Habibur Rahman laundered £300,000 ($391551) by converting the amount into crypto.
A trader who resides in London has entered a not guilty plea in response to accusations that he ran unlicensed and illicit cryptocurrency ATMs.
Police in East Ham charge Habibur Rahman of Langdon Crescent with operating a cryptocurrency ATM at his store without a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) registration. A store raid in Chatham, Kent, in April 2023 reportedly resulted in the seizure of multiple illegal machines, including one that was on display for the public.
Rehman was the first person in the UK to be charged with the crime, according to a spokesman for Kent Police. Additionally, he also laundered £300,000 ($391551) by converting the amount into crypto, a BBC report revealed.
Rahman, 37, made an appearance at Medway Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and entered a not guilty plea to the charges. The matter has been moved to Maidstone Crown Court, and on November 7 is when the next hearing is planned.
Rahman’s involvement in the crime involved money laundering in addition to breaking financial regulations, according to Kent police.
Last month, the FCA sentenced London-based Olumide Osunkoya for running multiple crypto ATMs without registration and creating false documents. Osunkoya pleaded guilty to running a network of at least 11 illegal crypto ATMs that processed more than £2.6 million ($3.4 million) in transactions between December 2021 and September 2023.
“The charges mark the FCA’s first criminal prosecution relating to unregistered cryptoasset activity under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds,” the regulator wrote at the time.
FCA Cracks Down on Crypto ATM Operators
The FCA proposed a law in 2020 requiring cryptocurrency operators to register with the regulator. Surprisingly, the FCA has not yet granted any cryptocurrency ATM operator permission to operate in the UK.
An FCA spokesperson told Better Retailing that registration is mandatory for anyone who wishes to operate a crypto ATM. This is regardless of where the machine is made.
“Those that operate the machines without FCA registration could face a maximum sentence of two years in prison, or a fine, or both.”
The article also mentioned that the regulator looked into 34 locations that had cryptocurrency ATMs between January and August 2023.