Many bitcoin users will remember the Coin.mx platform, a Bitcoin exchange that operated without a license. Michael Murgio, the father of Coin.mx operator Anthony Murgio, was arrested last week for supporting this illegal Bitcoin exchange.
The story about Coin.mx has been getting a lot of attention in recent months, as the operators of this platforms are all faced with a court case for running an unlicensed and illegal Bitcoin exchange platform. Up until this point, three people had been arrested, but a fourth arrest was made late last week.
Michael Murgio, a 65-year old Palm Beach County school board member, was arrested last week on suspicion of bribery and being involved in the Coin.mx Bitcoin exchange. What makes this story so interesting is how Michael is the father of Anthony Murgio, one of the three people arrested previously for operating this unlicensed Bitcoin exchange platform.
The arrest of Michael Murgio was made last Thursday, as the FBI took him into custody. Apparently, the law enforcement agency indicted Murgio as a defendant in the Coin.mx case. Moreover, there is a bribery scheme claim against both Michael and Anthony Murgio as well. The FBI believes Coin.mx was owned by an Israeli internet criminal by the name of Gery Shalon, who was part of a massive hacking scheme involving several others.
To be more precise, the prosecutors claim Shalon and consorts ran a criminal enterprise hacking into several company networks in an attempt to steal personal information. Sources indicate that the details of as many as 100 million people may have been leaked during these attacks, most of which belonged to JP Morgan customers.
Despite these hacking allegations, the primary focus for the FBI is the Coin.mx exchange, which was allegedly operated by Anthony Murgio and friends. In total, the platform traded millions of dollars in bitcoin for customers without holding an official money transmitter license to do so. But the story did not end there, as other charges relating to this platform were added on top.
Law enforcement officials have linked the Murgios and partner Yuri Lebedev to a New Jersey pastor by the name of Trevon Gross. This latter party was instrumental in handing over the reigns of control of Helping Other People Excel Federal Credit Union of Jackson, New Jersey to the Coin.mx operators. This move was designed to help the Bitcoin exchange operators from being scrutinized for their actions, and the sum of $150,000 USD was paid to Gross as part of a bribery scheme.
Anthony Murgio, Trevon Gross, and Yuri Lebedev previously pleaded not guilty to all of these charges, and they are scheduled for Trial on October 31, 2016. Now that Michael Murgio has been arrested as part of this “crime ring” as well, it remains to be seen if the other three arrestees will change their story to receive a reduced sentence for 65-year old Michael Murgio.
Source: Fortune
Images courtesy of Coin.mx, Shutterstock
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