Keene man, alleged co-conspirator in federal crypto case, sentenced to time served

Jul. 29—A federal judge sentenced a Keene man named Nobody to time-served Thursday after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a case alleging he helped fellow Elm City resident Ian Freeman operate an illegal Bitcoin business.

Nobody, who legally changed his name from Richard Paul, is the first of the three alleged co-conspirators who have entered guilty pleas in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire to be sentenced.

Prosecutors claim Freeman, who is known for his libertarian activism and the radio program "Free Talk Live," and several alleged co-conspirators violated federal law by running an unlicensed virtual currency-exchange business that handled more than $10 million in transactions over several years.

Renee and Andrew Spinella, both of Derry, have also pleaded guilty, each to a single felony charge of wire fraud, and are scheduled to be sentenced in August. In April, the federal government dismissed charges against an Alstead woman who had originally been indicted as a co-conspirator.

Freeman as well as one of his alleged co-conspirators, Aria DiMezzo, another libertarian activist who lives in Keene, have pleaded not guilty to all charges. They are tentatively scheduled for trial later this year.

Law-enforcement authorities arrested the six in March 2021. The FBI conducted several searches in Keene one day that month, including at 73-75 Leverett St. and at two properties on Route 101.

Those properties were linked to the libertarian activist group known locally as Free Keene — which has ties to some of the defendants — because of a blog by the same name. The Route 101 searches were at 661 Marlboro Road, at a business called Bitcoin Embassy N.H., and 659 Marlboro Road, which is owned by Shire Free Church Holdings LLC. The FBI also conducted an operation at a convenience store near downtown Keene, with an employee at the time telling The Sentinel that agents removed a Bitcoin ATM.

Freeman faces a total of 25 felony charges — conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, 12 counts of wire fraud, four counts of money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, four counts of attempting to evade taxes, and continuing financial-crimes enterprise — after a federal grand jury in April returned a superseding indictment against him. That indictment overrode the 11 original charges he'd faced but realleged many of them.

The superseding indictment also charged DiMezzo with conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business as well as operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, four counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.

Judge Joseph Laplante imposed a sentence of time served on Nobody despite prosecutors' arguments that he should be sentenced to prison time on the lower end of the advisory guideline, which would have amounted to at least several months behind bars, according to court documents.

As part of the sentence, Nobody will serve two years on probation and has agreed to pay a $10,000 money judgment and forfeit gold and silver the government seized from his residence as part of its investigation. After his arrest in March 2021, Nobody was incarcerated for 171 days, until he was released in September of that year, according to court documents.

On the felony wire-fraud charge, he could have faced up to 30 years imprisonment and a fine up to $1 million.

U.S. Attorney Jane Young wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed by the prosecution that the business run by Freeman was designed to operate in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, a law designed to prevent money laundering and to help track the proceeds of criminal activity.

Freeman did not implement meaningful know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering procedures, Young wrote in the court document, allowing his customers to transact millions of dollars anonymously.

"In exchange for anonymity, Freeman's customers, many of them criminals, paid him fees far higher than those charged by lawful exchanges," she wrote. "Freeman collected these fees and profited mightily."

In order to operate the business, Freeman needed access to bank accounts into which scam victims would wire him money, but problems arose when banks caught on to his scheme and closed his accounts, the court document states.

So Freeman hired others — like Nobody — to open accounts in their names, and in the names of fraudulent churches, on his behalf, Young wrote. For Freeman's business, Nobody opened accounts in his name and in the name of the "Church of the Invisible Hand," which processed about $2 million, much of it proceeds of criminal activity, according to the prosecution's sentencing memorandum.

"When confronted with the government's evidence showing that Mr. Freeman's business catered almost exclusively to scammers preying on elderly victims, [Nobody] immediately decided to plead guilty," Young wrote in the document.

Because Nobody expressed "sincere remorse," the government agreed to dismiss charges of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two additional charges of wire fraud, the prosecutors' sentencing memorandum states.

Nobody's lawyers, Patrick Richard and Anessa Allen Santos, wrote in court documents that their client is "a proud libertarian" who believes the federal government has too much power but did not believe he would be defrauding people with the Bitcoin business. Neither of his lawyers returned phone requests for comment Friday afternoon.

"As Nobody has consistently stated throughout this case, he is of the sincere opinion and belief that the U.S. federal reserve has become tyrannical and is actively operating outside its nascent constitutional authority," Richard and Santos wrote in the defense's sentencing memorandum. "Even so, Nobody is no anarchist, and he holds no thought to overthrow these agencies of government. Instead, he looks to the hope of the free market to liberate him and others from what he perceives as growing economic tyranny.

"The global growth and adoption of Bitcoin presented hope to Nobody, and millions of other people around the world share in that hope," they wrote.

In court documents, Nobody admits to deceiving TD Bank by convincing the bank that an account he opened was for personal use. He further admits in the documents that had the bank known that the account would be used for Freeman's business, it probably would not have allowed him to open it.

"Nobody consistently maintains that at no time did he ever think he was participating in some wide scheme to defraud innocent persons to induce them into purchasing Bitcoin," Nobody's lawyers wrote. "... the thought that Freeman could possibly perpetrate a mass fraud that would deceive even [Nobody] is incredulous, and it causes him extreme emotional distress to even consider it."

Ryan Spencer can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1412, or rspencer@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @rspencerKS