Bitcoin: Lawyer Argues, “There’s No There, There” 0
In the Silk Road case, the defendant’s lawyer has taken a creative approach to the portion of the charges related to money-laundering. He’s arguing that, since Bitcoins aren’t legally recognized as money, they can’t be laundered, regardless of how dirty they are.
If the government doesn’t consider Bitcoin to be money, Dratel argued, then transactions conducted solely in Bitcoin don’t fall under 18 U.S.C. §1956, the US money laundering statute, which includes specific language referring to “funds,” “monetary instruments,” and “financial institutions.” For this reason, he said, the money-laundering charge against Ulbricht should be dismissed.
Follow the link for much, much more.