An American woman who lives in NY has pleaded guilty to laundering money for the Islamic terror group ISIS involving bank fraud, bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies, according to CNBC.
It states that a 27-year-old Zoobia Shahnaz who lives in Brentwood, Long Island, admitted to laundering approximately $150,000.
CNBC reports that in 2017, Shahnaz was trying to leave the U.S. in order to get to Syria to help ISIS. At press time, Shahnaz faces 20 years in prison. She’s on a charge of financing foreign terrorist organization.
Shahnaz reportedly used various credit cards to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on a sum of $62,000.
Previously, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested the CEO of the AriseBank cryptocurrency project Jared Rice. He was charged with organizing a fraudulent scheme.
However, it's worth noting that in a meeting of the U.S. Congress Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance, terrorist crypto financing was discussed, with the conclusion being that crypto is not a convenient form of money for terrorists, who prefer cash. Given the current situation, it seems that this conclusion soon may be changed.
Earlier, the Head of SEC Jay Clayton hinted in an interview with New York Times that the regulator could do only little help if one’s invest in such non-ordinary market like the cryptocurrency one.
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