A US man has been sentenced to 6 years in prison and ordered to forfeit millions of dollars after operating a fraudulent cash-to-Bitcoin conversion service.
On May 22, the Boston US Attorney’s Office announced that Federal Judge Richard Stearns sentenced Trung Nguyen, from Danvers, Massachusetts, to 6 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $1.5 million in penalties.
How Did Nguyen Facilitate Illicit Transactions?
Prosecutors said Nguyen operated an unlicensed money-transmitting business called “National Vending” between September 2017 and October 2020. He allegedly used techniques learned from an online course to evade detection by authorities.
Nguyen facilitated illegal cash-to-Bitcoin transactions for victims tricked by foreign scammers, and even converted $250,000 in cash for a drug dealer across 10 transactions in 2018. Prosecutors stated he converted more than $1 million to Bitcoin without registering with the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), as required by federal anti-money laundering laws.
Undercover Operation Catches Nguyen
According to prosecutors, Nguyen regularly met clients in person to accept large amounts of cash, a key factor that led to his arrest.
A May 2023 court filing revealed that during several meetings with undercover federal agents, Nguyen accepted cash and transferred Bitcoin in return, taking a commission of just over 5%.
The filing also stated that Nguyen used encrypted messaging apps and other tools to make his transactions difficult to trace. He broke up cash deposits into smaller amounts and spread them across different bank branches over several days to avoid detection.
Nguyen was charged with operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and two counts of money laundering. He pleaded not guilty to all charges, but in November 2023, a jury convicted him on the unlicensed business charge and one count of money laundering, while clearing him of the second.