CHICAGO, CBS – An enterprise and three individuals in Ohio are being charged with running and possessing cryptocurrency kiosks unlawfully, and defrauding victims out of millions of dollars, with links to suburban Chicago communities.
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office in Ohio is bringing charges against S and P Solutions, which did business as Bitcoin This is America (BOA), Sonny Meraban, 45, Reza Mehraban, 75, and William Suriano, 69. This includes participating in a routine of dishonesty, conspiracy and failure to comply with licensing regulations to operate the kiosks from August 2002 until the month before.
Cryptocurrency kiosks refer to ATMs like Bitcoin ATMs.
It is claimed that Bitcoin This is America took a 20% cut on each transaction made through their machines. Even when they were aware that some of these transactions involved scammers who stole thousands of dollars from people, they refused to pay the 20% fee they charged. This totaled more than $3.5 Million.
“Obviously this was a very complex operation,” Michael C. O’Malley, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor stated. “All of these warrants were executed yesterday. There were over 100 law enforcement officers involved and it was a very complicated procedure.”
Separately, prosecutors declared that the U.S. Secret Service and Lisle police carried out a search warrant on the company’s premises on Wednesday with the help of the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office. This was the exact law enforcement operation that resulted in the arrest. Lisle police were very firm about this, however for more information see below.
Furthermore, Cuyahoga County prosecutors say the accused were also connected to a range of other illegal activities, such as selling and manufacturing counterfeit goods, laundering money and operating online gambling sites.
Federal prosecutors have accused a cryptocurrency business with ties to the Chicago area of money laundering. Reza Meraban, the founder and owner of Solutions and P, was arrested at his home in Miami, Florida. His associate, Sonny Suriano, was detained at his residence in Naperville, Illinois, when another search warrant was executed.
According to the charges, the defendants operated kiosks in violation of a money transmission license and falsely claimed that they could transfer funds. To avoid detection by regulators, these machines were located in Ohio and other states across the country, with about 2,500 ATMs present in 31 states. CBS 2 news identified several machines in the River North area, including one inside a corner store with a warning sign saying that if someone was instructed to make a payment to the IRS or Social Security Administration, they were likely being scammed.
U.S. Attorney Justin O’Malley stated that these machines were also used to scam elderly people in northeast Ohio, leading to eight victims being tricked into transferring money. The investigation was conducted with the help of the Secret Service Cyber Fraud and Money Laundering Task Force and 4 other law enforcement agencies in the Chicago area.
At this time, there are no known victims in Chicago, but prosecutors believe that more victims will come forward now that the case is public. Bitcoin This Is America had no consumer protections or anti-money laundering policies in place, which allowed these scams to occur. Investigations are ongoing.