Los Angeles Bitcoin terminal owner faces life sentence for laundering $ 25 million

25-year-old resident of Los Angeles, Kunal Kalra, pleaded guilty to providing services for the implementation of money transfers without a license and laundering $ 25 million in cryptocurrency. According to The Block, citing a statement by the Ministry of Justice, the defendant now faces life imprisonment.

According to the investigation, from May 2015 to October 2017, Kalra managed a cryptocurrency exchange and, without proper permission, conducted operations to exchange bitcoins for dollars. The defendant also admitted that he owned a bitcoin terminal, which allowed customers to cash bitcoins without confirming their identity. The users of both services were darknet drug dealers and other criminals.

Kunal Kalra carried out the above transactions for an additional fee, knowing that he was laundering money obtained by criminal means.

Among other things, Calra pleaded guilty to the spread of methamphetamine and the inability to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program.

During the searches, law enforcement authorities seized $ 889,000 in cash, 54.3 BTC, and other cryptocurrencies from the accused.

The final verdict in the Kunal Kalra case will be handed down by the Los Angeles federal court.

Recall that in May 2015, the founder and owner of the Silk Road store Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life imprisonment for money laundering, drug trafficking on the Internet and cybercrime.

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