U.S. authorities seize accounts of major Bitcoin operator

reuters.com / By Brett Wolf / May 17th, 2013. An affidavit filed by an agent with the department’s investigations unit states that Mutum Sigillum, a Mt. Gox subsidiary incorporated in Delaware, was operating as an unlicensed money transmitter, in violation of federal law.

Treasury’s anti-money laundering unit, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), in March issued guidance that dubbed digital currency exchanges money transmitters, a finding that obliged such businesses to register with FinCEN and obtain any mandated state licenses.

A search of FinCEN’s online registration database Friday morning suggested that neither Mt. Gox nor Mutum Sigillum had registered. The affidavit cited Mutum Sigillum’s failure to register with FinCEN as sufficient grounds to seize its accounts.

Both Mutum Sigillum and Mt. Gox, which says it handles 80 percent of Bitcoin trading, are owned by Mark Karpeles, the affidavit states. It adds that Karpeles opened an account in Mutum Sigillum’s name at Wells Fargo in May 2011, and that when doing so completed a form in which he said it was not a money transmitter.

Karpeles did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did Dwolla. Read more here: http://preview.reuters.com/2013/5/17/us-authorities-seize-accounts-of-major-bitcoin-1