Ian Totaling Must Pay IDR 54.5 Billion For Fraud Victims Involving Bitcoin

Fraud involving crypto takes the lives of the elderly. (Photo; Doc. MarketBusiness)

JAKARTA - Ian Totaling, a libertarian activist and radio host in New Hampshire, USA, had to pay restitution of more than US$3.5 million (Rp 54.5 billion) to a fraud victim involving bitcoin. wavy was convicted of running the bitcoin exchange business without a license, which was used to launder money from internet fraud.

cap, also known as Ian Bernard, was arrested in March 2021 along with five of his colleagues, on charges of fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, and illegal business operations.

scenes and colleagues are suspected of running the bitcoin exchange business without permission from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), an institution under the US Treasury Department tasked with overseeing financial transactions to prevent crime.

According to prosecutors,rocket and his colleagues received millions of dollars in cash and wire transfers from the victims.TEN cs is targeting lonely parents by pretending to be their romantic partner. wavy and his colleagues then exchanged the money for bitcoin, a digital crypto asset that is difficult to track, and took a very high commission, about 10% of transaction value.

They also allegedly used fake churches they founded themselves, such as Shire Free Church, Church of the Invisible Hand, and Crypto Church of New Hampshire, to hide their assets and income from tax authorities. They also did not pay taxes for four years, from 2016 to 2019, and avoided audits from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the US tax agency.

In October 2023, banyan was sentenced to eight years in federal prison, a fine of 40,000 US dollars (Rp 623 million), and confiscation of assets, including 5.24 bitcoins and 1.1 million US dollars (Rp 17.1 billion) in cash. In February 2024, the court orderedaim to pay restitution of more than 3.5 million US dollars (Rp 54.5 billion) to 29 victims of love scams involved in the scheme.

The verdict againstene and the restitution order is an important step in law enforcement efforts to eradicate crypto asset fraud, which harms many people and damages the reputation of the crypto industry. The verdict also affirms a judicial commitment to protecting the rights and interests of victims, as well as providing justice and compensation to them.