Bitcoin money launderer Ian Freeman ordered to pay $3.5 million to romance scam victims

A New Hampshire libertarian activist and radio show host convicted of using bitcoin to launder tens of millions of dollars in proceeds from romance scams and internet fraud was ordered to pay more than $3.5 million in restitution to 29 primarily elderly victims, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The launderer, Ian Freeman also was ordered by a judge to forfeit other assets as restitution for the scheme, which among other things used several churches to receive money from victims under the guise of being donations before it was swapped for cryptocurrency, prosecutors said.

The assets included about 5.24 bitcoin currently valued at more than $258,000 and about $1.1 million in U.S. currency, the order in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire shows.

Freeman, 43, who had long promoted bitcoin as an alternative to the U.S. dollar, was sentenced in October to eight years in federal prison for his role in the scam conspiracy as part of a group dubbed "Crypto Six." He also was fined $40,000.

Prosecutors said that he laundered proceeds of scams by exchanging dollars for the popular cryptocurrency, charging "exorbitant fees" in the process.

Freeman earned more than $1 million through his business, which he had not registered as legally required with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, prosecutors said.

"Ian Freeman's money laundering business caused many vulnerable people unnecessary anguish," said New Hampshire U.S. Attorney Jane Young in a statement on the order by U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante.

"Nothing will ever take away the pain he caused these victims, but I am grateful that the dedicated prosecution team on this case was able to make many of them financially whole.

"Freeman and his co-conspirators opened and operated accounts at