Thomas Spieker, former party producer was charged with operating a cryptocurrency money laundering scam that he publicly advertised on social media, assuring his clients he could assist them stay “totally off the radar”
The Manhattan District Attorney charged the former party organizer, with laundering $2.7 million in bitcoin and cash to aid numerous clients in concealing money obtained via allegedly illegal activities.
Thomas Spieker Criminal Activities
Thomas Spieker, 42, and his friends, according to the MDA, used bitcoin to facilitate a number of illegal activities, including dark-web drug trades. Darknet drug dealers selling ketamine, fake Xanax, and other illicit substances in every state in America, a hacker, and a member of an Eastern European organized criminal group were among Spieker’s clients, according to authorities.
The 42-year-old man changed approximately $2.5 million in Bitcoin and over $380,000 in cryptocurrencies into US dollars between January 2018 and August 2021, according to the MDA, using “a rotating set of accomplices” who registered bank and crypto exchange accounts to enable the laundering of “criminal proceeds.”
Spieker began doing Google searches for the keyword “bitcoin money laundering” in 2014 after receiving a complaint and wrote a Facebook post offering his services to anybody who wanted to remain completely unnoticed while engaging in illegal activities.
The former party producer was released on his own recognizance after waiving his right to a jury trial. His lawyer, Richard Verchick, declined to comment. Six other offenders pleaded not guilty and were released on their own recognizance after entering not guilty pleas.
Spieker, who formerly worked at Goldman Sachs in stock analysis, has been a Bitcoin supporter since the currency’s infancy.
He was featured in a Vice piece on his career as a DJ known as Sick in 2014. In a statement released Thursday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the case “demonstrates how emerging technology like bitcoin may become major drivers of a broad spectrum of criminal behavior that can quickly cross the globe.”
Spieker is also accused of laundering $620,000 for a client suspected of being a part of an organized criminal network in Eastern Europe and $267,000 for the operator of an international romance hoax.
