A Washington country resident has been charged with money laundering after selling Bitcoin for $140,000 in cash to undercover agents.

Bothell's Kenneth Warren Rhule, 26, met with agents from Homeland Security Investigations on numerous occasions between Apr to Dec 2022, often in Seattle-area Starbucks cafes.

According to the unsealed complaint Rhule — who traded on localbitcoins.com under the name Gimacut9 —  allegedly closed at least 7 deals with agents "posing equally criminals" who wanted to buy untraceable Bitcoin with the proceeds of their operations. They told Rhule they were bringing Ukranian women to the U.Due south. for the purposes of prostitution.

Special Amanuensis Victor Morales from the Drug Enforcement Agency said in the complaint:

"Rhule conducted these transactions even subsequently the undercover amanuensis explained that at least a portion of the cash involved represented proceeds of human trafficking."

Rhule made an appearance before the The states District Court of Seattle on Tuesday. He was charged with conducting an unlicensed money transmitting concern and five counts of laundering monetary instruments. The complaint noted that he failed to conduct any Know Your Customer ID verification checks.

The money laundering charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison, while the marijuana charges are punishable with a minimum of five years in prison, and a maximum of xl years.

Rhule allegedly boasts of drug operations

On one occasion while waiting for confirmations the Bitcoin had been successfully deposited, Rhule allegedly boasted virtually doing "five,10 or 20,000 kilo" CBD (Cannabidiol) orders. The investigation found he was running an unlicensed marijuana products business manufacturing items including hash oil. He documented his sophisticated growing operations with photographs uploaded to his Google, iCloud and Instagram accounts — including pictures of Rhule posing with crops of marijuana.

He was besides charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana.

Bitcoin dealer extols the virtues of Monero

Rhule besides brash the clandestine agents that Bitcoin was only pseudo-anonymous and extolled the virtues of Monero which he said was a "100% anonymous cryptocurrency":

"Rhule explained to UCA-1 that Monero operated under the same concept as any cryptocurrency and was verifiable on the blockchain with i important caveat: wallet addresses could not be tracked."

The 'Gimacut9' LocalBitcoins account concluding made a deal on July 1 2022 and was banned from November 2022 onwards. LocalBitcoins no longer offers a cash for crypto trading pick.