Arizona Bitcoin Trader Gets Jail Sentence for Money Laundering

A former bitcoin trader and crypto exchange operator from the U.S. state of Arizona, has been sentenced to 41 months in jail, according to court documents.

The sentencing was announced by the Department of Justice on Wednesday, after a federal jury convicted Thomas Mario Costanzo on five charges of money laundering on March 28. The sentence will credit time already served since his arrest in April 2017.

As previously reported, federal agents raided the man’s home last year based on suspicion of unlawful possession of ammunition, as well as money laundering through a peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange he operated.

Evidence presented to the court later showed that Costanzo had laundered $164,700 over two years through bitcoin transactions – money he took from an undercover federal agent, who told him the funds were from heroin and cocaine traffickers.

The release states:

“When undercover federal agents approached Costanzo and told him that they were drug dealers, Costanzo provided…