It's about time these people got busted...

Ever heard of Liberty Reserve?   No?  Probably for the better.  They are an online currency exchange that operated for years with the intent of helping criminals launder and distribute money.

All that was required to use their service was a name, a birthdate, and an email address.  No efforts were made by the site to verify identities of its users.

Deposits could be made via credit card or bankwire, among other deposit options. The funds were then "converted" into Liberty Reserve Dollars or Liberty Reserve Euros, which were tied to the value of the US Dollar and the Euro respectively, or to ounces of gold.

Just as PayPal revolutionized how people shop online, making it possible to buy a microwave oven or concert tickets with the click of a button, Liberty Reserve sought to create a similarly convenient way for criminals to make financial transactions, law enforcement officials said.

In total, Liberty Reserve was used to transfer an estimated $6 billion over 55 million transactions. It has been linked to crimes including credit card fraud, identity theft, investment fraud, computer hacking, child pornography and narcotics trafficking.

As of Tuesday, a visit to the Liberty Reserve website gets you this:

It is unclear if any businesses with legitimate funds tied up in the service will be able to recover their money.

Full article here.