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CONCORD – Ian Freeman was sentenced immediately in federal courtroom for laundering over ten million {dollars} in proceeds from romance scams and different web fraud, U.S. Legal professional Jane E. Younger publicizes.
Ian Freeman, 43, of Keene was sentenced by U.S. District Courtroom Choose Joseph Laplante to 96 months in jail, 2 years of supervised launch, and a tremendous of $40,000. Freeman was ordered to pay restitution to victims in an quantity to be decided on a later date. Freeman was convicted by a federal jury on December 22, 2022.
“The defendant’s prison conduct devastated many weak individuals,” stated U.S. Legal professional Jane E. Younger. “Dozens of victims had been recognized throughout the investigation. Many of them misplaced their life’s financial savings by approach of Freeman’s bitcoin cash laundering scheme. The Courtroom acknowledged that an vital half of this sentence was for the defendant to present restitution to the victims. In monetary crimes circumstances resembling this, offering restitution to victims is one of the best priorities of the U.S. Division of Justice and this Workplace.”
“Ian Freeman’s sentencing reveals that IRS Prison Investigation is working vigorously to cease web fraudsters like Ian Freeman,” stated Harry T. Chavis Jr, Particular Agent in Cost of IRS Prison Investigation’s Boston Discipline Workplace. “Not solely did Freeman launder hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, however he additionally offered a conduit for different scammers to depart numerous victims destitute in their wake. The position of IRS Prison Investigation turns into much more vital in web fraud circumstances due to the advanced monetary transactions that may take time to unravel in order that fraudsters like Ian Freeman could be introduced to justice.”
Freeman laundered over ten million {dollars} in proceeds of romance scams and different web frauds by exchanging U.S. {dollars} for bitcoin. By failing to register his enterprise with the Monetary Crimes Enforcement Community as required by legislation, disabling “know your buyer” options on his bitcoin kiosks, and guaranteeing that bitcoin prospects didn’t inform him what they did with their bitcoin, amongst different issues, Freeman created a enterprise that catered to fraudsters. By charging exorbitant charges, Freeman made greater than a million {dollars}.
Data and displays in the 10-day trial proved that as half of the conspiracy, Freeman and his co-conspirators opened and operated accounts at monetary establishments in the names of varied church buildings together with the Shire Free Church, the Church of the Invisible Hand, the Crypto Church of New Hampshire, and the NH Peace Church. Freeman instructed bitcoin prospects, who had been usually victims of scams, to lie to the monetary establishments and describe their deposits as church donations. From 2016 to 2019, he paid no taxes, and hid his earnings from the Inside Income Service.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Inside Income Service, Prison Investigations, and the US Postal Inspection Service led the investigation. The Nationwide Cryptocurrency Enforcement Staff and the Division of Justice, Tax Division, offered precious help in the case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Georgiana L. MacDonald, John Kennedy, and Seth R. Aframe.
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