A United States court recently ordered a guilty plea to Christopher Bania, who is charged for drug distributiion, to give up almost 17 Bitcoin (BTC) which are now worth less than $150,000 (at press time). The US Court fines the dark web drug dealer in a case of money laundering, importation of controlled substances and maintaining a drug property.
Per the October 19 order from a court in Wisconsin, Bania will now need to forfeit “approximately 16.91880054 Bitcoin that are seized from his ‘Local Bitcoins’ account.” Even though that is worth less than $150k at the time of writing, it is much less than the 124 BTC that the court is returning to the defendant alongside various other cryptocurrencies and over $50,000 in cash seized from his residence upon the arrest.
Bahia’s plea on September 6 was to the single charge of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, which carries a top sentence up to 20 years in jail. Bania’s plea admits to selling marijuana, cocaine, MDMA and LSD on the dark web. The US Court fines him for that right now – but he denies distributing the methamphetamines, heroin and cocaine based on the proof that the authorities found at his home.
The US border patrol originally launched the investigation into Bania and his dealings after they intercepted two packages from Belgium containing MDMA. Investigators were able to trace Bania and his use of dark web distribution networks thanks to his transaction notebooks, which are described as “meticulous” in the court filings.
The sentencing is currently scheduled for December 9. Meanwhile another couple in California pleaded guilty to similar charges before this. Near the end of July, a man in Florida admitted to operating a massive opioid distribution network online.
As the US Court fines this dark web drug dealer, the war between regulators and crypto criminals continues. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin scams news show that there are more and more cases like these, especially popular after price spikes and increases in the price of BTC and other cryptocurrencies.
The rally that Bitcoin started yesterday was also a major milestone for the dominant cryptocurrency and the highest price that we have seen in about 5 weeks.
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