KEENE, NH – A Keene man charged in a cryptocurrency money laundering scheme has been found guilty by a federal jury.

Ian Freeman, 42, was arrested along with five others in March of 2021 by federal authorities. According to a news release from the Department of Justice at the time, the six were accused of operating a business that enabled customers to exchange over ten million dollars in fiat currency for virtual currency and charging for their service. The indictment referenced in the release alleges that the group knowingly operated the business in violation of federal anti-money laundering laws and regulations.

According to trial exhibits and witness testimony during the trial, Freeman laundered over ten million dollars in proceeds of romance scams and other internet frauds by exchanging US dollars for bitcoin.

“By failing to register his business with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as required by law, disabling the “know your customer” features on his bitcoin kiosks, and ensuring that bitcoin customers did not tell him what they did with their bitcoin, among other things, Freeman created a business that catered to fraudsters,” the release says. “By charging exorbitant fees, Freeman made is excess of a million dollars.”

Records also proved that as part of the conspiracy, freeman and his co-conspirators opened and operate accounts at financial institutions in the names of carious churches, including the Shire Free Church. Freeman had instructed bitcoin customers who were often the victims of scams, to lie to the financial institutions and describe their deposits as church donations. The release notes that from 2016 to 2019, Freeman paid no taxes and concealed his income from the Internal Revenue Service.

Freeman took the stand on Tuesday and claimed he never knowingly helped a scammer, rather he was helping people who he feared were about to be scammed. He also said that revenue from his transactions went into his Shire Free Church in Keene, that he called a good force in the community.

According to a news release from the Justice Department this afternoon, Freeman was found guilty on all counts of money laundering, conspiracy to launder money, operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business, and tax evasion.

Two Keene residents, Aria DiMezzo and Nobody, formerly known as Rich Paul, along with Andrew and Renee Spinella were among those arrested and previously pled guilty to related charges. The sixth person arrested was a woman from Alstead, but charges against her as a co-conspirator were dropped.

Freeman is scheduled to be sentenced on April 14th.