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xpl0de
ḆËŦŦЯ_őƑ_Ŧwo ƹvïlz




Registered: 07/14/07
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Florida Man Trying to Get Case Thrown Out Claiming Bitcoin Is Not Real Money
#23597150 - 08/31/16 11:25 AM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Michell Espinoza, a Florida resident has criminal charges against him for illegally selling Bitcoin and money laundering. He and his attorney are arguing that there are no criminal offenses because bitcoin is not recognized as real currency under Florida law. Economics Professor, Charles Evans took the witness stand on Friday to help better inform everyone about Bitcoin. The main point of Evan’s explanation was that Bitcoin was not real money. No centralized government or banks back it, as the United States does for its dollar. Regulation still remains different from state to state, and in different countries, as well. To top it off, he mentioned how the IRS categorizes dealing with bitcoin as a little more than bartering. “Basically, it’s poker chips that people are willing to buy,” Professor Evans stated. Ironically, Evans received $3,000 USD worth of bitcoin for appearing as a witness for the defense. As attorney Frank Andrew Prieto held up a U.S. Quarter, a value of 25 cents, he said “Is bitcoin an actual coin?” “In a sense of a physical piece of base metal? No,” Evans answered.

Michell Espinoza was busted when he tried to illegally sell and launder $1,500 worth of bitcoin to undercover detectives who claimed they were going to buy stolen credit card numbers with the bitcoins that they were purchasing. Espinoza’s attorneys, Prieto and Rene Palomino are saying the case should be thrown out because bitcoin is not real money under Florida law so the charges of money laundering do not apply. The judge in this case, the Honorable Teresa Mary Pooler will not decide for another couple weeks, but she was asking Evans a lot of questions, and even asked for more time to do research of her own. “This is the most fascinating thing I’ve heard in this courtroom in a long time,” Judge Pooler remarked. Prosecutors are under tough scrutiny in this case, under the watchful eye of tech, as well as the financial circles due to it being the first known case of someone accused of money laundering for dealing bitcoins. Due to its ever growing popularity, law enforcement are scrambling to figure out where it fits into criminal activity. They are aware however, of the fact that it is highly used in online criminal activity, such as dark net’s black markets. The 32-year-old web designer, who called himself MichelHack online, illegally sold undercover investigators $1,500 worth of BTC, the prosecution claims. He was targeted by law enforcement on LocalBitcoins.com, when they told Espinoza that they planned to use the bitcoin to buy stolen credit card data. Detectives met with Espinoza three separate times. Along with Espinoza, Pascal Reid was arrested, and pleaded guilty to impersonating an unlicensed money broker. He was given probation when he agreed to work with law enforcement agents in the Miami-Dade county and teach them more about bitcoin as a currency. The only lesson Friday came from Evans’ testimony, however. He told the court that since the 1990’s he has been involved with digital currencies. He runs a nonprofit organization that helps small businesses in developing countries called Conscious Entrepreneurship Foundation. “Indeed, bitcoin use is increasing in places such as Africa, where the banking system is broken. The market for bitcoin can vary; like today, one bitcoin is worth around 470 dollars,” Evans testified. He also compared the value of bitcoin to how the value is placed on collector cards and comics. The prosecution responded in haste. “You don’t buy hamburgers with comic books. You usually purchase them with cash, or in this case, bitcoins,” Prosecutor Tom Haggerty responded to Evans on Friday.
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Big Worm
Perf


Registered: 04/20/09
Posts: 7,642
Last seen: 3 years, 9 months
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Re: Florida Man Trying to Get Case Thrown Out Claiming Bitcoin Is Not Real Money [Re: xpl0de] 1
#23597628 - 08/31/16 02:00 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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All that over $1,500 in BTC?
And since when is selling BTC illegal? LocalBitcoins has been active for years with no issues i've ever heard of.
and wouldn't this set a precedent for DPR's money laundering charges if it gets thrown out? Even though he has more charges than just that.
Still.
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perikleous
Stranger

Registered: 04/22/15
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Loc: EuroZone Victim
Last seen: 2 years, 3 months
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Re: Florida Man Trying to Get Case Thrown Out Claiming Bitcoin Is Not Real Money [Re: Big Worm]
#23601007 - 09/01/16 12:34 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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Its not the 1500.00 in BTC that there prosecuting him for, its the system looking at him for facilitating a crime, selling the BTC so they can do CC fraud! Like going to your doctor for pain meds, and while there you tell him that you will sell the pills on the street to pay your bills, he is then arrested for illegally supplying the pills knowing you were committing a crime with them! They are after him for facilitating the criminal act but that would never stick! The same as a thief selling you his goods and you reselling, your crime is technically worse than his, he is convicted of theft/Grand larceny/larceny, you are charged with dealing in stole property(much more severe felony in florida) even though the thief was dealing in stolen property by selling to you in the 1st place, he didnt steal it to keep! They want you because in there twisted minds, he wouldnt steal it if he had no ability to sell it! They want you because you were in it for financial gain, he was supporting a habit, your the bad guy!! Fu-ked up system
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perikleous
Stranger

Registered: 04/22/15
Posts: 277
Loc: EuroZone Victim
Last seen: 2 years, 3 months
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Re: Florida Man Trying to Get Case Thrown Out Claiming Bitcoin Is Not Real Money [Re: perikleous]
#23601023 - 09/01/16 12:39 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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All they can do is jail the CC thieves but the guy buying/selling for profit is wide open to asset forfiture laws, they can take everything he owns for 1500 in BTC if a ruling is in the states favor, and they likely already took everything he has already and now he will have to fight like a dawg to maybe get half of it back
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