The Department of Justice in the Southern District of California announced Jacob Burrell Campos was ordered to be held at a hearing on Friday in connection to the charges. Prosecutors alleged that, from January 2015 to April 2016, Burrell sold about $750,000 worth of bitcoin to 900 individuals in the U.S. via his bitcoin exchange service.
It seems Burrell had not registered the exchange as a licensed money transmitter and intentionally failed to implement anti-money laundering measures. As a result, he is being accused of one count of illegal money transmission and one count of money laundering.
Prosecutors said Burrell committed almost 30 counts of international money laundering. From the beginning of 2015 to February 2016, Burrell allegedly wired at least $900,000 in 30 transactions from his bank accounts in the U.S. to Hong Kong-based crypto exchange Bitfinex to buy bitcoin.
Prosecutors said: “Burrell’s activities ‘blew a giant hole’ through the legal framework of U.S. anti-money laundering laws by soliciting and introducing into the U.S. banking system close to $1 million in unregulated cash.”
In case Burrell is convicted on any of the money laundering charges, the U.S. government will forfeit “any property, real and personal, involved in such offense, and any property traceable to such property.”
