US authorities have indicted two Texas residents, a man and a woman, for allegedly operating an unlicensed money transmitting business to launder the proceeds of online investment fraud and romance fraud schemes. The woman is still at large.
Since 2016, the defendants had conspired with others to launder the proceeds of romance scams and Ponzi Nigeria-based investment fraud schemes. The fraud schemes were falsely presented as offering trading and Bitcoin investing services. However, in reality, the conspirators stole all investment funds and used them to pay the returns to previous investors.
The defendants allegedly laundered the fraud proceeds as part of a US-based network which also included the owners of two used car exporting companies. Moreover, both the defendants did not have money transmitting licenses or registration.
Source: US Department of Justice
