Trading Under Attack by U.S 'Communist' gov.: Michigan Man dragged to court for Unlawful Bitcoin Exchange

A Michigan man has been faced with running an unlicensed money transmitting business after selling nearly $150,000 in bitcoin online.

Based on an indictment released by Detroit TV news services WD-IV Friday, 52-year-old Bradley Anthony Stetkiw ran a exchange through the LocalBitcoins website, conducting transactions at restaurants in the Bloomfield area. Stetkiw is speculated to have sold bitcoin included in a small business venture for approximately couple of years, at a volume that could make him at the mercy of federal anti-money laundering regulations.

Of the full total, the documents, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, assert Stetkiw sold a lot more than $56,000 worth of bitcoin to federal agents through six meetings.

In line with the indictment:

"Operating under the consumer name'SaltandPepper,' Stetkiw bought, sold and brokered deals for a huge selection of tens of thousands of dollars in bitcoins while failing woefully to adhere to the amount of money transmitting business registration requirements set fort in Title 31, United States Code, Section 5330."

Stetkiw is notably not the first LocalBitcoins user to be charged for trading bitcoin.

Earlier this season, Detroit resident Sal Mansy plead guilty to the charge of operating an unlicensed money services business. He allegedly conducted $2.4 million-worth of transactions over a two-year period ending in July 2015.

Other arrests in Missouri and New York suggest actions against independent U.S. bitcoin sellers are becoming more commonplace.