Bitcoin Doctor Pleads Guilty to Illegal Money-to-Crypto Program | USAO-NDTX

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A Richardson man who goes by the name of Doctor Bitcoin has pleaded guilty to illegally operating a cryptocurrency-converting business, Acting U.S. District Attorney Prerak Shah has announced.

Mark Alexander Hopkins, 42, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmission business. (He was indicted via criminal intelligence on July 29, 2021.)

This defendant ignored federal law and allowed fraudsters to use Bitcoin to operate under the radar of law enforcement, Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah said. We are determined to rid the Bitcoin market of anyone who knowingly assists criminal actors in concealing illegal profits in crypto wallets.

According to advocacy documents, Mr Hopkins admitted that he ran a business that converts US dollars into cryptocurrency, primarily Bitcoin, for a fee. He frequently sent BTC to clients’ crypto wallets without taking additional steps to verify the source of the money, he admitted.

In September 2019, a client identified in court documents as MH approached Mr. Hopkins to convert US dollars to BTC. The money Mr Hopkins received from MH was from a lottery scam he was running with an accomplice in Nigeria.

Mr Hopkins admitted that he had promised not to get involved in the details of MH’s business dealings:

I’m a marketing company, so tell them you’re paying for a marketing campaign, he said.

Over the course of about a year, Mr. Hopkins completed 37 transactions with MH, converting between $ 550,000 and $ 1.5 million, he said.

The Respondent admitted that he was not licensed to engage in the business of transmitting money in the States in which he operated, nor was he registered as a money transfer business. transmission of money to the US Department of the Treasury. He failed to comply with federal laws that require money transmission companies to verify the names of customers, their date of birth and respond to a law designed to identify those who engage in illegal activities and did not. not filed currency transaction reports for high value cash transactions.

Mr. Hopkins now faces up to five years in federal prison.

The Dallas Federal Bureau of Investigations field office conducted the investigation. Assistant US Attorney Sid Mody is pursuing the case.

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