MIAMI – Man admits to exchanging over $5 million in digital currency for clients who included an online narcotics trafficker and a money launderer, according to federal prosecutors.
Raul Rodriguez, of Miami, pleaded guilty to running an unlicensed money transmitter business, federal prosecutors announced on Tuesday.
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Rodriguez, 43, admitted to charging fees for his services from 2016 to 2022 while using LocalBitcoins, a popular peer-to-peer exchange platform based in Finland that suspended trading last year, records show.
Rodriguez, also known online as RaulTioVigia, was the highest-volume trader for LocalBitcoins for about two years in Florida, according to federal prosecutors.
Federal investigators in Miami with the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration worked together on the case.
Rodriguez’s sentencing was set for 11 a.m., April 2, at Miami federal court. He faces up to five years in prison.