Creator of Online Money Gets 20 Years in Prison (cnn.com) 149
An anonymous reader quotes this report from CNN:
Before the virtual currency Bitcoin there was Liberty Reserve -- and its founder just got sentenced to 20 years in prison. Arthur Budovsky, 42, ran an online digital money business out of Costa Rica called Liberty Reserve. The U.S. government contended that the whole thing was just a massive, $6 billion money laundering operation. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote sentenced him to two decades in federal prison. She said Budovsky did not show "genuine remorse," according to the Department of Justice...
The U.S. government used the Patriot Act to go after this payment processor. The U.S. Treasury Department labeled it a money laundering organization, and cut it off from the American financial system. In 2013, American investigators took over the website and shut it down. In 2014, Budovsky and several coworkers were arrested in Spain. Then Budovsky was extradited to the United States to face trial for money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
The U.S. government used the Patriot Act to go after this payment processor. The U.S. Treasury Department labeled it a money laundering organization, and cut it off from the American financial system. In 2013, American investigators took over the website and shut it down. In 2014, Budovsky and several coworkers were arrested in Spain. Then Budovsky was extradited to the United States to face trial for money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
"unlicensed" (Score:5, Informative)
The fractional reserve cartel hates competition. Give them a cut, or else...
Re:"unlicensed" (Score:4, Informative)
More like a Fictional Reserve System.
It has no reserves. Is not Federal but private owned and is only a system for crooks and swindlers (read private bankers).
Re: "unlicensed" (Score:2)
HSBC boss now minister of state (Score:5, Insightful)
HSBC meanwhile, no-one held to account, no-one jailed etc, in fact the boss is now Minister of State for Trade and Investment. [bbc.co.uk] and the woman who was supposed to be over-seeing fraud is now Chairman [bbc.co.uk] [sic] of the BBC.
And they call Putin a criminal. The criminals are running our governments and our biggest companies.
Re:HSBC boss now minister of state (Score:5, Insightful)
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Although in this case they were breaking money laundering laws, HSBC was fined, HSBC bosses continued to award themselves fat bonuses, they govt even gave the wrong-doers nice govt jobs.
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You're right. HSBC should have been punished harder. Doesn't mean some guy running an obvious money laundering system should escape justice.
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So Bitcoin and everyone who deals with it should also be thrown in prison then?
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You bitch about HSBC. They got fined 2 billion USD. What about Wachovia/Wells Fargo?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs
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Completely missing the point there aren't you, the directors, CEO etc got off scot free, continued to pay themselves huge bonuses and some were even given cushy govt jobs.
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HSBC meanwhile, no-one held to account, no-one jailed etc, in fact the boss is now Minister of State for Trade and Investment. [bbc.co.uk] and the woman who was supposed to be over-seeing fraud is now Chairman [bbc.co.uk] [sic] of the BBC.
Fraud is the single biggest danger to the American economy. It is apparent that fraud is now a driving factor in banking. If you are a bank without a fraud profit department, then you will lose out to your competition who will buy your assets and institute a strong fraud program for you.
To save America, we must start lynching the fraudsters.
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Re: Criminal #1 --- In Casa Blanca (Score:4, Insightful)
Revolution begins with the plebs no longer believing the fairy tales the elite tell to justify their predation.
Re: Criminal #1 --- In Casa Blanca (Score:5, Insightful)
Plebs are too busy drooling in front of the reports of the Kardashian's latest dysfunctions to concern themselves with things like where money comes from and why it is they have so very, very little of it.
Ergo,no revolution for you.
Would you like fries with your subservience?
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Are the fries organic?
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No, they're synthetic.
All new NutriCarb Fries! Made from reprocessed rainforest wood!*
(* some** fries may contain bugs )
(** 86% )
This is about monopoly (Score:3, Insightful)
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He's not the paranoid one. Those running the state are the ones who want to monitor everyone.
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I do vote accordingly.. It's just that most prefer the empty promises of statist progressives and statist neocons.
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Federal judges are not elected by the general populace.Nor is anyone else, except for members of the Senate and House of Representatives, and (indirectly) the President and Vice President. That leaves three million unelected and mostly unaccountable.
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You left out the layer of corruption. This is all to do with the corrupt corporations that control government seeking to maintain and protect their cartels as they parasitically prey upon their societies. So they are using the governments they control to destroy their competitors at tax payer expense (the taxes they are not paying because they have laundered their profits in the tax havens they control). When you turn society into a cesspit don't be surprised when the biggest pieces of shit float to the to
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My understanding is that most US states have granted themselves global jurisdiction, although this is still dependant on how hard the federal government leans, and how quickly foreign states capitulate.
On the lam (Score:5, Informative)
Gold Age was Budovsky's earlier business for an electronic gold exchange. But his office was based out of Syracuse, New York so that definitely falls under US jurisdiction. And he was sentenced to five years for violating New York State Banking Law, but the sentence was later reduced to five years probations. Budovsky subsequently fled the country and founded Liberty Reserve to perform a similar service as Gold Age.
That alone is enough for an extradition, without haven't to even consider what laws Liberty Reserve may or may not have violated.
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Ah, so Germany could easily get Kim Dotcom now? Case is pretty much the same.
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"That alone is enough for an extradition"
Probation in the US is a basis for extradition from other countries?
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Yes. Violate probation and you break the law. If there were no consequences in violating probation then the probation option disappears in sentencing and everyone serves time.
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Merely breaking a law is not sufficient for extradition. There are things called extradition treaties and also much of the time law enforcement does not bother to extradite people for relatively minor non-violent crimes. Many extradition treaties also do not allow for extradition over minor offenses.
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I'll assume you aren't just pretending to not understand this (extremely simple BTW) case.
Probation violation is a crime. A crime can be used as the reason to request a extradition from a country, that applies even if the particular country doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US - however that would make it much harder.
So yes, [crime] in the [country one] can be a basis for extradition from [country two].
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Re:jurisdiction (Score:5, Informative)
The US will say they have jurisdiction when ANY American is involved in any business anywhere in the world. It doesn't matter even if you renounce your citizenship. If you are involved in Commerce (in any shape or form) with (past or) present Americans they will get (eventually) get involved.
Since only gold and silver are legal tender, anything that threatens that monopoly of money infrastructure and status quo is automatically targeted -- even if it is private currency.
New York Times ran an article a few years back ... emphasis added to highlight the shenanigans:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10... [nytimes.com]
No one was pretending the Liberty Dollar was legal tender. It was clearly a private currency, but simply because it was too popular it got targeted -- you know other the "Golden Rule":
* "He who has the gold, makes the rules"
This government abuse is nothing new. Look at the shenanigans of how whistleblower Brad Birkenfeld [wikipedia.org] exposing the fraud of UBS was treated:
--
Only Cowards Censor
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To paraphrase what Lloyd Bentson might say:
I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Donald Trump, you're no Jack Kennedy.
Puerto Rico? (Score:2)
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In 2014, Budovsky and several coworkers were arrested in Spain. Then Budovsky was extradited to the United States to face trial for money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
He had legal problems in several countries, including the US, Costa Rica, and Spain. The US just got to be the ones to try him, though.
Re:Puerto Rico? (Score:5, Insightful)
What is that "independence" you talk about? The only independence the US ever acknowledged is the one they themselves declared.
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I remember this (Score:5, Insightful)
I remember this, and I remember thinking at the time that this guy was probably going to get in a shitload of trouble.
He was basically thumbing his nose at the government while playing fast and loose with the currency laws. He was soooooooooo sure that they couldn't touch him because he insisted that he "had the law on his side".
And he may well have, technically speaking, but he lost sight of the fact that "having the law on your side" has never stopped the government from jamming people up if they feel like it. And although it took a while, that's exactly what they did.
Quite a few people who were knowledgeable in currency matters at the time told everyone in no uncertain terms to "stay the hell away" from this guy's scheme, and it turns out that that was good advice.
Nope, you can do stuff like this (Score:2)
The sad thing is
Well (Score:2)
I don't know anyone I'd listen to saying "Regulation's bad, m'kay". Everyone I trust and respect says that regulations are necessary for society to function, including in the USA. Hell, Adam Smith said that the only job of the Government was to establish regulations to prevent abuse. He further said that the lack of Government regulation was why mercantilism failed.
The problems people do complain about are that regulation has become a weapon for the rich to maintain power and control. It's Government ba
Listen to right wing talk radio (Score:5, Interesting)
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an the way into work some day. Rush, G Gordon, Glen Beck and the like.
Look, only two kinds of people listen to those dickheads. One, our corporate masters, who are looking for validation. They find it there. Two, ne'er do wells who can safely be ignored. Their state electors don't need their advice to know what to do.
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"having the law on your side" has never stopped the government
I have to disagree that it's never stopped the government, though I will concede that it hasn't for a long time.
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What law did he have on his side?
Hell, I don't know. But he had apparently done a bunch of research and had come to the conclusion that what he was doing was legal, albeit somewhat unorthodox.
And for all I know, he may have been correct, but it didn't stop the feds from throwing him in prison for 20 years. Which is insane when you think about it, because you can rape a child or murder someone and you won't get 20 years.
What? (Score:3)
He was arrested in Spain for running a business in Costa Rica. How exactly does the US have even the slightest jurisdiction to prosecute him?
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Because Spain has no aircraft carriers.
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Re: Spain: so when was the last time the USA used an aircraft carrier against anyone besides defenseless brown or yellow people? So what is Spain's ACTUAL excuse for knuckling under?
Re:What? (Score:5, Informative)
Without any knowledge of this case, I would guess that it's "trade sanctions".
The US typically walks in and tells everyone how it's going to go down, or else trade sanctions.
The US is a nation of bullies, just look at Cuba, an independent nation doing THEIR OWN THING and the US has just given them shit for decades. And before you go all ape shit at me over the "Missile Crisis" just have a bit of perspective: the US has missiles and other military forces stationed all over Europe and Asia, very close to Russia. Most people, reading a factual account of the USA-USSR cold war will interpret the USA to be the aggressors. Don't flame me, just think about it.
I recommend the BBC documentary The Cold War [youtube.com] as a great starting point. Yes, it's almost 24 hours long, but it's an excellent independent portrayal of the entire Cold War and has some excellent interviews with world leaders from the time.
Re: What? (Score:1)
The USA war machine wanted a war, but Kennedy didn't. The war machine was preparing propaganda about how the ruskies were are worst adversaries. Kennedy did a fine job navigating that situation. Some of his staff tried to back stab him, he found out because he had some trustworthy people in office as well. And the crisis was averted.
Kennedy also didn't want to get involved in Vietnam. He was on record (before he was president) saying that he didn't want no parts of it. Colonization of Vietnam was impossible
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Kennedy also didn't want to get involved in Vietnam.
But he got involved anyway. Sometimes the worst problems come from the people who didn't want to get involved allegedly, but decided to meddle anyway.
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
The whole reason for the Russians putting missiles on Cuba was the US putting missiles into Turkey.
And lo and behold, the Russians removed their missiles from Cuba and the US removed them from Turkey. Guess it took a knife to the throat of the US to realize that it's not a comfortable feeling.
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"So yes, the United States does play hardball in the international stage, acts like a bully, and like the biggest and craziest bully there is. And they do it largely so we don't get drawn into wars we didn't start."
Sure, but the other option is just to leave everyone else alone and just mind your own business.
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It's impressive how many things are flat wrong in this post.
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Your puerile claims of racism are boring.
Any time the US sends an aircraft carrier to some place that's giving the US grief, that's using the carrier against them. Neither China nor Russia is defenseless.
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As a Pakistani Shi'ite Muslim, I think you need to get institutionalised before your paranoia makes you harm some innocent people based on your notion of what religion they adhere to.
Additionally, but equally importantly, you sound exactly like the terrorists you are so angry at or afraid of (and apparently you don't realise that Shi'ites, despite being a different sect, are also Muslims).
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it got decommissioned 3 years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
But I guess you could put it back in duty if you wanted.
Famous last words: "They can't touch me. " (Score:5, Insightful)
He was arrested in Spain for running a business in Costa Rica. How exactly does the US have even the slightest jurisdiction to prosecute him?
The short answer is that jurisdiction lies where the body falls and not on which side of the border the gun is fired.
It is the first mistake the geek makes when he turns to crime and moves his base of operations ---- but not his customers and his marketing ----outside the US.
Re: Famous last words: "They can't touch me. " (Score:3)
Here in the USSA, out kangaroo kourts assert universal imperial jurisdiction. Unless you're residing in one of only two countries strong enough to retain actual sovereignty over their territory, it doesn't matter where you are, what citizenship you hold, or where your customers are located. Anger the American oligarchy and they WILL kidnap you, show you off in a monkey trial, and throw you into the torture camps of the Gulag to suffer and rot for decades.
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Re:What? (Score:4, Informative)
He was arrested in Spain for running a business in Costa Rica. How exactly does the US have even the slightest jurisdiction to prosecute him?
Most likely some of his customers where American. That's how it usually works. People have also been arrested and convicted in the U.S. for running offshore Internet casinos that took bets from Americans. A marijuana seller in Canada was sentenced to 5 years in a U.S. prison because some of his customers were American. The moral of the story: if you want to run a business that violates U.S. law, don't do business with Americans!
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In other words: don't ever do business with Americans. It's not worth the risk.
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The moral of the story: if you want to run a business that violates U.S. law, don't do business with Americans!
Eh, it's a bit more nuanced than that. You can also run it from a country that is angry with America, so long as they aren't likely to turn around and extradite you tomorrow.
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A marijuana seed seller and politician (founder of the marijuana party) was extradited and thrown in prison for 5 years even though the extradition treaty said he shouldn't be extradited (unequal punishment), thanks to a very pro-American right wing government.
(Marc Emery)
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The same government encourages illegal transfers (Score:1)
The US Government, meanwhile, actively encourages illegal international money transfers. How, do you ask?
Operation Choke Point, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point) by the DOJ, has been steadily pressurising banks to deny settlement accounts to money transfer operators - companies that process remittances for people (usually immigrants) sending money to their family overseas. This is despite very high standards of KYC and due diligence that is required for these transfers, both from the sen
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It is actually worse then that. The article mentions:
The US government is the biggest hypocrite; they themselves have become terrorists, having directly and indirectly funded ISIS:
* http://www.newsweek.com/2014/1... [newsweek.com]
* https://www.quora.com/Is-it-tr... [quora.com]
* http://thefreethoughtprojec [thefreetho...roject.com]
Fake economic 'crime' (Score:2)
If a prosecutor can prove that money is being laundered in support of some specific crime, then by all means file charges for that crime. But if he has no idea whether a crime has been committed, charge with "handling money that I think is suspicious."
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see 'civil asset forfeiture'. cops can steal your cash if you carry 'too much' on you. or even if you put cash under your seat (its now 'hidden compartment' and under drug laws, that's enough for them to take it and never give it back).
there's a certain smell coming from the laws we have passed over the past 30 or so years. you guys smell it? its pretty bad. hope someone opens a window, at least.
They don't just want to punish you (Score:3, Insightful)
"She said Budovsky did not show "genuine remorse," according to the Department of Justice"
They don't just want to punish you. They want you to convert to their way of thinking.
They don't just want to punish you. They want your mind. They want your soul.
..labeled it a money laundering organization.. (Score:1)
(Bracing for incoming negative moderation, insults, incoherent babbling about 'rights' or somesuch, death threats, etc etc etc)
Oh, come on, leave off with the irrational nonsense, bitcoin is used at least as much for illegal things, if not more, than it is for legitimate things. If you can't see that, then you're not looking in the right places. If you're just denying it, then one has to wonder what questionable, if not outright illegal, things you're up to
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Cash is also used for illegal things. Far more than bitcoin or this guy's website that I never heard of. So what?
Invasion, hanging, assassination, 20 years (Score:1)
anything can happen if you in some way stand in the way of the U.S. Dollar, the bloodiest of all currencies.
I wonder if they're telling the truth... (Score:2)
I don't follow digital currencies, so I consider it possible that the government accusations are correct. Unfortunately, they lie so often that my default assumption has become that they are lying.
So I'm assuming that this is another blatant abuse of power. I'm not sure, but what trustworthy source could I check against? If the accusations are correct, neither he nor his supporters are going to admit it. And the government statements are uselessly unreliable.
Digital, Legal; Paper, Illegal. (Score:2)
I know some one else who ran a money laundering business for many years and made billions. He then started two highly innovation companies that are changing the future. His name is Elon Musk and that company still exists, PayPal.
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... the interest rates go where they must be ...
The supply of money is unbounded - the fed can print as much as the want.
Considering there's infinite supply, what should the rate be?
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You are making a perfect argument against government money monopoly. Gold is money, fiat based on nothing but desire of the mob to vote themselves a bunch of free stuff is not money at all.
What should the interest rate be for an infinite money supply? Basically nobody wants to receive payment in worthless currency, so the contracts can be made in gold.
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The government never actually told me to accept dollars, except for some transactions with governments where I have to use dollars. For everything else, I accept, offer, and save dollars because they're very useful. The government never told me I had to accept a paycheck in dollars, and I'd accept dollars as money a lot more easily than gold.
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The government never actually told me to accept dollars
- the government decrees the paper known as 'dollars' (which are not actually dollars by any stretch of imagination) to be money and this decree makes that paper fiat. That's the purpose of the word 'fiat' and its definition.
Gold is money without government declaring it so, whether you personally understand it or not doesn't change that fact. People have accepted gold (and silver and some other) coins as money based on just weight and purity, regardless of the mint. So for example the word 'dollar' came
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Gold is not money. If you're in the US, go to your local grocery store and try to buy a loaf of bread with gold. In the meantime, I'll be using dollars, and I bet I have less hassle than you.
I also don't necessarily have to use any paper. I usually put my groceries on a credit card. At the end of the month, I pay for it with a document telling the bank to transfer a certain amount of dollars and cents (a check), and the check is good because my employer has had the amount of dollars in my checking ac
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One reason gold sucks at being money is its volatility in value. Money is worth what you can get for it. I don't care if I'm paid in dollars or quatloos or grams of gold as long as I can buy stuff with it.
The value of a dollar has gone down since 1996, so $150 now has about the same purchasing power as $100 then. This means that the price of gold in constant dollars (which are pegged to what you can buy with money) has gone up by something over a factor of 3 over the past twenty years, so that my sala
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First of all falling prices are what economies are all about. Economies should lower prices, that's the entire idea, otherwise why have an economy? What was extremely expensive at some point in time must become cheaper, what was unaffordable must become affordable, what was impossible must become possible. That's why we have airplanes, MRI, genetics, cars, guns, mobile phones, whatever.
Deflation does not cause any problems for the economy, that's nonsense. Just because your school taught you nonsense do
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When did they promise to return it to you with interest? I received no such promise. There are certainly people that repeat an urban legend to that effect. Social Security is a welfare tax. Nothing more. If it were a savings account, the first recipients wouldn't have gotten much.
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Who is 'you'? Government promised something to you? They never did, scotus clarified that government has no obligation to pay out anything based on the payroll tax because it is levied based on general taxing power of Congress. Payroll taxes are not assigned. Government has no obligation to pay SS. Also from economic point of view there is no SS fund, there are bonds but that was my point about Trump presidency in my original comment. USA economy is unrecoverably indebted. The debts will never be repaid in
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By requiring remorse, they punish those who maintain their innocence in the face of a guilty verdict, thus teaching people to accept the infallibility of the system or else.
Kafka explored this further in his exploration of contemporary justice systems, "The Trial".