Share this article
Lawyers Want Bitcoin Money Laundering Charges Dropped on Technicality
Lawyers representing two Florida men charged with bitcoin-related money laundering want to have the charges dropped on a technicality.
Updated Sep 11, 2021, 10:38 a.m. Published Apr 10, 2014, 1:12 p.m.
Lawyers representing two Florida men charged with bitcoin-related money laundering want to have the charges dropped on a curious technicality.
Adber Espinoza and Pascal Reid were arrested in February following an undercover sting operation. Police made the arrests after undercover officers took to LocalBitcoins.com posing as credit card fraudsters.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Officers were looking for someone to launder their cash and buy bitcoins to fund illegal activities, namely to buy stolen credit card data. Having allegedly agreed, Reid and Espinoza both stand accused of laundering money and running an unregistered money service.
Can’t launder without money
The Internal Revenue Service recently issued new guidance which classified bitcoin as 'property' rather than currency. However, even before the IRS statement bitcoin was not considered 'money', at least not in the eyes of the law.
Lawyers representing Reid and Espinoza are planning to use this technicality to their advantage. The suspects have pleaded not guilty and their defence is now looking to have the charges dropped, since bitcoins are not defined as 'money', they argue money laundering legislation should not apply to them.
However, Miami-Dade County prosecutors disagree. They insist money laundering charges can stick and believe they fit the alleged crime, Fox News reports.
Legal precedent?
According to the IRS bitcoin guidance, issued on 25th March, digital currencies will be treated as property. However, this guidance only applies to federal taxes – general rules for property transactions still apply for bitcoin and other digital currencies.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle says this is the first time any state decided to bring money laundering charges in a case involving bitcoin.
Earlier this month a similar case was made by Joshua Dratel, Ross Ulbricht’s defence lawyer. Ulbricht is, of course, facing serious charges stemming from his association with online drugs bazaar Silk Road.
Dratel argues that at least one count of money laundering against Ulbricht should be dismissed, citing FinCEN and IRS guidance as proof of his argument. However, the case against Ulbricht to that involving Reid and Espinoza – as they allegedly accepted cash for their services, while Ulbricht stands accused of dealing solely in bitcoin.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Ethereum’s P2P Layer Is Improving Just as Institutional ETH Buys Pick Up
Early PeerDAS performance is proof that the Ethereum Foundation can now ship complex networking improvements at scale.
What to know:
- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that the network is addressing its lack of peer-to-peer networking expertise, highlighting the progress of PeerDAS.
- PeerDAS, a prototype for Data Availability Sampling, is crucial for Ethereum's scalability and decentralization through sharding.
- BitMine Immersion Technologies has significantly increased its Ethereum holdings, viewing it as a strategic investment in the network's future scaling capabilities.
Top Stories
