New York State Sees First Conviction for Crypto Money Laundering
By Yogita Khatri A case involving millions of dollars in bitcoin and Western Union payments has resulted in New York State’s first conviction for cryptocurrency money laundering. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that defendants Callaway Crain and Mark Sanchez, both 35, laundered $2.8 million earned through sales of controlled substances carried out over the internet. Between 2013 and 2018, the two men sold steroids and other drugs including Viagra across the U.S. via their website “NextDayGear” and on the dark web. They sold over 10,000 packages and accepted payments in cryptocurrency and fiat currency via Western Union, which they then laundered. Customers usually paid in bitcoin, the Attorney’s Office said, with the defendants laundering the proceeds via one or more “intermediary” cryptocurrency wallets to obfuscate the source of the funds. The bitcoin was then converted to U.S. dollars using a cryptocurrency ...