Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia/Seppi333
Adderall
By Forum Staff
A jury in Brooklyn federal court has convicted Mustafa Goklu, also known as “Mustangy,” of money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business as part of a scheme to launder the purported Bitcoin proceeds of drug trafficking, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Photo Courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of NY
Mustafa Goklu
As proven at trial, in July 2018, DEA special agents identified an advertisement posted on localbitcoins.com where an individual with the username “Mustangy” offered to purchase up to $99,999 worth of bitcoins (“BTC”), a digital currency also known as cryptocurrency, and convert them into U.S. currency for a fee. Law enforcement agents later identified Goklu as the individual using the username Mustangy. On July 11, 2018, a DEA Special Agent acting in an undercover capacity (the “UC”) began exchanging encrypted text messages with Goklu to arrange in-person exchanges of BTC to U.S. currency. The UC and the defendant subsequently met and engaged in seven transactions or attempted exchanges of BTC to cash over a nine-month period, culminating in Goklu’s arrest in April 2019. The UC indicated to the defendant on multiple occasions that the source of the BTC the defendant was exchanging was narcotics trafficking and that as part of the UC’s business he sold oxycodone, Adderall, and marijuana. The transactions occurred in the defendant’s parked Mercedes-Benz, at a coffee shop in Sunnyside and locations in Manhattan. The amounts exchanged at each transaction ranged from approximately $5,000 to $50,000 for a total of $133,000. During each transaction, the UC transferred BTC to Goklu’s cryptocurrency wallet, after which the defendant retained a seven or eight percent commission fee and provided the UC with the remaining amount in cash. The evidence introduced at trial also showed that the defendant was engaged in similar illicit Bitcoin exchanges with multiple other individuals.
When sentenced, Goklu faces up to 25 years in prison.
