An Indo-Canadian entrepreneur named Firoz Patel has been detained in the United States in connection with a USD 24 million Bitcoin fraud.
A media release from the Department of Justice (DoJ), US Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia, was headlined: “Former operator of Payza.com charged with laundering 450 Bitcoin.” The release had this introduction: “Defendant laundered $24 million in Bitcoin from the Payza conspiracy while waiting to report to prison in an earlier prosecution.”
Referring to the latest case, the DoJ media release, dated May 31, 2023, said: “Firoz Patel, 48, of Canada, was ordered detained today following indictment on charges of laundering 450 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at $24,020,699.83 at the time of the transaction, shortly before he reported to prison in another case in 2021. The two-count indictment, unsealed on May 17, 2023, charges Patel with money laundering and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity. US District Court Judge Dabney L Friedrich, of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered [that] Patel be detained pending trial.”
About the previous case, the release said: “Previously, Patel, his brother, Ferhan, and their company, MH Pillars, Inc., d/b/a Payza, were prosecuted in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for operating an Internet-based unlicensed money service business that processed more than $250 million in transactions.
“Through Payza.com, the defendants ran a money transmitting business that operated without the necessary state licenses and knowingly transmitted funds that were derived from illegal activity.”
The DoJ said that “the brothers each pled guilty to conspiracy to commit crimes against the United States by operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and by laundering monetary instruments”.
The release added: “As part of his plea agreement, Firoz Patel was required to disclose all known assets to the US government. On November 10, 2020, Patel was sentenced to 36 months in prison and was given a reporting date. The court also entered a forfeiture judgment for ‘any property, real or personal, involved in’ the offense to which Firoz Patel had pled guilty.”