At the time of this writing, Ian Freeman, whom I interviewed for Episode 20 of this production, awaits sentencing in a Federal District Court in Concord, New Hampshire, for the crime of selling Bitcoin to willing and vetted buyers.
Prosecutors are seeking a 20 year sentence and more than $3M in restitution, which it is worth noting, defies the recommendations of the pre-sentence investigation and the evidence presented at trial.
Restitution is for victims, and there is no material dispute about whether Freeman victimized anyone.
He did not, and even the prosecution does not argue that he did.
Freeman's customers lied to him when he asked if they were being coerced or asked to purchase the cryptocurrency by strangers.
The strangers who were coercing and defrauding them, told them to deceive Freeman, and the prosecution simply asserts that Freeman should have somehow known this was the case, and lacking psychic powers, he should be held responsible for the fraud of others, whom the FBI has made no attempt to find.