A South Florida man pleaded guilty to money laundering charges Wednesday in the very first case prosecuted in Miami-Dade regarding the sale of Bitcoins.
Pascal Reid will serve 90 days in jail with credit for time served in 2014. He'll also be subject to five years of probation, and will also help educate CyberCrime police officers on digital crimes.
According to a release from the State Attorney's Office, Reid and another suspect, Michel Espinoza, would offer to sell Bitcoins - a virtual, electronic currency. Special agents posing as Bitcoin buyers contacted Reid and Espinoza claiming that they needed to move money to pay for stolen credit card numbers. The agents claimed that some of the numbers came from last year's massive security breach at Target.
Arrest affidavits indicate that Reid and Espinoza offered to do the job for a fee of $30,000.
On their own, Bitcoins are neither good nor bad. They exist in a peer-to-peer system for online transactions, eliminating any central financial authority or oversight. They've risen to popularity in recent years due to lower fees and instant transfers without the need to go through a bank.
Bitcoins are becoming more common at South Florida establishments, and are also accepted by some online merchandisers including Tiger Direct and Overstock.com.
Prosecutors argue that the new, unregulated currency may open the door for a new wave of crime.
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When used improperly, Bitcoins can be used to launder dirty money or to buy and sell illegal goods such as drugs or stolen credit card information.
“Bitcoins are just a new tool in the cyber criminal’s toolkit," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Rundle said in a statement. "The prosecutors of my Cyber Crimes Unit were proud to work hand-in-hand with the United States Secret Service and the Miami Beach Police Department to develop 21st Century approaches to halting these new criminal activities.”
