FinCEN Setting Dangerous Precedent Seeking Jail
for Crypto Traders
Randall Lord, a former Libertarian candidate and Louisiana small business man, was recently railroaded by an overreaching federal government that is intent on criminalizing bitcoin trading.
Who is Randall Lord?
FinCEN, the anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement arm of the US Treasury, has taken upon itself the authority to apply regulations designed for Money Services Businesses to bitcoin traders. After careful review, I was shocked to find that the government’s case against Mr. Lord hinges on the “guilty” plea that he made after receiving terrible advice from his lawyer. Horrifically, when Mr. Lord sought to withdraw the “guilty” plea, the judge determined that a withdrawal of the plea would “inconvenience” the government as they would then have to prove their case.
In essence...
What the hell? The government would be inconvenienced? What about Mr. Lord? Isn’t 46 months in jail an inconvenience?
No law currently addresses bitcoin (virtual currency) trading. FinCEN has made rulings regarding the Money Services Businesses regulations they are tasked with enforcing and they have arbitrarily applied these rulings to bitcoin trading businesses. Although no law currently exists, FinCEN has labeled cryptocurrency traders as criminals and has won court cases against these non-law breaking crypto traders.
A law must exist before it can be broken.
I’m tired of seeing the phrase “victimless crime” when media discusses the arrests and convictions of crypto traders. In order for something to be considered a “victimless crime” it requires two things:
- a crime
- no victim
Without a law criminalizing crypto trading, there is NO CRIME. Likewise, where there is no crime, there can be NO VICTIM.
Felony Friday 074 - Randall Lords Story Bitcoin Trader Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison
— Lions Of Liberty
The state tries to make an example out of one person, the best thing we can do is to turn that example around and just show how barbaric it is. — Lions of Liberty host John Odermatt
A crime has happened and there is a victim.
The tragic reality is that Mr. Lord is a victim of FinCEN’s overzealous approach to law enforcement. The crime is kidnapping Mr. Lord. You know, depriving him of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”? Make no mistake about incarceration, the very act of which is government aggression against the individual. In addition to the planned kidnapping of Mr. Lord, FinCEN also sought to confiscate Mr. Lord’s property. By setting courtroom precedence for convicting crypto traders of running unlicensed money services businesses, FinCEN has proved that the federal government refuses to abide by the limits set in the Constitution and the United States Code.
Mr. Lord’s non-regulated bitcoin trades are supposedly in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 Conspiracy to Defraud the United States. A conviction for conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of fines plus 5 years imprisonment. Once again, Randall Lord received 46 months (3 years 10 months) for pleading guilty to this charge after his lawyer advised him to do so.
His lawyer advised him to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States.
There can be NO CONSPIRACY if there’s NO INTENTION TO COMMIT A CRIME (mens rea). The very concept of conspiracy implies that a conspirator has criminal intentions. Mr. Lord's actions show he never intended to conspire against the US government. The only proof the United States government, FinCEN, has of a conspiracy is the guilty plea that Mr. Lord was illy "advised" to take by a lawyer who didn't fully appreciate the predicament his client was actually in.
No conspiracy took place because the United States government does not actually have US Codes (laws) that illegalize cryptocurrency trading. Without a law to break, no conspiracy can take place.
If and when the US Congress becomes interested in classifying cryptocurrency for legal and taxation reasons, they will do so. If Congress can write laws that specify how to treat movie receipts and onions, you can damn sure bet that they are capable of legislating cryptocurrencies.
Government harassment of cryptotraders for trading cryptocurrency is no different than harassing collector card traders for trading cards OR online gamers for trading in-game items. It is literally our government attacking our citizens over the 0s and 1s of:
OUR VALUED IMAGINATIONS.
To the bureaucracy, en masse, citizens are invaluable national products. Also, to the bureaucracy, individually, citizens are expendable. To ensure a nation's survival, careful balance must be obtained between production and expenditure. Without the imagination and labor of citizens, no nation could survive. When the imagined values of the citizenry change, the bureaucracy scrambles to replace the revenue of obsolete potential with the revenue of future potential. During transitional scrambles, bureaucracies habitually reach for more regulatory area than they've actually been granted. What they can get to stick in court, facilitates legislation by practice (precedent).
We are standing in the midst of history, watching the US Treasury attack US citizens in regards to computer game play. The Bitcoin blockchain and derivative blockchains are (typically open-sourced) ledger-based software programs. Users of cryptocurrencies can be likened to Alternate Reality Game (ARG) players who are playing a Financial Strategy ARG.
Who can help?
How can YOU help?
- Resteem, upvote, and comment on this post. 100% of the proceeds will be used to support the Lord Legal Defense Fund.
- Share this post on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and whatever other social media networks you use.
- Contact the ACLU and ask them to stand up and protect cryptotraders from government infringement of our civil liberties.
- Stay tuned for upcoming "Congressional Carnival" posts where we’ll dissect the Lords' grand jury indictments, examine the language of the laws (USC) and regulations (CFR), as well as discover what court precedence has already been set.
- Write a SteemIt post about interactions between governments and cryptotraders. Put your link into the comments!
Who Makes US Money Laws?
The Constitution Says the Legislature. So you'd think...
The Treasury Department is the executive agency responsible [...] — U.S. Treasury
Did you catch that? Sixth and seventh words on the "Role of Treasury" about page:
executive agency
Wait a hot damn minute! According to the Constitution...
Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; [...]
Congress is granted the powers of the purse, not the President. Yet, the Treasury Department (executive agency) manages the purse in-line with Presidential national emergency proclamations. To learn how this Un-Constitutional act happened, be sure to check out:
Up Next on Congressional Carnival [S1E3]
US Treasury Department's Overreach Exposed by a Detailed Examination of the Grand Jury Indictment of Two Bitcoin Traders Sentenced to Jail for “Conspiracy to Run an Unlicensed Money Services Business” [STEEMIT EXCLUSIVE #2]
Further Readings: In no particular order
Executive Branch
US Treasury Operating Bureaus
SEC What We Do
FinCEN
FinCEN History of Anti-Money Laundering Laws
War Powers Act
50 U.S. Code Chapter 33 - WAR POWERS RESOLUTION
The United States is in a State of Emergency – 30 of them, in fact (2014) WaPo
Special Report: America’s Perpetual State of Emergency (2014) USA Today
Proclamation: Loyalty Day, 2017
Cops Took More Stuff from People than Burglars Did Last Year (2015) WaPo
History of US Income Tax - Overview
31 U.S. Code § 301 - Department of the Treasury
History of the Treasury
The Hamilton-Madison Banking Debate
Understanding the USC and the CFR: This is Crucial! (1997) SupremeLaw.org
Laws and Rules (2017) USPTO.gov
How Our Laws are Made
[DISCLAIMER: I am a blogger. This article is presented for informational purposes. If you're a crypto trader seeking legal advice, get a lawyer and read up on the laws that "apply". We're treading over new ground and what we do next will set the precedence.]
Twitter: mfinley80
SteemIt Intro: What's Up, STEEMIT?! I'm Monique Finley, a Blogger, Poet, and Author of the Free E-Serial: Terra Damnata!
Serial Novel: Terra Damnata, Book 1 of The Pu'Shing Bhu'Tons Series