Bitcoin Foundation’s Shrem Will Plead Guilty
Charlie Shrem, the former Bitcoin Foundation Inc. vice chairman, will plead guilty to unlicensed money transmission under an agreement with federal prosecutors, his lawyer said.
Shrem was accused in an indictment of trying to launder more than $1 million in the virtual currency in a case tied to the illicit online bazaar Silk Road. He was indicted in April, pleading not guilty, on charges of money laundering conspiracy, failing to file reports of suspicious business activity and operating an unlicensed money transmission business in a scheme to sell Bitcoins to Silk Road users to buy illegal drugs.
Shrem, who was also the chief executive officer of a Bitcoin exchange company called BitInstant, and co-defendant Robert Faiella, who the U.S. said operated an underground Bitcoin exchange called BTCKing, were first arrested in January. Faiella faces as long as 20 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge of conspiracy.
The case is U.S. v. Faiella, 14-cr-00243, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
Source: bloomberg
