A French Crypto “fraudster” upholds his prison sentence in Morocco – a court found him guilty of using bitcoin (btc) Buying luxury goods.
According to French media outlets bfmtvThe name of the person is Thomas Closey (21).
Clossey, a native of Moselle in eastern France, was originally jailed for his crimes until 2022.
But he launched an appeal that was overturned by the Casablanca Court of Appeal this week.
Closey was originally given an 18-month prison sentence, along with a $3.8 million fine.
Both of these were upheld by the Court of Appeal.
Morocco has strict crypto laws and considers all transactions related to crypto assets to be fraudulent.
The French were prosecuted for “fraud” and “payments with foreign currency on Moroccan territory”.
What went wrong with French crypto ‘fraud’ in Morocco?
The court heard that Clausey had been convicted on a number of counts.
One of these involved the purchase of a Ferrari from a French woman in Casablanca for approximately $442,000 worth of BTC.
Another included a Moroccan who accused Clousey of “fraudulent and defrauding him”.
The Moroccan claimant said Clossey had given him a “not sufficient funds (NSF) check in the name of a third party” as well as BTC in exchange for “three luxury watches”.
Closey’s family said that he had traveled to Morocco in an effort to “open an African neobank”.
In addition to the fine, Closey was also ordered to pay compensation to his “victims”.
Clossey’s legal team attempted to prove that their client was ignorant of Morocco’s strict crypto regulations.
Morocco’s Foreign Exchange Office issued a decree on November 2017, explaining that all crypto transactions constitute a violation of foreign exchange regulations.
Citizens and visitors were warned that they would face jail and fines if they were found to be trading in coins or using them as payment instruments.
But this decree has come under fire in recent years.
The government has responded by indicating that it may be prepared to abandon the law in favor of promoting a regulated crypto sector.
Morocco’s central bank said earlier this year that it was Ready to unveil a new crypto regulatory bill,
The bank said it was holding consultations on the matter with industry representatives.