The intent to launder money is not at all clear, though. Money laundering is a specific intent offense. While that need not necessarily be as specific as, say, intent to launder the proceeds of cocaine sales by Pablo Escobar to fund terrorists, just to pick a glaring example, it certainly has to be more specific than just an intention to collect fees on processing transactions that seem a little fishy.
Yeah. Money laundering is attempting to disguise the unlawful origin of money. At most, Shrem knew that some of the money would likely be used to buy drugs. There wasn't evidence that it had an illicit origin.
One of the US AML nuances says, not literally: the act of sending money (monetary instrument or funds) outside the US border to promote a crime IS money laundering. I don't agree at all with this, but as you can see, according to the Law, ML is much more than what one usually thinks. And in that case, it's not required for the money to be a proceed of a crime.. nonsense, but that's the way it is.
What they try to demonstrate in the indictment is that he knew the (monetary instrument or funds) was going to be used to promote a crime (buying drugs in SR). Interesting to understand if bitcoins can qualify, according to laws, as monetary instrument or funds.
You are correct that 18 USC 1956(a)(2)(A) does not have the "proceeds of unlawful activity" limitation. Instead it is "with the intent to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity".
Selling bitcoins in the US would not be illegal under section 1956(a)(2)(A). The basis of the charge is that dollars were sent to MtGox, which is outside the US.
The question is, did Shrem or Faiella intend to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity?
The meaning of "promote" here is not entirely clear, and the Supreme Court seemed divided on the issue in US v Santos. The justices generally believed that investment in growing the unlawful business is promotion, but there was some dispute over whether this included paying ordinary business expenses. Pehaps there are other cases that I am unaware of that have addressed this issue, but Shrem and Faiella weren't in the business of selling drugs. To claim that they were "carrying on" unlawful activity merely because some of their customers did, seems a bit of a stretch.
One interesting case is United States v. Monroe, 943 F.2d 1007 (9th Cir. 1991). Monroe and McCabe arranged for money to be sent to Hong Kong to buy marijuana, and were charged with violating section 1956(a)(2)(A). However the money was actually sent by a DEA agent, who gave it to McCabe in Hong Kong. Apparently the DEA thought this was okay, since the DEA agent didn't intend to buy marijuana. If it's legal for the DEA to transfer money knowing that the recipient intends to buy drugs, why not for Shrem?
That last question is rhetorical? Not sure but controlled delivery is standard procedure for DEA. They buy drugs, they smuggle them into the country too. There is some evidence the Lockerbie bombing was a controlled delivery gone bad, also there was a pretty well documented affair in Baltimore where it turned out just about all the heroin in the city was brought in through controlled delivery, then distributed through lower level drug dealer channels. The DEA had inadvertently(?) become the kingpins, similar to Fast and Furious mentality but with drugs.
Then there' is Michael Ruppert and the CIA/Crack dealing, which also happened. And the recent revelations that the DEA has been in cahoots with the Sinaloa for like the last 10 years... add HSBC, well it's honestly embarrassing that the public cannot seem to figure out that drug enforcement and drug dealing are the same organization and they are footing the bill for all of it.