US convicts bitcoin traders involved in drug trafficking

The US Department of Justice has sentenced two drug dealers from Washington state to 5 years in prison. The father and son were charged with the illegal production of marijuana and the use of bitcoin for money laundering. They were charged in 2020 after a joint investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Both criminals were sentenced to 5 years in prison for conspiracy to produce and distribute marijuana. the investigation additionally accused the 28-year-old son of money laundering with the help of cryptocurrency.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the drug dealer exchanged $ 142,000 worth of bitcoin with human traffickers who wanted to launder the money. And then he also decided to «advise» clients on how best to use digital currency to hide funds.

According to CoinMarketCap, at the time of their arrest on March 11, 2020, bitcoin was trading at $ 7950 per 1 BTC.

As a reminder, the cryptocurrency wallet of Dmitry Pavlov, one of the founders of the online drug sales platform Hydra, was recently arrested in Russia. However, it cannot be opened because Pavlov refused to provide access to the wallet.