California Man Sentenced for Using Bitcoin To Launder Dark Web MDMA Profits

A California man has been sentenced for his role in using Bitcoin to launder the proceeds of an operation selling MDMA on the dark web.

John Khuu, 29, of San Francisco, California, was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

According to Texas police, Khuu’s operation would import MDMA from Germany and sell it on various dark web markets, accepting payment in Bitcoin. Khuu would allegedly then trade the Bitcoin stored in seller accounts for U.S. currency and launder the dirty money through “hundreds of transactions and dozens of financial accounts.” The man has been indicted separately in the Northern District of California and charged with unlawful importation of a Schedule I controlled substance.

The man’s arrest came as part of Operation Crypto Runner, a joint multiyear investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), and the Postal Inspection Service (PIS), announced back in November 2022.

The operation played a part in 21 people being arrested in 2022 for acting as “money mules” and helping to launder the proceeds of various crypto scams, including real estate, email, and romance scams. Last month, a Montana man was also convicted for crypto money laundering as part of the federal agency crackdown.

Crypto money laundering crackdown

It’s no surprise that the federal government is taking an all-inclusive approach to fighting Bitcoin money laundering. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis thinks 2024 was likely the biggest year ever in terms of money laundered through cryptocurrency at over $40 billion, exceeding the previous record set in 2023.

The firm thinks that the number would be higher if this included money from drug operations, but said it is harder to track the proceeds of crimes that occur “off chain” and originate in the real world.

A 2024 risk assessment from the U.S. Treasury found that though traditional methods to launder drug money are still dominant, using crypto to launder drug money is rising both in popularity and sophistication.

Many of these crypto drug money laundering operations are increasingly international in scope. The DEA’s most recent National Drug Threat Assessment established how Mexican cartels operating in the U.S. have “mutually profitable partnerships with China-based money laundering organizations to launder drug proceeds and are increasingly using cryptocurrency.”