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    <p>The gang behind a £4.6 million ($5.2 million) drugs operation that relied on family and friends of jailed members to launder profits via Coinbase has been jailed for a combined 88 years by a UK court.</p> 
    <p>As reported by Nation Cymru, the 12-strong gang was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday for selling over 40kg of cocaine as well as ecstasy, ketamine, and other class-A drugs.</p> 
    <p>The gang’s leader, Amir Khan, 30, converted £1.65 million ($2.1 million) of the ill-gotten funds into <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="Crypto" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/crypto.html">Crypto</a>currency. Because of this, the judge said that some funds may be impossible to recover. Indeed, more than £153,520 ($176,000) in a <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="Crypto" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/crypto.html">Crypto</a> wallet has gone missing.</p> 
    <p>Khan’s co-leader, Joshua Billingham, 26, is said to have guided 29-year-old Stacey Challenger — with whom he was in a relationship — through the operation but defense lawyers <strong>argued that Challenger was “naive” and acted on his direction</strong>.</p> 
    <p>The judge wasn’t convinced, however, and said that she entered into the criminal lifestyle with her eyes wide open.&nbsp;</p> 
    <p>Police raided the couple’s home in Wales and found a money-counting machine, £10,000 worth of designer clothes, and a Range Rover. During the trial, the judge asked Challenger: “What was a money counter doing in your possession? You were unemployed and living with a man who had no job,” (via BBC).</p> 
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    <p><em>Read more: UK police department confiscates over $6M from crypto drug dealer</em></p> 
    <p>Khan received 20 years and seven months in prison for conspiring to supply class-A drugs and conspiring to convert criminal property. <strong>The judge described Khan’s criminality as “truly staggering.”</strong></p> 
    <p>Billingham was sentenced to 14 years, eight months while Challenger received just one year in <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="prison" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/prison.html">prison</a> for <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="launder" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/launder.html">launder</a>ing £300,000 and conspiring to turn it into <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="Crypto" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/crypto.html">Crypto</a>currency.</p> 
    <p>Speaking about the case, Detective Constable Michale Coles said:</p> 
    <p>“These sentences are the culmination of more than two years of meticulous work to disrupt, dismantle and bring this organised <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="Crime" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/crime.html">Crime</a> group to justice.</p> 
    <p>“<strong>This is one of the first cases in Gwent where cryptocurrency was used to launder money</strong>.</p> 
    <p>“Due to the hard work and expertise of our cyber<a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="Crime" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/crime.html">Crime</a> unit, we were able to trace the money and bring these offenders to justice,” (via Nation Cymru).</p> 
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Drug gang used Coinbase to launder crypto from prison

TheBitTimes

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