Freeman considered flight risk, remains locked up
Damien Fisher, 30 March 2021
CONCORD, NH – Free Keene leader Ian Freeman isn’t getting out of prison pending trial on federal money laundering charges after Judge Andrea Johnstone found he is a flight risk, and he poses a risk to the community.
Part of the allegations against Freeman is that he was laundering money through his Bitcoin business and Shire Free Church that criminal scammers got through various crimes. Johnston writes that Freeman knew for years his business was under investigation and that did not stop him from allegedly doing more harm.
“Government agents have identified people across the country who stated they were manipulated by scammers into sending money to the defendant, the Shire Free Church, or one of the alleged co-conspirators, often in the form of ‘church donations,’” Johnstone wrote. “As recently as March 16, 2021, the Postal Inspection Service intercepted a package addressed to the Shire Free Church, which contained $4,000 from ‘an 80-year-old victim of an apparent romance scam.’ This operation clearly poses a danger to the community by enabling fraud and economic harm.”
