Another Bitcoin controversy came in recently. A Florida federal judge sentenced Anthony Murgio to five and a half years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the operation and administration of an illegal Bitcoin exchange platform suspected of money laundering.
Murgio, the main culprit and his associates were accused of laundering millions of dollars in Bitcoin from 2013 to 2015. The processing was carried out through their platform Coin.mx, an illegal bitcoin exchange. Police arrested Murgio and a co-conspirator in 2015.
Murgio, 33, pleaded guilty in January for bank fraud and money laundering. The sentence imposed by the American judge Alison Nathan is half that of the prosecutor.
Involved in Ransomware as well.
Coin.mx has been also accused of carrying out many of its transactions with victims of ransomware, forced to pay a ransom in Bitcoin to decrypt the infected files of their computer.
Murgio and his associates were also involved in an attempt to take control of a New Jersey Credit cooperative in 2014 to cover their activities. Judge Nathan said that Murgio had run a business based on greed and built on a “pyramid of lies.” Murgio expressed regret at the court and showed signs of remorse at the damage he caused.
More Bitcoin Controversies
In the past many other Bitcoin controversies had also appeared.
For example, Wipro an Indian IT company was asked to pay Bitcoins woth INR 500 crores or else their food served in canteen will be spiked with poison. The culprit mentioned that he will make use of drones to spread the poison.