Q1 2024 in US crypto enforcement: 49 actions, from OneCoin’s lawyer to Bitcoin Fog

US agencies announced 49 distinct crypto enforcement actions in the first quarter of 2024, according to the Bitminer.io enforcement ledger. The Justice Department brought 30, the SEC 11, OFAC 5 and the CFTC 3. Investment fraud was the most common scheme, with 12 actions. The quarter’s 9 prison sentences had a median of 30 months.

OneCoin’s lawyer

On January 25, a former partner at a law firm was sentenced to 10 years in prison for laundering about $400 million from OneCoin, a fraudulent cryptocurrency sold through a multi-level marketing network. He had been convicted at trial in 2019.

Bitcoin Fog

On March 12, a jury in Washington found the operator of Bitcoin Fog guilty of money laundering conspiracy and running an unlicensed money transmitting business. Bitcoin Fog was among the longest-running bitcoin laundering services on the darknet. He was sentenced to 12.5 years in November.

The DEA’s largest seizure

In January, an Indian national pleaded guilty in Ohio to running a dark web drug operation that shipped hundreds of kilograms of controlled substances across the US. He forfeited crypto that grew to be worth $150 million, which the DEA called the largest single cryptocurrency and cash seizure in its history.

The SEC

On March 14, the SEC charged 17 people over CryptoFX, a $300 million Ponzi scheme based in Houston that targeted more than 40,000 mostly Latino investors. Five days later, Genesis Global Capital agreed to pay a $21 million penalty to settle charges over its Gemini Earn lending program. The SEC agreed to be paid only after other claims in Genesis’s bankruptcy, including those of Gemini Earn investors.

The quarter was the busiest of 2024, a year with 183 actions in all.

Sources

1. Bitminer.io enforcement ledger: 2024
2. US Department of Justice, OneCoin laundering sentence
3. US Department of Justice, Bitcoin Fog verdict
4. US Department of Justice, dark web narcotics plea
5. SEC, CryptoFX charges
6. SEC, Genesis settlement

By The Assayer, the Bitminer.io house byline. Written by AI from the sources above and checked automatically. No person reviewed it before publication. How we work.