US authorities imprisoned father and son for money laundering through bitcoins – Bits Media

The US Attorney for the Western District of Washington announced the sentencing of two Americans., facing prison for money laundering using cryptocurrencies and drug production.

A father and son from Monroe, Washington, were sentenced to five years on charges of... illegal marijuana production and the use of bitcoins for money laundering. 28-year-old Kenneth Warren Rule went on trial (Kenneth Warren Rhule) and his father, 47-summer Kenneth John Rule (Kenneth John Rule).

The Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2020 completed the investigation with a special operation to detain a couple from Monroe. Undercover agents, posing as human traffickers, turned to Kenneth Warren Rule for, to launder allegedly illegally obtained $142 000, proceeds from human trafficking, via bitcoins. Unsuspecting criminal converted money into BTC and gave tips on using digital currency to hide income from taxes.

Ministry of Justice reports, that the couple ran a business producing unlicensed products, using cash and cryptocurrency to sell to customers in the US. US Attorney Nick Brown(Nick Brown) reported, that criminal activity brought the Rule family more $13 million, and net profit was $2.5 million.

“Not only did this pair produce and distribute marijuana products on the dark web in violation of the government's regulatory scheme, but also illegally laundered a huge amount of bitcoins.”, - Brown said.

In Raleigh (Northern California, USA) team, consisting of father and son, in 2016 challenged industrial mining and started mining Bitcoin.