Austin Nedved, a resident of Northborough, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to a scheme involving fraud and money laundering through peer-to-peer platforms Paxful and LocalBitcoins. The scheme targeted elderly people and netted the man and his co-conspirators more than $630 000, according to a statement в сообщении Минюста США.
Nedved bought and sold bitcoins for cash obtained from victims of the fraud schemes. The agency said there were two possible forms of the deception.
The first involved an alleged lottery win. To transfer funds, fees or duties had to be paid. In the second, people became victims of romance scams.
In June 2018, Nedved helped a 78-year-old woman exchange $100 000 for bitcoins so that she could assist a prospective fiancé with an oil business. A few days later, the accomplices took another $40 000 from the victim.
Authorities charged the man with aiding and abetting fraud and conspiracy to launder money. Each count carries up to 20 years in prison and substantial fines. The sentencing for Nedved was scheduled for April 7, 2021.
As reported, one of the founders of the Centra Tech cryptocurrency project, Robert Joseph Farcas, received one year in prison and a $250,000 fine for organizing a fraudulent ICO.
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