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Crypto ATM operator to plead guilty to AML non-compliance

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September 22, 2023

A Southern California operator of cryptocurrency kiosks has agreed to plead guilty to breaking federal law by allowing his company to help scammers and drug traffickers launder millions of dollars in criminal proceeds through his business, the Justice Department announced in a press release.

Charles James Randol, 33, agreed to plead guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, a crime that carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Both the information and plea agreement were filed Sept. 5 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

According to his plea agreement, from October 2017 to July 2021, Randol owned and operated a virtual-currency money services business that eventually was known as Digital Coin Strategies LLC.

He operated automated kiosks in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties that converted cash to bitcoin and vice versa, and conducted bitcoin-for-cash transactions for unknown individuals who mailed large amounts of U.S. currency to him.

Randol maintained a company website that falsely claimed his business was "a fully compliant…money services business" that was registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a bureau of the United States Treasury Department. In fact, as Randol admitted in his plea agreement, he repeatedly violated federal law and his company's own AML policies by facilitating suspicious currency exchange transactions and taking steps to conceal them from law enforcement, including failing to file required currency transaction reports and suspicious activity reports.