IRS lists 4 crypto crimes among its top cases in 2023
The cases included investigations into the Silk Road marketplace, OneCoin, Oyster Protocol founder “Bruno Block,” and a money laundering scheme using Bitcoin kiosks.
The criminal investigation unit of the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has listed four crypto-related cases among the top ten of its “most prominent and high-profile investigations” in 2023.
In a Dec. 11 notice, the IRS unit said there were four significant cases in 2023 involving the seizure of cryptocurrency, fraudulent practices, money laundering and other schemes. Coming in at its third most high-profile investigation in the past year was OneCoin co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in September for his role in marketing and selling a fraudulent crypto asset.
Other cases included Ian Freeman, a New Hampshire resident sentenced to 8 years in prison for operating a money laundering scheme using Bitcoin (BTC) kiosks and failing to pay taxes from 2016 to 2019. The government body was also behind an investigation of Oyster Protocol founder Amir Elmaani, also known as “Bruno Block,” for tax evasion related to minting and selling Pearl tokens.
