Four of the ten “highest-profile” cases published by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) this year are related to the cryptocurrency industry.
IRS official Jim Lee “Our investigators busted international tax schemes that preyed on people’s personal information, investigated multi-layered marketing schemes involving cryptocurrencies, and uncovered one of the largest fraud schemes in history focused on renewable fuel credits.” said.
While some of the cases in the top ten are well known to the public, the details of some are less known.
Cryptocurrency founder “Bruno Block”, who was number eight on the list, was sentenced to four years in prison. Amir Bruno Elmaani launched a cryptocurrency called Oyster Pearl for an online data storage platform in 2017.
According to the IRS statement, “Elmaani did not file a tax return and reported no income to the IRS in 2018,” but “Elmaani spent over $10 million in 2018 to purchase multiple yachts and $1.6 million in a carbon fiber composite company.” spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars at a hardware store and over $700,000 to buy two homes.”
Elmaani was sentenced to 48 months in prison and $5.5 million in fines. compensation It was decided to pay.
Seventh on the list was a Silk Road fraudster who was convicted after $3.4 billion worth of cryptocurrency was seized. A hacker named James Zhong from Silk Road 50,000 Bitcoins rang. Zhong, whose all assets and Bitcoins were confiscated, was sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in prison.
in fourth place Using Bitcoin There is money launderer Ian Freeman. According to the IRS statement, Freeman was involved in various transactions. $10 million He was acquitted and sentenced to 96 months in prison.
Third on the list is worldwide millions of people in total Investing more than 4 billion dollars One of the founders of OneCoin was involved in the scam. Karl Sebastian Greenwood was sentenced to a fine of approximately $300 million and 20 years in prison.