Bitcoin Dealer Who Operated Unlicensed Bitcoin Exchange Faces Five Years in Jail

Jacob Burrell Campos pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court to the operation of a Bitcoin exchange he failed to register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Burell confessed to selling "hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bitcoin to over 1,000 customers throughout the United States from January 2015 to April of 2016."

Besides not registering his Bitcoin exchange operation, Burell also did not implement any of the required anti-money laundering safeguards demanded by U.S. Department of Treasury regulations, and "performed no due diligence on the source of his customers’ money."

Moreover, Burell admitted to advertising his Bitcoin business using the localbitcoins.com platform, using often encrypted email and text messaging communication means to contact his customers.