A Santa Monica man is set to plead guilty for using his cryptocurrency cash exchange business to launder millions of dollars in criminal proceeds, as announced by officials on Tuesday.
Charles Randol, aged 33, will plead guilty to the charge of failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. This crime carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Both the charges and the plea agreement were filed in Los Angeles federal court on Tuesday. Randol is expected to formally enter his guilty plea in the following weeks.
Between October 2017 and July 2021, Randol owned and operated a virtual-currency money services business called Digital Coin Strategies LLC. The company provided cryptocurrency cash exchange services for a commission, as stated in his plea agreement.
Randol would meet anonymous customers in person to carry out transactions. He controlled and managed a network of automated kiosks in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties, which converted cash to Bitcoin and vice versa. He also facilitated Bitcoin-for-cash transactions for unidentified individuals who sent him large amounts of U.S. currency through mail, including to post office boxes under his control, according to court documents.
Randol admitted in his plea agreement that he repeatedly violated federal law and his own company’s policies by enabling suspicious currency exchange transactions and taking measures to hide them from law enforcement.
For instance, Randol frequently conducted in-person cash transactions exceeding $10,000 with anonymous or pseudonymous individuals. Some of these individuals were only known to Randol by aliases like Puppet Shariff, White Jetta, Yogurt Monster, and Hood.
In his plea agreement, Randol confessed to engaging in specific transactions between October 2020 and January 2021, totaling $273,940 in cash exchanged for Bitcoin. He failed to request any identifying information from the buyers or details about the source of the funds involved. These actions violated the Bank Secrecy Act.
Prosecutors also allege that Randol allowed criminals to use his Bitcoin kiosks located in malls, gas stations, and convenience stores in Los Angeles, Glendale, Santa Clarita, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, and Riverside to structure and launder funds.
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