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

U.S. Attorney Halsey Frank said 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 said 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 is a virtual currency.

Documents say Mansy engaged in bitcoin transactions without registering his money-service business with proper federal authorities.


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