A jury found a 73-year-old Montana man guilty of a cryptocurrency money laundering conspiracy tied to romance scams and other fraudulent endeavors.

Randall V. Rule, formerly of Kalispell, Mont., and another defendant, Gregory C. Nysewander of Irmo, S.C., were charged with money laundering conspiracy, money laundering and a conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act in a 2022 indictment.

As the indictment claims, Rule and Nysewander converted the proceeds from numerous scams, including fake real estate schemes and business email compromises, into cryptocurrency, which they then sent to domestic and foreign co-conspirators, according to a Thursday release from the United States Department of Justice.

Rule and Nysewander also misrepresented the material conditions of the transactions to cryptocurrency exchanges and other financial institutions. They and their co-conspirators laundered more than $2.4 million through illicit means, the release continues.

"We will not stand by as our citizens are victimized by financial crimes and their life savings are stolen," said Acting U.S. Attorney McGlothin in a statement. "We will aggressively pursue cases against scammers and against those who facilitate their crimes by laundering the criminal proceeds."

Romance scams, also called "pig butchering," involve bad actors faking romantic interest to gain a victim's trust, which the bad actor then exploits for financial gain. More criminals are opting for romance scams over Ponzi schemes as a profitable financial crime.

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