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A UK man dubbed the ‘El Chapo of the Cotswolds’ is facing 120 years in prison after a court ruled he can be extradited to the US to face charges of running an illegal drugs ring that has allegedly raked in more than $6 million in Bitcoin . Matthew Grimm was charged with five counts of drug charges and one count of money laundering for his alleged role in a multimillion-pound drug racket selling designer amphetamines to US customers. The 49-year-old allegedly ran the operation alongside two accomplices for over 10 years, transporting drugs from the Netherlands using online marketplaces such as ‘Smokeyschemsite.’ US authorities reportedly froze £5.2 million ($6.5 million) worth of bitcoin connected to his alleged drug proceeds.  Grimm was arrested in 2022 and given the green light for extradition by the country’s then-Home Secretary. He later appealed his US extradition, telling prosecutors to ‘bring it on,’ before, as reported by the Mirror, a High Court judge ruled again...

Terra founder Do Kwon has lost his appeal against a four-month prison sentence with a Montenegro High Court rejecting his claims and describing them as “unfounded.” In a statement issued today, the Podgorica Higher Court rejected Kwon’s appeal against a lower court judgment. It said that the Podgorica Basic Court had “correctly and completely established the factual situation,” “correctly applied the Criminal Code of Montenegro,” and “determined and evaluated all the circumstances that influence the choice of criminal sanction and its amount.” Do Kwon had attempted to appeal a prison sentence after he and Terra executive Han Chang-Joon were found guilty of falsifying documents. The pair have remained in custody in Montenegro since their arrest in March and are awaiting extradition to either the US or South Korea . Will arrested Terra founder Do Kwon be extradited to the US or South Korea? Read more: South Korea lead prosecutor says Do Kwon likely to spend most o...

While Protos, by virtue of being a news outlet, has avoided the truly unhinged and off-base takes making waves on X and YouTube regarding the Sam Bankman-Fried case, they’re worth disc US sing for one reason. Namely beca US e many people seem to believe in their hearts that — despite a disastro US trial, SBF being forced back to jail during his bail, and witnesses for days testifying against Bankman-Fried — the alleged fraudster will soon walk free. Let me add here that I have no special insight, am not a lawyer, and anything is possible in the world of criminal trials. On that note, there is almost no chance that Sam Bankman-Fried walks away free from this court case. The odds are in the prosecution’s favor According to Pew Research data, while nearly 90% of federal court cases end in guilty pleas, only 2.3% went to trial, and of those 80% ended in convictions. Generally, the best move for a defendant facing federal charges is to strike some sort of deal with th...

32-year-old New York man James Charles Rivera was sentenced to 96 years in a federal prison for selling steroids for crypto on a deep web black market. A press release published by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) on Aug. 21 reveals that Rivera and his collaborators reportedly distributed anabolic steroids including Anadrol, Testosterone, Mesterolone, Halotestin and others under the “JuicePal” nickname. The DoJ said Rivera “took in millions of dollars in virtual currency and cash as proceeds from thousands of sales.” In February, Rivera plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. In his plea agreement he admitted that he and his accomplices processed thousands of orders and received at least nearly 451 Bitcoin (BTC) — equivalent to nearly $11.75 million as of press time You might also like: Deep web darknet market administrator pleads guilty in US In addition to selli...

A former head of product at NFT marketplace giant OpenSea has been sentenced to prison and will forfeit the Ethereum (ETH) he gained from his insider trading activities.  In May, Nathanial ‘Nate’ Chastain was convicted of fraud and money laundering. The update was revealed in a press release on Aug. 22.  Chastain, whose job at OpenSea included selecting NFTs appearing on the platform’s front page, will serve a three-month jail term and another three months of home confinement. The former OpenSea executive will also be subject to three years of supervised release, pay a fine of $50,000, and forfeit the ETH he gained from the NFT insider trading . You might also like: Thai SEC levies $234,000 fine against BitKub executive for alleged insider trading Between June and September 2021, the product manager took advantage of confidential information to purchase NFTs that he knew would appear on OpenSea’s homepage. When such NFTs were eventually featured, t...

Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith, who is currently serving five years in prison , received a 10-year-long export privilege bar, according to the Department of Commerce. Griffith, even after he is released from prison , “may not directly or indirectly participate in any way in any transaction involving any commodity, software or technology…exported or to be exported from the United States that is subject to the Regulations.” Essentially, Griffith faces a bar on his export privileges as a US citizen. “Based upon my review of the record, including Griffith’s submission, and consultations with BIS’s Office of Exporter Services, including its Director, and the facts available to BIS, I have decided to deny Griffith’s export privileges under the Regulations for a period of ten years from the date of Griffith’s conviction,” John Sonderman, the director of the Office of Export Enforcement, said.  The order is in effect until April 12, 2032. Last year, Griffith was sentenced to 63 month...