Man To Serve Year In Jail For Unlicensed Bitcoin Operation

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Federal prosecutors say a Detroit man has been sentenced to slightly more than a year in prison for operating an unlicensed bitcoin business.

U.S. Attorney Halsey Frank says 41-year-old Sal Mansy was sentenced Monday following an investigation conducted by offices of the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations in Michigan and Maine.

Frank says Mansy must also serve three years of supervised release, and is ordered to forfeit about $118,000 worth of cash and bitcoin. He pleaded guilty in May and will serve a year and a day in jail.

Court documents say Mansy bought and sold about $2.4 million worth of bitcoin online in 2013 and 2015. Bitcoin's a virtual currency. Documents say Mansy engaged in bitcoin transactions without registering his money-service business with proper federal authorities.