The US man who runs what prosecutors call “no questions,” was sentenced to prison six years later for cash-to-bitcoin conversion services and ordered to hand over millions of dollars.
Boston Federal Court Judge Richard Stearns has sentenced Turn Nuguen to three years of supervised release from Danvers, Massachusetts, to a three-year prison term and to confiscate $1.5 million, the Boston U.S. Attorney General said on May 22.
According to prosecutors, Nguyen ran an unauthorized money transfer business called National Vending from September 2017 to October 2020, and used various techniques she learned in her online courses to avoid authorities.
As part of the course, Nguyen was taught how to hide real businesses from banks, crypto exchanges and state authorities, pose as a vending machine company that accepted cash deposits, had a fictitious list of suppliers, and avoided using the phrase “Bitcoin” whenever possible.
According to prosecutors, among Nguyen’s client base were victims of fraudulents who were fooled by overseas scammers to convert cash into Bitcoin (BTC), and drug dealers who sent $250,000 in cash in 10 transactions in 2018.
The Justice Department said Nguyen had “deliberately failed” to register with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FINCEN), despite the need to convert more than $1 million into Bitcoin and do so under federal money laundering regulations.
Nguyen also “didn’t be able to submit any suspicious activity or currency transaction reports for any of these transactions, including cash transactions of more than $10,000,” the prosecutor said.
Sting undercover police officer
Nguyen often meets clients in person to accept large amounts of cash.
According to the May 2023 indictment, at several meetings with law enforcement officers in undercover investigations, he accepted cash and sent Bitcoin in return, accounting for just 5% of the committee.
Related: Cryptocurrency Use in Money Laundering “Far Down” Cash – US Treasury Department
The indictment said Nguyen used an encrypted messaging app and “techniques that have made it more difficult” to track Bitcoin transactions and split cash deposits into smaller amounts in consecutive days and at different branches of the same bank to avoid notification by the authorities.
Nguyen was accused of running an unlicensed remittance business and two counts of money laundering. He pleaded not guilty to all charges in June 2023.
The ju judge found him in November guilty of only one unlicensed money transfer business fee and money laundering fee, realizing he was not guilty of another money laundering fee.
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