Detroit Man Sentenced to a Year and a Day for Operating an Unlicensed Bitcoin Business

Portland, Maine:  United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that Sal Mansy, 41, of Detroit, Michigan, and TV TOYZ, LLC, a Michigan corporation, were sentenced today in U.S. District Court for operating an unlicensed money-service business.  Mansy was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and three years of supervised release.  TV TOYZ, LLC was sentenced to three years of probation.  The defendants were also ordered to forfeit about $118,000 worth of cash and bitcoin. Guilty pleas were entered on May 17, 2017. 

According to court documents, between August 2013 and June 2015, Mansy bought and sold about $2.4 million worth of the virtual currency “Bitcoin” online for profit.  Mansy funneled his Bitcoin transactions through the business bank account of TV TOYZ, a corporation he owned and operated.  Mansy engaged in these Bitcoin transactions without registering his money-service business with FinCEN (the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department).  It is against federal law for a money-service business to exchange or transfer Bitcoin without registering.  Mansy was aware that he was required to register with FinCEN.  A year-long investigation into Mansy’s activities culminated in June 2015 with a search of his Detroit residence and the seizure of about $118,000 worth of cash and bitcoin.

The investigation was conducted by the Portland, Maine and Detroit, Michigan offices of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; and the Saco Police Department.