Category Archives: The Law

Judge Rejects Florida Man's Bid to Dismiss Case

Posted on by

Florida Judge Fleur Lobree dismissed Pascal Reed's motion to drop illegal money transfer charges in an case relating to him selling roughly $25,000 worth of Bitcoin to a Secret Service agent in a sting last winter. Reed's lawyer argued that as merely a token of value applying Florida's money transmission laws to individuals as opposed to corporations would set a horrifying precedent:

"The statute was intended for the exchange of money for money, If you extend it to anything of value, then any customer using a credit card to buy something, anyone holding a yard sale and accepting cash, is a money transferer."

According to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle two other people were arrested as a result of this sting targeting "individuals engaged in high volume Bitcoin activity."

CFTC Restate Supposed Authority Over Bitcoin

Posted on by

If you didn't hear the first time, the CFTC has restated its authority over virtual currencies such as Bitcoin including futures and swap contracts. The claimant of this authority, Chairman of the CFTC Timothy Massad, made such comments when he appeared before the US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. Massad's claim relies upon the Commodity Exchange Act's broad definition of what a commodity is. Continue reading →

Additional Information On A Normal Man AKA John D Powell

Posted on by

As John D Powell took a plea deal and plead guilty to two charges of operating an unlicensed money service business, few court documents are available. The documents that are available depict an articulate man who experienced a run of misfortune prior to his involvement with Bitcoin.

In a letter to Judge Shadid, Mr Powell cites the break down of his marriage and stress of surviving an aortic dissection as explanation for his decision to operate an unlicensed Bitcoin exchange. One could be forgiven for mistaking Powell's letter as one penned by a murderer who is remorseful for his crimes and if as claimed by the State, Powell did process USD $3 million in Bitcoin, it's clear it was a beacon of light for him despite yielding to the court in his apology letter. Continue reading →

A Normal Man Sentenced To 48 Months Prison

Posted on by

A Normal man1 has been sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge James Shadid to 48 months in federal prison for operating a bitcoin exchange. 55 year old John Powell of Normal, Illinois plead guilty to two counts of operating an unlicensed money service business.

Powell received US $3 million over an 18 month period up until February 2014. Upon completion of the sentence, Powell will serve three years of supervised release.

Source – http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/b-n-man-sentenced-for-illegal-bitcoin-operation/article_30069152-125b-5ef1-8d19-e8f8176678de.html

  1. top kek! ↩

Silbert Syndicate Wins 48,000 BTC at auction

Posted on by

Barry Silbert has self disclosed on twitter that his bidding syndicate has won 48,000 BTC in the recent United States Marshal's Service auction. Tim Draper had earlier announced winning the other 2000 BTC up for bidding. Silbert's tweet:

Announcement: Pleased to share that the syndicate organized by & our trading division won 48k bitcoin auctioned by US Marshals

9:32 AM – 9 Dec 2014

HashFast Asset Auction Cancelled

Posted on by

Last Thursday, Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali approved a joint statement from HashFast and its creditors in which it is made clear that no-one other than Simon Barber is interested in purchasing the remaining assets. Early last month, HashFast was ordered to auction off its assets but plans for the auction have been scuttled at the last moment as the Bid Procedures Order only received "lowball offers."

In addition to the joint statement released last Thursday, a document dated October 31st was made available. This document shows that a Venezuelan congressman by the name of Guido Ochoa made a bid of $420,000, which was accepted, for all HashFast assets but the ASICs. Continue reading →

Von NotHaus Gets House Arrest

Posted on by

Reports are coming out that Bernard Von NotHaus has been sentenced to six months of house arrest. He was convicted in 2011 for minting a precious metal backed private currency called the Liberty Dollar which he intended to have rival the Federal Reserve note. Von NotHaus had been described by prosecutors and law enforcement officials as a terrorist for encouraging private persons to barter with silver and gold coins as an alternative to using United States Dollars. The Liberty Dollar was introduced in 1998. Von Nothaus was warned in 2006, raided in 2007, indicted in 2009, convicted in 2011, and finally sentenced December 3rd 2014. Von Nothaus had faced potentially 40 years in prison and a loss of millions of dollars, but the United States Attorney only managed again, a sentence of six months of house arrest.

Congress Man Proposes Bill (H.R. 5777 Full Text Attached)

Posted on by

Outgoing United States Representative Steve Stockman of Texas has proposed a bill, H.R. 5777 that if it became law would impose a moratorium of five years on regulatory and statutory constraints upon cryptocurrency, as well as changing the treatment of cryptocurrencies under United States tax law to that enjoyed by traditional currencies. The moratorium proposed would apply to regulations and statutes at both the state and federal level. The chance this bill passes either house of the legislature is remote given a lack of support and Stockman's limited remaining time in Congress. If it makes it out of Congress its chance of becoming law would still be rather remote, because it would arrive on Obama's desk and require his signature. At present the bill has been introduced to the floor of the House and referred to both the House Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. Continue reading →