A Bitcoin technology firm and its executives have been indicted for allegedly operating unlicensed crypto kiosks in Ohio.
S&P Solutions, which operated as Bitcoin of America, along with three of its executives, are facing charges of money laundering, conspiracy and other crimes connected to the operation of more than 50 unlicensed crypto kiosks in the state.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury returned the indictment on March 1 against the firm, the owner and founder, Sonny Meraban, manager Reza Meraban, and company attorney William Suriano. The trio was arrested last week and search warrants were executed on their residences in Florida and Illinois.
According to the prosecuting attorney Andrew Rogalski, romance scammers, law enforcement impersonators, and robocallers exploited the lack of Anti-Money Laundering protections in the firm’s systems to transfer funds out of users’ crypto wallets.
The company allegedly pocketed a 20% transfer fee each time this occurred and continued to do even after learning they were fraudulent.
The indictment also accuses the company of being able to operate due to written misrepresentations regarding the nature of their business to government agencies, helping it run the kiosks without a money transfer license, according to a March 3 report from Law360.
Authorities seized 52 Bitcoin ATMs last week, but the firm has more in Ohio and other states. Bitcoin of America made $3.5 million in profit from cash deposits at these unlawful kiosks in 2021.
