Olumide Osunkoya has been sentenced to four years in jail for illegal cryptocurrency automatic teller machines in the United Kingdom.
The 46 -year -old faced allegations related to running the crypto ATM through his company, Gidiplus, with machines installed at several places in the UK.
According to officials, Osmkoya established £ 2.5 million ($ 3.2 million) Crypto ATM business despite being deprived of registration by the Financial Conduct Authority. The FCA filed allegations against him in early September 2024, and convicted on September 30, 2024 in six cases.
Court on 28 February Busted him guilty Unregistered crypto activity, forgery, possession and use of false identification documents, and occupation of criminal property.
Court documents revealed that Osunoya operated his unregistered crypto business between December 2021 and March 2022. The FCA stated that they made significant profit, charging the marketing between 30% to 60% on the transaction.
“Your decision to illegally operate illegally and calculated for the regulator,” he said during the conviction.
The judge further stated that Osunoya went into a “great length to create a false identity”, which exceeded his case only from a regulatory violation.
Theres Chambers, Executive Director of Enforcement in FCA, said, “This is the UK’s first criminal punishment for unregistered crypto activity and sends a clear message: those who provoke our rules seek to find out and engage in criminal activity.”
Osunkoya’s convict comes when FCA accelerates its cracks on operating and services related to illegal crypto.
The financial market watchdog makes all providers mandatory to register all the providers seeking to offer digital asset services and products in the country. The FCA also requires that the provider follow the anti-mani laundering guidelines and checks, a fact that the agency says that the crypto ATM failed to follow the ATM provider.
According to the market regulator, its crack on illegal crypto taylor machines dropped the number of UK Crypto ATM locations to zero in 80 to 2024 in 2022 on coinatmradar. Coinmarder website The show currently has more than 37,200 crypto ATMs in 69 countries. Most of these machines are installed in the United States, with more than 29,700 locations.
