IRS Reveals Top Crypto Cases of 2023

The IRS has unveiled its list of the most significant cases it dealt with in 2023, and it's no surprise that a significant portion of them revolve around cryptocurrency. In a year marked by increased scrutiny of digital assets, these cases have garnered significant attention.

Amir Bruno Elmaani, the founder of the crypto project Bruno Block, secured the eighth spot on the list. In 2017, he launched Oyster Pearl, designed as a utility token for online data storage. However, Elmaani failed to file a tax return and reported zero income in 2018 while lavishly spending over $10 million on multiple yachts, including a $1.6 million carbon fiber yacht, hundreds of thousands in household goods, and over $700,000 on two houses. Consequently, he was sentenced to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay $5.5 million in restitution.

James Chung claimed the seventh position on the list for his involvement in the theft of 50,000 BTC from the infamous darknet marketplace Silk Road in 2012. In April, he was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. Authorities also confiscated all of Chung's assets associated with the stolen funds, valued at $3.4 billion.

Yan Freeman, a resident of New Hampshire, landed in fourth place for money laundering with Bitcoin. IRS reports indicated that he helped legitimize $10 million for various online scammers. Freeman was sentenced to 96 months in prison and two years of probation, along with an order to compensate the victims.

Taking the third spot was Carl Sebastian Greenwood, co-founder of the OneCoin cryptocurrency pyramid, accused of international fraud amounting to $4 billion. Although the project was initially marketed as a high-yield cryptocurrency, it never launched. In December 2022, Greenwood pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering, receiving a 20-year prison sentence and being required to pay approximately $300 million in fines and restitution.

In the past year, nearly half of IRS cryptocurrency investigations centered around tax evasion, a significant shift from three years ago when over 90% were related to money laundering.

It's worth noting that in December, the IRS demanded that FTX pay $24 billion, a move that the exchange's legal team intends to challenge, deeming it "absurd."