
During an investigation led by the U.S. Secret Service’s Cyber Fraud and Money Laundering Task Force, over 50 cryptocurrency kiosks were seized.
A Bitcoin company and its top management have been charged with illegally running cryptocurrency kiosks in Ohio, with the knowledge that they were providing assistance to scammers who defrauded individuals of their digital assets. The indictment alleges that the firm and its executives were operating without proper licensing.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury returned the indictment on March 1 against:
- the firm;
- the owner and founder, Sonny Meraban;
- manager Reza Meraban;
- company attorney William Suriano.
The trio was arrested last week and search warrants were executed on their residences in Florida and Illinois.
According to the prosecuting attorney Andrew Rogalski, romance scammers, law enforcement impersonators, and “robocallers” exploited the lack of Anti-Money Laundering protections in the firm’s systems to transfer funds out of users’ crypto wallets.
Rogalski commented during a press conference that “these ATMs are ready-made for scammers,” adding that they: “Direct the victims, which are often elderly or otherwise vulnerable, to specifically go to Bitcoin of American ATMs, take money that they’ve withdrawn from their savings accounts or 401Ks.”
The individuals were allegedly lured to use these kiosks by scammers who instructed them to deposit cash in exchange for Bitcoin (BTC) in a wallet they believed was under their control.

However, the victims had no actual control over the wallet and their funds were instead being directed to the scammers. In one instance, an elderly man lost $11,250 in just three transactions at one of these illicit kiosks within an hour, according to the authorities.
The indictment further alleges that the company was able to run its crypto kiosks without a proper license by making false representations to government agencies about the nature of its business. This allowed S&P Solutions to operate without obtaining the necessary authorization to engage in money transfers Law360.
It is believed that the company has been operating outside of regulatory oversight and avoiding financial compliance requirements since 2018. The investigation into the company and its executives was led by the U.S. Secret Service’s Cyber Fraud and Money Laundering Task Force.
- source: https://cointelegraph.com/