The U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation division has released its annual list of the “most prominent and high-profile” cases it investigated in 2023, with four of the top ten cases involving cryptocurrency-related crimes.
Division Chief Jim Lee emphasized the division’s successful takedowns of international tax schemes, investigations into multi-level marketing schemes connected to cryptocurrency, and the exposure of one of the largest fraud schemes in history centered around renewable fuel credits.
Among the notable cases on the list, the eighth spot was occupied by cryptocurrency founder “Bruno Block,” also known as Amir Bruno Elmaani. Elmaani, the creator of Oyster Pearl cryptocurrency, was sentenced to four years in prison. The IRS revealed that Elmaani failed to file a tax return and claimed to have no income in 2018, despite spending millions on luxury items and properties. As part of the sentence, Elmaani was ordered to pay $5.5 million in restitution.
Securing the seventh position was the Silk Road fraud defendant, James Zhong, who was sentenced after the seizure and forfeiture of over $3.4 billion in cryptocurrency. Zhong, a hacker, stole 50,000 bitcoins from Silk Road, the notorious darknet marketplace that was shut down by U.S. authorities in 2013.
In the fourth spot, a New Hampshire man named Ian Freeman received an eight-year prison sentence for operating a bitcoin money laundering scheme. Freeman facilitated the exchange of dollars for bitcoin, laundering $10 million in proceeds from online scams. He was also ordered to pay restitution to the victims.
Finally, the co-founder of OneCoin, Karl Sebastian Greenwood, claimed the third position on the list. OneCoin, a massive scam that duped millions of investors worldwide, was responsible for collecting over $4 billion in investments for a cryptocurrency that was never launched. Greenwood was sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay approximately $300 million.
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