A Canadian man has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for attempting to launder 450 Bitcoin—now worth over $43 million—after his 2020 conviction for running an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

Firoz Patel, 50, of Montreal, pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding after he was caught laundering crypto proceeds instead of complying with a court-ordered forfeiture, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.

U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich handed down the sentence, including three years of supervised release, forfeiture of 450 Bitcoin (plus any accrued interest) currently frozen at a crypto exchange in the U.K., and a $24 million forfeiture judgment.

Patel, who once ran an unlicensed online payments platform called Payza, had already been convicted in 2020 for processing illicit transactions linked to Ponzi schemes and money laundering operations.

As part of his 36-month sentencing, Patel was required to disclose and surrender all assets tied to his crimes.

Instead, he misled the court, claiming his finances were limited to $30,000 in retirement savings, when in reality, he was sitting on a Go to Source to See Full Article
Author: Vismaya V