Miami cryptocurrency exchanger pleads guilty to running unlicensed money transmitter business

Beneath is an official assertion from the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Southern District of Florida.

MIAMI – The proprietor of a Miami-based digital forex change enterprise pleaded responsible to working an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Part 1960.

Raul Rodriguez, aka raultiovigia, 43, of Miami, Florida, was within the enterprise of changing money into bitcoin and different digital forex in change for a price. Rodriguez supplied these providers to the general public via a web-based digital forex change platform generally known as “LocalBitcoins.com.”

In response to his plea settlement, Rodriguez exchanged at the least $5,047,462 in digital forex from 2016 via 2022; throughout the first two years of that interval, he was the highest-volume dealer of digital forex on the LocalBitcoins.com platform within the State of Florida. Rodriguez additional admitted that his prospects included a web-based narcotics trafficker and an expert cash launderer, each of whom had been beforehand prosecuted within the Southern District of Florida.

Rodriguez’s sentencing listening to is scheduled for April 2^nd at 11:00 a.m. in Miami. He faces as much as 5 years in federal jail.

U.S. Legal professional Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida and Particular Agent in Cost Matthew D. Line of the Inner Income Service, Felony Investigation (IRS-CI), Miami Area Workplace, introduced the responsible plea.

IRS-CI Miami investigated the case with help from FBI, Miami Area Workplace, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Miami Area Division. Assistant U.S. Legal professional Christopher Browne is prosecuting it. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marx Calderon and Emily Stone are dealing with asset forfeiture.

Associated court docket paperwork and data could also be discovered on the web site of the District Courtroom for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, underneath case quantity 23-cr-20474.