In Boston, an Asian man was found guilty of operating an unauthorized money transfer business that “asks no questions,” converting over $1 million in cash into digital currency Bitcoin, and allegedly laundering money for scammers and drug traffickers. After a five-day trial, the 48-year-old Vietnamese man Trung Nguyen, also known as DCS420, was convicted of money laundering.
According to the Boston federal prosecutor’s office, Nguyen was convicted of operating an unlicensed money transfer business and concealing money laundering. The sentencing is scheduled for February 12 next year.
Between September 2017 and October 2020, Nguyen owned and operated a company called National Vending, LLC. The company accepted cash from customers and sent them Bitcoin as a return in exchange for fees.
However, Nguyen did not register his business with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the Treasury Department nor comply with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations, such as submitting suspicious activity reports and currency transaction reports exceeding $10,000.
The indictment stated that Nguyen provided money transfer services for various illegal sources of cash. For example, in 2018, in 10 transactions, he accepted a total of $250,000 in cash from an individual claiming to be a methamphetamine distributor.
In 2019 and 2020, he received about $325,000 from a romance scam victim in Kansas City, Missouri; $60,000 from a romance scam victim in Connecticut, and $60,000 from a romance scam victim in central Massachusetts – each of them duped into exchanging cash for Bitcoin to send to their supposed overseas lovers. Nguyen failed to report these transactions as suspicious or currency transactions.
The indictment also revealed that Nguyen took various measures to conceal his money transfer business. Firstly, he registered his business with banks, cryptocurrency exchanges, and federal authorities as an “automatic vending machine business.” Secondly, he used encrypted messaging applications to communicate with clients and employed specific techniques to make Bitcoin transactions harder to trace.
Thirdly, he divided cash deposits over $10,000 into multiple smaller deposits to avoid drawing attention. Allegedly, he also participated in a paid course to learn how to conceal his business, which advised him not to mention the word “Bitcoin.”
Money laundering charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000 or double the value of the transaction. Operating an unlicensed money transfer business can lead to a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
“Laundering money is the lifeblood of many criminal activities, and this defendant’s ‘no questions asked’ money laundering operation turned dirty money from a notorious drug dealer into deadlier methamphetamine on our streets and defrauded victims of their hard-earned savings. Money launderers may view Bitcoin as a new method to launder illicit funds, but the reality is different,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy stated. They will closely monitor the market, continue investigating and prosecuting money launderers as they are a critical part of illegal drug and fraud transactions.