Keene resident Ian Freeman sentenced to 8 years in prison in cryptocurrency case

Prosecutors say Freeman made more than $1 million to exchange proceeds from fraudster scams into Bitcoin

A federal judge in Concord sentenced Keene resident Ian Freeman to eight years in prison Monday for conspiracy to commit money laundering and other felonies stemming from operating an unlicensed cryptocurrency business.

Freeman, 43, was convicted this past December after a two-week trial in which prosecutors presented evidence that his business allowed Internet scammers to hide money bilked from members of the public. In a news release Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire said he charged “exorbitant fees” to exchange proceeds from fraudsters’ romance and other scams into Bitcoin, allowing him to make more than $1 million.

Dressed in sandals, khakis and a long-sleeved shirt, Freeman showed no emotion when Judge Joseph Laplante handed down the sentence.

Officers with the U.S. Marshals Service led Freeman away in handcuffs after the three-hour hearing in U.S. District Court. He had been free pending sentencing.

Freeman was convicted on eight counts related to the cryptocurrency operation, although Laplante acquitted him in August of a charge of money laundering. The other charges were operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and attempts to evade or defeat tax in the years 2016 through 2019.

During those years, he concealed his income from the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in the news release.

At Monday’s hearing at the federal court in Concord, Laplante also sentenced Freeman to two years of supervised release, ordered him to pay a court fine of $40,000, and ordered forfeiture and restitution, adding that those amounts will be decided at a later hearing.

The $40,000 fine was the lowest possible according to the sentencing guidelines, with Laplante saying he set the lower fine “to allow for the greatest availability of funds to pay restitution.”

At his trial last winter, Freeman testified that revenue from his business went to the Shire Free Church in Keene, which he said was a force for good in the community. He said he never knowingly helped a scammer and instead tried to help people if he feared they were about to be scammed.

And before his sentence was handed down Monday, Freeman said he didn’t think he broke the law.

“I failed to detect and prevent 100 percent of the scam victims … I take full responsibility for my failure,” he said. He added that he asked a list of questions of customers to try to prevent scam victims from using his cryptocurrency service, but that the scam victims lied to him.

“The scammers are so persuasive, they will get their victims to lie,” he said. “I was tricked by these scam victims … it was clear I was trying to catch and prevent scammers.”

At a hearing Sept. 11, prosecutors brought forth three victims who detailed how they’d lost thousands of dollars through “romance scams,” in which someone pretended to be in love with them and in need of money. One woman said she sent $300,000 to the scammer, who told her to send the money to Freeman to convert it into Bitcoin.

In the news release her office issued Monday, U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young said “dozens of victims were identified during the investigation, many of whom lost their life’s savings.

“Ian Freeman catered to fraudsters,” she said. “He played a shell game with other people’s hard-earned money,” while turning a blind eye to those who were conning them.

Multi-year case

Freeman is a longtime local libertarian activist and radio show host who has made several unsuccessful bids for public office, including for N.H. Senate, governor, Keene City Council and the Keene school board.

In March 2021, a federal investigation drew FBI agents to the city, where they searched locations including Freeman’s home on Leverett Street, and he was indicted with five others in connection with the unlicensed cryptocurrency operation. According to the 2021 indictment, the six people exchanged more than $10 million for cryptocurrency between May 25, 2016, and March 15, 2021, charging a fee for each transaction. The charges against one of the six were later dropped.

Freeman’s long-delayed sentencing was most recently scheduled for Sept. 11, but Laplante pushed it to Oct. 2 to allow Freeman to file a brief about restitution payments.

At the Sept. 11 hearing, Laplante rejected motions for reconsideration and for a new trial, which Freeman’s attorney Mark Sisti had submitted Sept. 5. Laplante said the reconsideration motion was untimely and the arguments raised didn’t persuade him.

Since the indictment, all other cases have either been dismissed or moved through sentencing.

Aria DiMezzo of Keene was sentenced in April to 18 months in federal prison for operating an unlicensed cryptocurrency business after she pleaded guilty to that charge.

Renee Spinella and Andrew Spinella of Derry pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge and were sentenced in August 2022. Nobody, a Keene resident formerly known as Rich Paul, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced in July 2022. Charges against the sixth person, an Alstead woman, were dropped in April 2022.

Contentious hearing

Monday’s hearing began with Freeman entering the room to a standing ovation from his supporters, who made up about 75 percent of the audience.

Much of the first half of the hearing involved deciding whether the “vulnerable victim enhancement” for sentencing applied to the case.

With that enhancement, which Laplante decided applied, the sentencing guidelines suggested between 210 months and 262 months in prison, supervised release of one to three years for each count and a fine of $40,000 to $11,535,575, the judge said.

Sisti then argued for a request for variance — asking Laplante to set aside the guidelines in his sentencing decision — and that Freeman be sentenced to 38 months in jail.

“The offense level is unreasonably high,” Sisti said. “We lock up other human beings in cages when they’re a threat … the individual that you will be sentencing today has no violent background.”

Other arguments Sisti made for leniency included that the victims would have been scammed anyway without Freeman and the government should have arrested him in 2017 rather than letting more victims be scammed until 2020.

“It went way longer than it needed to,” he said. “They had everything … back in 2017.” Sisti said Freeman had been under surveillance by the government since 2017, but Laplante added these types of cases can take a while.

Sisti also invited two witnesses to speak at the hearing. Freeman’s wife, Bonnie Freeman, said she was inspired to get a job and move to New Hampshire after listening to Freeman’s show.

“Punishing Ian harshly would not do anything to help the people who got scammed,” she added.

David Hathaway, the sheriff for Santa Cruz County, Ariz., also spoke, saying Freeman “embodies the founding spirit of this country.” He also warned that a “draconian” sentencing would set a precedent for similar cryptocurrency cases.

However, speaking on the prosecution’s behalf, Assistant U.S. Attorney Georgiana MacDonald argued that Freeman knew the law well and should be sentenced accordingly.

“He’s a man who studied all of this … and he knew exactly how to attract these people,” MacDonald said of the scammers. She asked Laplante not to deviate from the sentencing guidelines.

“A message needs to be sent,” she added. “He’s smart, he’s resourceful, he’s garnered a following … he’s a great manipulator and he’s talked his way out of a lot of things.”

Before handing down the sentence, the judge said Freeman’s political ideology contributed to his involvement in the cryptocurrency business, but noted, “the ideology doesn’t excuse the conduct.”

After the hearing, while supporters gathered outside the courthouse holding signs in support of Freeman and cryptocurrency, Sisti said the defense team will file a notice of appeal within 14 days but was very appreciative of the judge.

“He really, really departed from the sentencing guidelines … he cut the sentencing range in half,” he said. “We thank him for that.”

Sentinel staff writer Rick Green contributed to this report.

Christopher Cartwright can be reached at ccartwright@keenesentinel.com or 603-352-1234, extension 1405.

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