Crypto Trader ‘Bitcoin Maven’ Gets Prison Time For Illegal Exchange Operation

Crypto Women Sentenced to Prison for Running Illegal Exchange in the Country

A woman from Los Angeles was sentenced on Monday July the 9th to a year in prison after operating an illegal, unregistered cryptocurrency exchange. It was possible to buy and sell Bitcoins for cash on her platform.

Theresa Tetley worked under the name of Bitcoin Maven, and has also been ordered to serve three years of supervised release after a year in prison. At the same time, she would have to pay a $20,000 fine. Additionally, the U.S. District Judge Manuel Real granted an order of forfeiture for 40 Bitcoin. Other 25 assorted gold bars have been seized by law enforcement authorities in March.

Mrs. Tetley said that she entered the Bitcoin market as a hobby and not as a criminal intent.

About the exchange and illegal business built, she explained:

“But I screwed up epically. It quickly became a business and I broke all sorts of laws. I have learned my lessons.”

Before it, she pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to federal charges of having operated a money transmission business that did not comply with the local requirements. She conducted financial transactions that involved proceeds of drug trafficking.

Apparently, this case is the first of its kind in Southern California, but it is not the first involving Bitcoin and traders. The Assistant U.S. Attorney Puneet V. Kakkar, explained that Mrs. Tetley was using the business for ‘nefarious’ means. She made also at least a transaction with an undercover government agent who told her the deal was used to hide narcotics-related cash.

During 2014 and 2017, Tetley was using localbitcoins.com, where visitors can easily buy and sell digital currencies for cash or other means of payment. According to Kakkar, Tetley exchanged between $6 million dollars and $9.5 million.

The prosecutor said that the jail is necessary to send a signal and deter those using Bitcoin and other virtual currencies for criminal operations and schemes.

Bitcoin is one of the most important virtual currencies in the market and the most known all over the world. Users can send and receive funds using its blockchain in a matter of minutes independently on the place they are.