US Opens Case Against User for Sending $10M in BTC to a Sanctioned Country

The Department of Justice of the US has indicted an unnamed citizen for sending more than $10 million in Bitcoins to circumvent economic sanctions.

In a decision issued last Friday, US Magistrate Judge Zia M. Farooqi of Washington, D.C., has explained why he has agreed to prosecute the case.

This is the first time the US authorities have brought a criminal case for sanctions violations involving cryptocurrency.

The authors of the lawsuit, whose content remains classified, accuse the defendant of creating a payment processing company as a front for transferring more than $10 million to a sanctioned country.

At the moment, the US has imposed comprehensive economic sanctions on Russia, North Korea, Syria, Cuba and Iran.