Arraignment is set for Tuesday for a Santa Monica man accused of using his cryptocurrency cash exchange business to launder millions of dollars in alleged criminal proceeds.
Charles Randol, a 33-year-old individual, has agreed to plead guilty at a later date to a federal charge of failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison, as per the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
From October 2017 to July 2021, Randol owned and operated a virtual-currency money services business called Digital Coin Strategies LLC. According to his plea agreement, the company provided cryptocurrency cash exchange services for a commission.
Randol met unidentified customers face-to-face to conduct transactions. He controlled and managed a network of automated kiosks in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties. These kiosks converted cash to Bitcoin and vice versa. Additionally, he facilitated Bitcoin-for-cash transactions for undisclosed individuals who sent large sums of U.S. currency by mail. Randol had control over post office boxes that were used for this purpose, according to court documents.
In his plea agreement, Randol confessed to regularly violating federal law and his company’s policies by facilitating suspicious currency exchange transactions and undertaking measures to hide them from law enforcement. For instance, he frequently conducted cash transactions in excess of $10,000 in person with individuals who had anonymous or pseudo-anonymous identities. These individuals were known to Randol only by aliases like Puppet Shariff, White Jetta, Yogurt Monster, and Hood.
As stated in his plea agreement, Randol admitted to specific transactions carried out between October 2020 and January 2021. In these transactions, he exchanged a total of $273,940 in cash for Bitcoin without obtaining any identifying information about the buyer or the source of the funds being exchanged. This action was in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.
Prosecutors also allege that Randol permitted 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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