UK Regulator Charges First Individual With Running a Network of Illegal Crypto ATMs

• U.K. regulator the Financial Conduct Authority charged Olumide Osunkoya, 45 year old Londoner for running a network of illegal crypto ATM’s.

• These are also the first charges brought against a person accused of running a network of crypto ATMs in the U.K., the FCA said.

U.K. regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) charged an individual for running a network of illegal crypto ATM’s, it said in a press release on Tuesday.

Olumide Osunkoya, 45 year old Londoner has been accused of running crypto ATMs that processed British pounds 2.6 million ($3.4 million) in crypto transactions across various locations between December 2021 and September 2023 without having the required registration. The defendant now has to appear before the Westminster Magistrates’ Court on September 30.

“These are also the first charges brought against a person accused of running a network of crypto ATMs in the UK,” the FCA said in its statement.

The charges follow last months arrest of Habibur Rahman, 37 who is also from London. He was the first first person in the U.K. to be charged with operating a single illegal cryptocurrency ATM. He also allegedly laundered $392,557 in cash by converting it into crypto, BBC reported last month.

None of the 44 crypto companies registered have the necessary authorization to have crypto ATM’s, making all crypto ATMs in the U.K. illegal.

The FCA has been clamping down on illegal crypto ATMs in recent years. In May last year the FCA alongside the police carried out raids across sites in Exeter, Nottingham and Sheffield. By the end of 2023 the regulator had carried out 34 inspections.

“Our message today is clear. If you’re illegally operating a crypto ATM, we will stop you,” Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA said in Tuesdays release.