Claiming flight risk, judge orders Free Keene activist held until bitcoin money laundering trial
Mark Hayward New Hampshire Union Leader, 30 March 2021
CONCORD — Free Keene activist and cryptocurrency trader Ian Freeman will remain behind bars as he awaits trial on charges of money laundering, fraud and other financial crimes, a magistrate judge ruled Monday.
In a 17-page order that lays out the decision, Judge Andrea Johnstone said she is not confident that a freed Freeman will show up for trial in the future. She also feared that his freedom could allow his alleged crimes to continue.
During a hearing earlier this month, prosecutors described the wealth Freeman has built up in his exchange business, including 28 bitcoins, a $1.6 million cache this is almost impossible to trace and can be accessed anywhere.
“The defendant’s significant financial assets and the fact that much of his wealth is in the form of difficult-to-trace cryptocurrency weigh in favor of his detention,” Johnstone wrote.
Freeman’s attorney, veteran defense lawyer Mark Sisti, said he will appeal the ruling. He noted that Johnstone is a magistrate judge, and her decision can be appealed to the judge who will eventually try the case, Joseph Laplante.
“The next move is to get him out,” Sisti said. He did not rule out calling FBI and other law enforcement to testify in a future bail hearing.
