LaTi
reports:
The charges [against Charlie Shrem] come as state and federal authorities wrestle with how to regulate burgeoning digital currencies. They also come just before Benjamin Lawsky, New York's top financial regulator, kicks off two days of hearings on potential new rules for digital currency exchangers.
"This is going to send shivers through a lot of people," said Carol Van Cleef, a partner at the law firm Patton Boggs in Washington, D.C., and an expert on regulations aimed at curbing money laundering who will testify at the hearings in New York. "It's intended clearly to send a lot of messages to the bitcoin community.
The arrest just before the two days of hearings is unlikely to be an accident. The Winklevoss twins, who invested in Shrem's firm, BitInstant are scheduled to be among the witnesses at the hearings. Now, the twins will likely have to spend a good part of the time at the hearings explaining why they were involved with Shrem and why Shrem is an abberition.
Remember that Shrem is innocent until proven guilty and that these are alleged crimes.
ReplyDeleteIn US law, one is guilty until proven guilty. In rare cases, like in the tax litigations, one may be held guilty until proven innocent. That's how true freedom and justice operate.
Deletecan anyone smell the fear, the desperation from the feds/cb's ? me neither.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Ms. Van Cleef was at a conference I attended last year, was assisting an individual interested in resurrecting a gold backed virtual currency not dissimilar to the now defunct e-gold.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the very public high-profile indictment and arrest is intended to send a message to the crypto currency community. Why no Perp walks, and similar harsh treatment ever happened with those associated with the 2008 debacle, at mortgage GSEs, major Banks, shows a clear double standard. But the world at this point in time is what it is!
Yes. It's shocking, money laundering! How could he? It's definitely going to send shivers through a lot of people. Like, JPM or HSBC!?! Of wait but they did this on hundreds or thousand times larger scale and for the billions they laundered what happened? A fine that was a fraction of a billion!?! A classic example of the cronies doing what they can to stop bitcoin. In the grand scheme of things, totally expected.
ReplyDeleteLearn the code language: Money laundering = obtaining or using money in a manner that statist elites do not approve or cannot track. The only truly free market is the black market.
ReplyDelete