptocurrency deposits to a bank account and converting the remaining portion into cryptocurrency, thereby obstructing the National Assembly's Ethics Committee's review of asset changes. The court has decided to sentence him to 6 months in prison. The incident is still under further investigation.

ChainCatcher News: A judge in Hartford, Connecticut, Michael P. Shea, recently sentenced 31-year-old West Hartford resident Dylan Meissner to 48 months in prison for stealing over $4.4 million from his former employer. Meissner worked as the Vice President of Finance at a cryptocurrency research company and had access to the company's cryptocurrency wallets and bank accounts.In early 2022, Meissner obtained a loan of 50 Ethereum (approximately $170,000) from the company, claiming he would use the funds to avoid personal cryptocurrency investment losses. However, between February and November 2022, Meissner began misappropriating company funds to cover personal trading losses and concealed his actions with false records. Ultimately, he stole approximately $4,461,828 through this scheme.Judge Shea also ordered Meissner to pay restitution of $4.63 million, which includes the stolen funds and the unpaid loan. Meissner was released on a $100,000 bond and is scheduled to report to prison on February 21.According to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Department of Justice did not mention Meissner's previous employer by name in the case, referring to it in court as "Company A" and "a cryptocurrency research company," but Meissner was employed by Delphi Digital at the time of the crime. Meissner's attorney also referenced "Delphi" multiple times in a sentencing memorandum submitted earlier this month, indicating that it is the name of the company.

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by The Paper, the People's Court of Wenchang City, Hainan Province, recently concluded a case involving the trading of personal information using cryptocurrency. The court's investigation revealed that the defendant, Han, purchased over 82.24 million pieces of personal information for 500 yuan via QQ in 2021, which included 7.27 million photos of ID cards, 30.69 million vehicle owner information, and 1.07 million bank user information.In March 2023, Han sold this information through platforms such as QQ, WeChat, and Telegram, and collaborated with courier Wu to obtain express delivery transaction information, pricing each piece at 1.5 yuan in USDT. He made a profit of 770 yuan by exchanging through the Ouyi platform. The court sentenced Han to one year and eight months in prison for infringing on citizens' personal information and imposed a fine of 3,000 yuan. Co-defendant Wu was sentenced to eight months in prison with a one-year and four-month probation and fined 2,000 yuan.

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by The Paper, the People's Court of Wenchang City, Hainan Province, recently concluded a case involving the trading of personal information using cryptocurrency. The court's investigation revealed that the defendant Han purchased over 82.24 million personal information records for 500 yuan on QQ in 2021, which included 7.27 million photos of ID cards, 30.69 million vehicle owner information, and 1.07 million bank user information.In March 2023, Han sold this information through platforms such as QQ, WeChat, and Telegram, and collaborated with courier Wu to obtain delivery transaction information, pricing each record at 1.5 yuan in USDT. He profited 770 yuan by exchanging through a virtual asset trading platform. The court sentenced Han to one year and eight months in prison for infringing on citizens' personal information, and fined him 3,000 yuan. Co-defendant Wu was sentenced to eight months in prison with a one-year and four-month probation and fined 2,000 yuan.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Procuratorial Daily report, on November 18, the Jiangsu Province Jianhu County Procuratorate organized police officers to distribute promotional materials in communities and streets, explaining the main forms of crimes involving virtual currency and interpreting the legal risks of virtual currency transactions in connection with a new type of crime case mediated by virtual currency trading. In this case, three young men born after 1995 engaged in foreign exchange "business" through virtual currency trading, completing over 650 transactions and exchanging nearly 30 million yuan in just a few months. The Jianhu County Procuratorate filed a public prosecution, and recently, the court sentenced Lin and two others to fixed-term imprisonment of five years to one year and six months for illegal business operations, along with fines.Lin, in collaboration with a Nigerian national, used the local legal currency Naira to purchase Tether on the Binance exchange, then transferred the Tether to Lin's Binance account. Lin sold the Tether to domestic currency traders in exchange for RMB, which was then transferred to a bank account in China provided by the Nigerian national. Lin determined the purchase price by discounting 5% from the day's listing price of Tether and then sold it to domestic currency traders at the listing price, earning the price difference.The prosecutor reviewed and concluded that Lin and the other two used virtual currency as a medium to provide cross-border exchange and payment services to earn exchange rate differences, which circumvented national foreign exchange regulations by exploiting the special properties of virtual currency, affecting the effectiveness of foreign exchange management and the stability of legal exchange rates, thereby disrupting the normal order of the financial market. They should be held criminally responsible for illegal business operations according to the law.

ChainCatcher news, Maryland Heights man Richard Charles Appelbaum III has been sentenced to three years in prison for laundering millions of dollars through cryptocurrency and ordered to pay restitution of $2.3 million.The 40-year-old Appelbaum conspired with others to transfer the proceeds of business email compromise (BEC) and romance fraud schemes into cryptocurrency through Coins2trade. Under the alleged recruitment of a cryptocurrency figure known as "E.S.," he received training to open fraudulent business and personal accounts, concealing the connection of these accounts to cryptocurrency. More than 36 victims were defrauded, and Appelbaum laundered $3.5 million, transferring the funds to different accounts to obscure their source. The investigation led by the FBI uncovered 34 wire transfers totaling $8.3 million related to the fraud.

ChainCatcher news, a Russian court has sentenced the founder of the online black market and cryptocurrency mixing service Hydra, Stanislav Moiseev, to life imprisonment. The service processed over $5 billion worth of cryptocurrency during its operation.According to a statement from the Moscow Prosecutor's Office on December 2, the Moscow Regional Court found Moiseev and his 15 accomplices guilty of organized crime and illegal production and sale of psychoactive substances and drugs. The sentences for Moiseev's 15 accomplices ranged from 8 to 23 years. Moiseev was also fined $38,100 (4 million rubles), while his 15 accomplices were ordered to pay a total of $152,400 (16 million rubles). As part of the sentencing order, properties and vehicles related to the convicted individuals were also seized.According to Russian state media TASS, they will serve their sentences in a "strict regime" penal colony.

ChainCatcher news, according to Yonhap News Agency, the Cheongju District Court in South Korea sentenced a public official of the Cheongju City Government to five years in prison for embezzlement.Since January 2017, over a period of seven years, he embezzled 600 million won (approximately $427,800) for investing in cryptocurrencies and stocks as well as repaying personal debts; it was reported that he forged official documents in the scheme.