Federal jury returned a guilt verdict against defendant for "money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business as part of a scheme to launder the purported Bitcoin proceeds of drug trafficking." "The verdict followed a four-day trial before United States District Judge Pamela K. Chen. When sentenced, Goklu faces up to 25 years in prison." “The defendant offered his customers the ability to launder their criminal proceeds, remain anonymous and conceal where their Bitcoin was coming from so they could continue to engage in drug trafficking and other crimes while avoiding law enforcement detection,”
"As proven at trial, in July 2018, DEA special agents identified an advertisement posted on localbitcoins.com where an individual with the username “Mustangy” offered to purchase up to $99,999 worth of bitcoins (“BTC”), ... [and] convert them into U.S. currency for a fee. "A DEA Special Agent acting in an undercover capacity (the “UC”) began exchanging encrypted text messages with defendant to arrange in-person exchanges of BTC to U.S. currency."
"The UC and the defendant subsequently met and engaged in seven transactions or attempted exchanges of BTC to cash over a nine-month period"
